World Cleanup Day 2024: Leonardo Hotels staff show their commitment to the environment
Berlin, 18. September 2024 - Leonardo Hotels Central Europe is underlining its support for a clean planet by taking part in World Cleanup Day once again this year. In light of the huge interest shown last year, the company has decided to expand the campaign to a period of more than one whole week.
“Cleanup Week” will take place from 13 to 20 September with the involvement of almost all Leonardo Hotels in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Italy, Romania, France, Hungary and Czechia. All employees who volunteer to participate will be issued with T-shirts, litter grippers and gloves. More than 70 hotels and a total of 500 employees are on board. Staff will be released from their normal work duties in order to join the initiative. Careful use of resources and protection of the planet are an integral part of the company’s groupwide Sustainability Strategy, which encompasses more than 160 aspects. “Our comprehensive Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance Strategy thrives from the commitment of our employees,” said Natascha Michaelsen, Project Coordinator Sustainability at Leonardo Hotels Central Europe. “Actions such as Cleanup Week show that the notion of sustainability is a strong part of our corporate culture.”
Everyone is set to lend a hand
Clean-up operations will be happening at most Leonardo Hotels locations in Germany. The Headquarters of Leonardo Hotels Central Europe has already completed an eye-catching activity to get the ball rolling this year. On 10 September, just under 20 administrative staff members from the various departments tackled a section of the River Spree opposite Plänterwald in the Treptow-Köpenick district of Berlin. Equipped with life jackets, they paddled kayaks up as far as Rummelsburg Bay whilst fishing all manner of rubbish out of the river along the way. The items retrieved included a car tyre, a buoy, bottles and plastic waste.
The six Leonardo Hotels in Berlin also took part in World Cleanup Day by collecting refuse in their respective neighbourhoods. Sites visited included Friedrichshain Park, the River Dahme in Köpenick, the Ku’damm and the city’s west-central and central areas. Most hotels view the removal of rubbish from the environment to be a matter of honour. But the team at the NYX Hotel Hamburg also view it as a sporting challenge. Armed with dip nets, six members of staff will be taking to stand-up paddle boards to remove floating waste from the River Fleet outside the hotel’s front door. 20 colleagues from the eleven Leonardo Hotel in Munich will be joining forces in order to undertake concerted action this year. Starting at the Leonardo Royal Munich, they will proceed together to the nearby Olympic Park, picking up anything they find on the way.
In very good company
Leonardo employees succeeded in filling up a large number of rubbish sacks last year. 820 litres of trash were collected in Munich alone. The most common items found were plastic packaging materials, bottle caps, cigarette ends, pizza boxes, glass and plastic bottles and newspapers. However, the litter pickers were also able to ensure the proper disposal of single-use syringes, batteries, aerosol tins and paint cans.
World Cleanup Day is a major global social action programme. It has even been included by the UN in the official calendar of International Days. The date fixed is 20 September. In 2023, more than 19 million people in around 190 countries were involved. Their participation sends out a strong signal in terms of combating the pollution of our planet.