April 22nd is celebrated as Earth Day across the world to pledge support for environmental protection. The day is aimed at reaffirming the commitments and targets by organisations, governments and the world in general towards climate change. According to earthday.org, Earth Day aims to “build the world’s largest environmental movement to drive transformative change for people and the planet.” The movement’s mission is “to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide.”
Earth Day 2021
The secretary-general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres has said, “To stop the climate crisis from becoming a permanent catastrophe, we must limit global heating to 1.5 degree Celsius.” In order to encourage working towards this, goal, the theme of World Earth Day 2021 is ‘Restore Our Earth’.
According to earthday.org, this year’s theme focuses on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems.
“In this way, the theme rejects the notion that mitigation or adaptation are the only ways to address climate change. It is up to each and every one of us to Restore Our Earth not just because we care about the natural world, but because we live on it. We all need a healthy Earth to support our jobs, livelihoods, health & survival, and happiness. A healthy planet is not an option — it is a necessity,” it says.
In this context, let us look at how Corporates are celebrating Earth Day 2021, by conducting various CSR initiatives for mitigation of climate change and/or spreading awareness about it.
Tetra Pak commits to recycle 5,00,000 used packs into desks for local school
Tetra Pak,under its flagship campaign – Cartons Le Aao, Classroom Banao– has pledged to collect 5,00,000 used carton packages and recycle them into desks to be donated to City of Los Angeles School, Mahim, Mumbai. The collaborative initiative, in association with RUR Greenlife, Sahakari Bhandar and Reliance Fresh, on the occasion of ‘Earth Day’ is inviting consumers to donate used carton packages at the nearest facility.
The recycled desks are aesthetic, sturdy, durable and carry an important message – The power of Recycling! The donation is part of Tetra Pak’s ongoing efforts to raise awareness about waste segregation and recycling. Interestingly, this drive has also garnered support from the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.
The campaign is part of the ‘Go Green with Tetra Pak program’ started by Tetra Pak in 2010. It encourages consumers to drop off their used cartons of juice, milk, ORS and other beverages at the nearest Sahakari Bhandar / Reliance Fresh stores or at any of the 200+ other locations that act as deposit points for the program. These cartons are then collected, converted to bales, and sent to the nearest recycler in Palgarh where they are converted into panel boards. These panel boards are used to make many useful items like garden benches, classroom desks and more to be donated back to the community. It takes roughly 11000 used carton packages to make a desk.
LG Electronics’ #Upgraderesponsibly Campaign
As a commitment towards a sustainable future, LG Electronics India on the occasion of Earth Day announces a passionate yet inspiring campaign themed #UpgradeResponsibly. The campaign focuses on how discarding old electronics irresponsibly hurts the environment which ends up affecting our health. The launch of this video aims to create awareness around the simple solution of discarding e-waste to help save the planet.
The heart-warming video is about a young couple who are about to discard their old refrigerator to LG as they recall their memories with it. The video very well communicates an emotional story that how old electronics deserve a respectful goodbye. It also offers information about how e-waste is a growing problem and discarding them irresponsibly can affect human health. The video provides information about how one can responsibly discard their old electronics by simply calling up the LG helpline. It shows how LG recycles or discard old electronics in a responsible & organized manner.
Norwegian Cruise Line Highlights its Waste Mitigation Practices
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)’s commitment to protect and preserve the oceans and the environment is at the very core of the company’s everyday business operations. As leaders in the cruise industry, NCL works towards mitigating actions that negatively impact our planet. To reduce the impact on the environment, NCL has introduced several initiatives aimed at lowering energy consumption, and therefore reducing their carbon footprint. On World Earth Day, NCL takes us through their several initiatives for waste mitigation.
Under its Sail and Sustain Stewardship Program, the Company has been working tirelessly to launch and improve upon several innovative initiatives to minimize waste to landfills, reduce the CO2 emissions rate, increase sustainable sourcing and invest in emerging technologies.
Environmental protection is an essential part of NCL’s mission and culture, as the company understands that the future of the cruise industry is closely intertwined with the health of our oceans and the destinations.
In 2019, the company became the first major global cruise company to eliminate single-use plastic beverage bottles across its fleet of 17 ships as well as its private destinations, saving over six million plastic water bottles every year. Additionally, it enforces a zero-tolerance policy for any items thrown overboard. If an environmental incident is observed, guests, crew and shoreside employees are encouraged to use the company’s environmental hotline to report them.
At NCL, reducing onboard waste of any kind is achieved through innovative technologies, staff training and implementing stringent recycling programs. One of the most successful programs implemented aboard its ships is Waste Heat Recovery (WHR). This process works by recovering heat from the engines and transferring it to freshwater piping — allowing us to utilize a free source of energy for improving water production and saving fuel.
NCL’s progressive waste mitigation program lessens the environmental impact of the operations, reduces pollution, promotes diversion of material from landfills, conserves natural resources and saves energy. The waste is reduced through reusing and recycling, with clear benchmarks serving as the measurement.
A rigorous recycling program ensures that NCL ships take advantage of every opportunity to recycle and reduce waste to landfill. In 2019, vessels who offloaded with Waste Management® in Florida were able to recycle over 2,300 tons of aluminium, cardboard/paper, scrap metals, plastics, wood pallets, and glass. These recycling efforts conserved the following resources-Mature trees, Landfill Airspace, Water, Electricity and GHG emissions.
PicsArt’s special stickers for Earth Day to promote climate change awareness
PicsArt has launched a range of special stickers, backgrounds, and templates to commemorate Earth Day, aimed at raising awareness around climate change. The new tools were created in line with this year’s theme “Restoring Our Earth,” and with the Government of India’s Green India Mission that highlights the importance of conserving forests and other ecosystems.
With the launch of these stickers, templates, and backgrounds, PicsArt aims to connect with its millennial users and spread awareness around the need for protecting our natural resources. These stickers will also allow the creators to create unique digital art to promote awareness on this Earth Day for a cleaner, greener, and healthier Earth. For the first time, the company has also introduced new Swachh Bharat stickers with the aim of promoting a cleaner, greener India.
#GLGoesGreen Initiative by GlobalLogic
#GLGoesGreen is a key initiative of GlobalLogic aimed at sustainability. The initiative aims to reduce, reuse and recycle resources, improve quality of life and most importantly conserve the environment. To achieve this, the company tries to inculcate best practices that drive positive change, promotes mutual trust, collaboration, engagement, infuses innovation and establishes a culture of giving back among employees.
The company is celebrating the #GLGoesGreen month entire April, dedicated to its sustainability initiatives and Earth Day. As part of the celebration, the company conducted following activities:
During #GLGoesGreen month, the employees actively participated in digital contests like Flaunt Your Green Space, where they clicked pictures of their kitchen gardens and green spaces at home and shared on social media channels promoting Green Earth. On Earth Day, the employees observed Earth Hour @ GL by switching off lights at home. With the third contest – Trash to Treasure, it aimed to engage not only the employees but their families as well in creating utility products out of used material, this lays emphasis on reusing the resources. The company ran a special Did You Know series to educate employees on various sustainability activities being done at GlobalLogic India.
Detel Foundation partners with ‘Grow Trees’ to drive a pan India plantation initiative
Detel Foundation, the CSR wing of Detel, a trustworthy and value-for-money consumer brand, today announced a strategic partnership with ‘Grow Trees’, India’s leading NGO that enables corporates and individuals to contribute towards environmental sustainability. Under this partnership, the NGO will plant saplings on behalf of every customer who purchases Detel Easy Plus, the world’s most economical electric vehicle.
Apart from the plantation, the NGO will provide a personalized certificate and a token of appreciation to the customers highlighting the positive impact of their purchases from Detel upon society. The certificate has a Geotag which corresponds to the tree planted on behalf of each customer. Thus, it helps them virtually visit the location of the sapling and keep a tab on its progress.
VAHDAM India’s Initiatives for Sustainability
As a young and responsible brand, VAHDAM is deeply committed to the planet and continues with its journey towards a greener and cleaner planet. In 2020, the company was amongst the first Indian tea brands to get the Climate Neutral and Plastic Neutral certifications.
The company measures its direct and indirect CO2 emission using the ‘Climate Neutral’ model where its farm-to-consumer carbon footprint is offset via investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in India.
In 2020, VAHDAM worked with rePurpose Global to measure. rePurpose Global is the World’s First Plastic Credit Platform and an independent body based in the United States dedicated to reducing waste, reviving lives, and restoring nature’s balance.
VAHDAM regularly measures its plastic footprint by carefully calculating the total amount of plastic that is used in its operations. This footprint is then neutralized by investments in projects in India working at ethical collection and disposal of plastics.
