P&O Maritime Logistics Organise Beach Clean-Ups

Environmental Sustainability is important not only for our Members, but also for the local communities and habitats and ecosystems where they work.  This Environmental Bulletin highlights five examples of community engagement initiatives, which form part of the suite of measures P&O Maritime Logistics (P&OML) undertake to deliver on its commitment to the environment. 

An example from Turkmenistan

A coastal clean up was organised by the P&OML Turkmenistan team in Khazar port.  The team collected plastic bottles, bags, fishing nets, glass bottles, wooden bars, cardboard and other discarded items.  Plastics volume was 250kg. 

For more on plastic wastes and what other IMCA Members have been doing, see IMCA Environmental Bulletin No. 1586 “Playing our part in the global marine plastics challenge”.  Other business units, vessels and offices were then encouraged to participate in similar initiatives.  This activity will be disseminated through postings on HSE boards and raised in the monthly HSE initiative.

An example from Cyprus

A coastal clean up was organised by the P&OML team in Cyprus, with support of the Municipality of Limassol on the Olympia B beach (Thalassokoritso) in Limassol.  In total, 10 bags of waste were collected with over 30 kg of waste.

An example from Azerbaijan

The team in P&OML Azerbaijan conducted a beach clean-up on the coast of the Caspian Sea. In total, 26 bags with 700kg of plastic and 100kg of other waste were collected from the highly motivated team. They braved temperatures of 44 degrees Celsius which earned a lot of ice cream afterwards.

An example from the UAE

The team from P&OML UAE demonstrated the pursuit of a sustainable world by volunteering in the Coastal Cleanup initiative. In total, 314kg of trash consisting of various discarded and non-biodegradable pieces of plastic, metal, glass and others was collected.

An example from Paraguay

P&OML Paraguay met with peddlers on the bikeway of their block, engaging with them to discuss how waste affects the local environment. They also discussed the importance of three key aspects of the waste hierarchy i.e. reduce, reuse and recycle. To learn more about the circular economy and moving from a linear to circular approach please see IMCA’s Recommended Code of Practice on Environmental Sustainability. As part of this engagement, P&OML Paraguay handed out GO GREEN t-shirts and face masks kits, as well as cleaning supplies to keep the area clean for
all users. This was positively received. Through this community engagement, all business units were reminded of their responsibility for environmental protection and of the importance of the waste hierarchy. These positives would also be discussed at a ‘toolbox talk’ or HSE monthly meeting.

Information Note includes photographs from: Turkmenistan, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, UAE and Paraguay