Throwback to the Big Clean-up Campaign in Taiwan and Bangladesh

Taiwan

Against the backdrop of offshore wind farms Formosa 1 and Formosa 2, more than 100 Jan De Nul employees and their family members gathered on the beach of Longfeng Fishing Port in Taiwan. The goal? To restore the beach environment to its natural state. For three hours, the motivated group collected trash along the shoreline, with a stunning result of more than 6,000 kilograms of waste cleaned up.

“We set up this team and family activity on World Cleanup Day to create awareness among our team for the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Jan De Nul’s Code Zero ambition. Contributing to a cleaner local environment is part of our duty in delivering projects around the world. It is also a way for us to express our gratitude to local stakeholders living around the area where construction works have taken place.” – Lin Joseph, Quality Document Controller at Jan De Nul.

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh our colleagues did not sit still either on 17 September. During a clean-up walk along the land reclamation area and the Rabnabad Canal, Jan De Nul collected rubbish washed up along the coast. Over 2 kilometres of coastline, they collected as much as 10m³ of waste. With this action, the participants not only contributed to cleaner beaches and banks, but also to better water quality and the protection of biodiversity. And last but certainly not least, they raised local awareness for good waste management.

Our colleagues in Bangladesh also show that they care about a cleaner environment even beyond World Cleanup Day. At the Payra site, where 18 Jan De Nul vessels are currently active to make the port more accessible, waste sorting and recycling is also an important item on the agenda. Subcontractors collect and sort waste fractions such as wood, cardboard, plastic bottles and cans, and then offer them to the Bengal market for recycling. This approach not only saves waste disposal costs, but also promotes local industry and recycling mentality.

“There is still a long way to go to reach the full potential of recycling in Bangladesh, but with our toolbox campaigns and on-site promotion, we try to engage not only our own personnel, but through our Bengali workforce also the local communities and subcontractors, to participate in this necessary evolution.” – Jan Moens, Senior Project Manager Dredging/Civil

Belgium

And of course, we did not sit back in our own country either. 218 colleagues from our offices, centres and sites took to the streets on 17 September for a large-scale clean-up action. For this, we cooperated with Mooimakers and ILVA, who supported us with materials and tips to organise the action. In total, nearly 2,000 kilograms of rubbish were collected. To thank them for their efforts, Mooimakers even rewarded five sites with a Heras banner. These will soon appear on the sites of Brussels Constitution, Amoras, Oosterweel, Machelen Woluwelaan and Deinze Leietop.