Cleaning with companies - Earth Hour

Katowice City Hall supports the ambitions of entrepreneurs to get involved in activities for the local community and environment, so together with Sopra Steria it is inaugurating the Cleaning with companies - Earth Hour initiative. This encourages the companies to become active in a new field.

“For several years we have been involving local communities in the "Cleaning Districts" campaign. We see that residents are more and more willing to organise themselves, while the interest of companies in ecological activities for the city is growing. This fits the corporate social responsibility. You can show a different side, make contacts outside work and join the combat for a better climate. That's why this time we are Cleaning with companies, says Marcin Krupa, the mayor of Katowice. 

Cleaning together 

The date is not accidental. The worldwide "Earth Hour" takes place annually on the last Saturday of March. Its purpose is to make people reflect on climate change and raise awareness of excessive energy consumption. For one hour residents, as well as institutions and corporations, symbolically turn off lights at homes and in the offices. 

“We decided to do something better this year and act for the Earth. Therefore, on March 25, instead of turning the lights off and on, we want to get together and clean up the area in Katowice," says Ewa Ziemba of Sopra Steria. The same happened in September 2022, when employees of this company, volunteers of Free Tea Association and residents, cleaned up the green areas by the Borki pond in Szopienice.  

Free Tea Association, the leader of the ‘Zero Waste’ movement in Silesia, is also a partner of the initiative this time, and it will take care of its smooth organisation. Katowice will provide gloves, bags and a waste container while the local tap water will be available for drinking. 

The event will begin on Saturday, March 25 at 10 a.m. The organizers encourage residents to choose the places that need cleaning. This can be done on the Free Tea Association's Facebook profile - Stowarzyszenie Wolnej Herbaty | Facebook , and the final selection will be decided by an online vote, which will last until March 17.

                                                               fot. UMK

Digital cleanup day

Companies interested in the project can still submit their applications. They will receive, among other things, the opportunity to promote themselves on the organizers' social media, as well as materials from Sopra Steria's internal campaign related to cleaning mailboxes on company computers. This is a reference to the world digital cleaning day (March 18). Also in the digital world there is a huge amount of junk. Unnecessary emails, files, apps, duplicate photos and videos are digital waste. Deleting it will not only reduce the huge amount of CO2, but also extend lifespan of our electronic devices. More can be found at: DIGITAL CLEANUP DAY – Digital Cleanup Day.

Companies interested in the event can register until March 23, at: katoobywatel@katowice.eu.

fot. Agnieszka Majnusz

About Cleaning Districts campaign

The Cleaning Districts campaign was launched in 2018. Every year residents submitted the areas to be cleaned up, and then, through voting, created the final list of places, which were later cleaned up with the support of the city and NGO, Free Tea Association. The fourth edition in 2021 was a record-breaker. They managed to clean up nearly 40 hectares of land, filling up 239 bags for glass, 293 bags for plastic/metal, and 236 bags for mixed garbage (total: about 770 bags). In addition, bulky waste and electro-waste were collected, including: sinks, bathtub, fridges, vacuum cleaners, carpets and 111 tires. Last year, two special editions of the campaign were held: "Polish-Ukrainian subotnik," with the help of Ukrainian citizens living in Katowice, and "Plogging on the wheel," which involved Sopra Steria employees.

fot. UMK