Damm volunteers clean up the beaches
Damm employees who participated in the initiative cleaned close to 7000m2 of sand
Coinciding with World Beach Day, 80 Damm employees joined the effort promoted by the company to pick up trash at beaches. The initiative is framed in #LIVE, TO BE PART OF THE CHANGE, the corporate volunteering plan that promotes the participation of company staff in social, environmental, cultural and sporting actions.
During the shifts carried out during the 17 and 18 of September, part of Damm's staff devoted 240 hours to cleaning a total of 6900 m2 of sand from the beaches of Castelldefels and El Prat de Llobregat. Before beginning the activity, participants received some brief training from professionals associated with the CRAM Foundation, regarding the different species that live in our oceans and during which they learned of the harm that the accumulated trash is causing them along the coasts. During the activity, people that participated in the action divided themselves into small groups that were spread out throughout the area, in order to be able to clean the beach more effectively, without leaving any space unexamined. Upon completing the trash collection, a sorting of the waste was carried out, so it could be handled correctly, this also allowed for an accounting of what had been collected. The Damm team managed to pick up a total of 23 Kg of small waste, among which micro-plastics, cigarette buts and candy sticks were most prevalent.
By means of this initiative, Damm adheres to the "1m2 for nature" campaign, promoted by the "Libera, together against trash" project, led by SEO/Birdlife in association with Ecoembes, with which the company has collaborated for many years, in order to deal with the consequences of trash that is abandoned in natural spaces. Similarly, the action driven by Damm also had the collaboration of the CRAM Foundation (Marine Animal Rehabilitation Centre), an entity that helps and recovers threatened marine species at foundation facilities for their reintroduction into their natural habitat as soon as possible.
The CRAM Foundation works to help and recover cetaceans, marine birds and, mainly, turtles that appear along our coasts with injuries or illnesses caused by human interaction. An example of this is the cetaceous turtle sponsored by Damm, which after having been found by fishermen, trapped between several plastic objects that caused it significant injuries to one of its flippers, was treated by CRAM members, and despite having one of its flippers amputated, will soon be returned to her natural habitat.
"Trash has a tremendous impact on natural environments, and human beings are the main culprits of this poor practice. Since it was founded, Damm has been firmly committed to caring for the environment, and carries out different actions with the purpose of raising awareness regarding the need for protecting one of our greatest treasures: the Mediterranean Ocean, and the biodiversity that lives in its waters", said Alba Linares, Head of RSC for Damm.
Damm, committed to being part of the change
The volunteer beach cleaning campaign joins other actions driven by Damm for the purpose of minimizing its environmental impact and promoting the raising of awareness regarding the need to care for the environment. For the purpose of following the will of the company and all the people that form part of it, and that want to be part of the change, Damm has launched its new volunteer program #LIVE, TO BE A PART OF THE CHANGE, the objective of which is to contribute to social development, by helping to fight climate change and protecting biodiversity.
The company continues to progress in terms of its commitment to reducing its environmental footprint, and during the last few years it has promoted relevant projects such as the elimination of plastic rings used to package cans from several of the company's brands, substituting them for a new packaging format that allows for cans to be packaged with 100% biodegradable cardboard packaging, manufactured with 100% natural fibres from trees that are grown and cut in a sustainable and responsible manner. Furthermore, Damm also has completely eliminated decorated plastic packaging from six, twelve and 24-packs, creating a new packaging for cans made from natural fibres that boast PEFC certification.
