C&W staff takes anti-littering initiatives to heart

Cable & Wireless (C&W) has once again shown its ongoing commitment and support towards the protection and conservation of the Seychelles environment, and has also responded positively to the nationwide call for a waste-free Seychelles.

To commemorate this year’s “Clean up the World” Campaign, C&W showed its support in various ways.  Firstly, the company sponsored the Post Secondary Quiz competition which was won by the National Institute of Education (NIE).  Secondly, the company proactively organized an internal anti-littering campaign where staff was encouraged to collect used prepaid scratch cards and phone cards from the environment over a 2 week period.  A total of more than 5000 cards were collected during the campaign and the staff members who collected the most cards were individually rewarded with prizes in a short ceremony on Thursday the 20th of September at the C&W head office in Victoria.  

The initiative to collect used prepaid scratch cards, on such a large scale, by using staff working in the Telecommunications industry is a first for Seychelles and C&W Chief Executive and board member of the Environment Trust Fund (ETF), Mr. Charles Hammond was delighted with the results, “I am proud of the staff who took it upon themselves to support a very important national cause – that of a waste-free Seychelles. They showed great initiative by voluntarily committing themselves to the cause, and by doing so, set the example of the need for a behavioral change towards our fragile environment.  What made the activity even more rewarding was the fact that the staff not only collected used cards produced by Cable & Wireless, but were just as happy to collect those produced by our competitor!”

On top of this internal initiative, C&W also participated in the nationwide campaign from the 14th to the 16th of September.  On Saturday the 15th, a group of approximately 50 staff  volunteered to undertake a ‘hotspot’ cleaning exercise at Anse Royale.  Geared in boots and gloves, the staff members cleaned the marshy area behind the C&W Customer Services Centre and collected litter along the beach.  Despite rainy weather conditions, almost 50 sacks of litters and rubbish were collected.

These activities, organized by the staff of C&W to coincide with the “Clean up the World” campaign, highlight the company’s commitment towards working for a cleaner Seychelles and the emphasis that it puts on discharging its corporate social responsibilities.  This year alone, the company has engaged itself in numerous environmental initiatives including activities to commemorate Wetlands Day and Meteo Day. The company has also voiced its support towards the paper recycling project recently introduced and was also the first Telecommunications Company in Seychelles to introduce an “environmentally friendly” electronic prepaid top up system (eTopUp) in July.

September 28, 2007
Copyright 2007: Seychelles Weekly, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles