The next projects we would like to share were carried out by our staff from the Finance, Association Management, Sponsorship and IT departments. They focused on eliminating the use of pesticides, promoting bio-diversity and purchasing local fruits and vegetables. All these initiatives were successfully achieved in line with one of our core values – Team Spirit.
Let’s start with the sustainability activity of the finance department.
Department: Finance
Project: Pick (and eat) organic strawberries
Many local farmers provide access to some or all of their strawberry fields so that everyone has the chance to ‘pick your own’ organic strawberries. The entire finance department paid a visit to one such local farm to pick a basket (or two) of strawberries and to eat them together.
With this project the accounting team wanted to generate more attention to local and especially organically grown products. This is a great way to support local farmers and help reduce the amount of imported goods, and the impact of transporting those goods from overseas. The benefit to the environment is that farmers who grow organic fruits and vegetables do not use any man-made pesticides. The use of these substances does considerable harm to the planet, as residues eventually find their way to the ground water. In addition, eating fruits and vegetable grown with the use of synthetic pesticides can have a negative impact on peoples’ health. Once again, another of our core values – Caring, becomes a guiding principle – we care both for the planet and our health.
Once again, another of our core values – Caring, becomes a guiding principle – we care both for the planet and our health.
Department: Association Management, Sponsorship, IT
Project: Wild bee-friendly balcony plants, beehive and local market booth
Even though the World Bee Day was on the 20th of May, the sustainability projects of the above teams focused on the protection of this vital and – unfortunately – endangered insect. Why? Because worldwide bee mortality is becoming an increasing problem. Therefore, these Congrex teams wanted to take some bold steps to change their everyday habits and, most importantly, achieve some small but effective results.
One of the problems is that it has become more and more difficult for bees to find food. The reason for this is the decreasing number and variety of flowering plants, as well as the increasing distances between these feeding sites and the bees’ hives. Thanks to the Association Management team, several bee-friendly balcony flowers were planted on the roof terrace of our offices. This should shorten the distance some bees have to fly in our city.
