EWWR

For the past 8 consecutive years, Malta Freeport Terminals has been participating with great success in the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR), an annual initiative that brings together thousands of awareness-raising actions about sustainable waste management from across Europe during a single week.

The aim is to encourage a wide range of audiences to come up with practical solutions and activities that help to reduce waste or increase recycling and promote these actions amongst others. This makes the EWWR an ideal opportunity for all private, public, and non-profit entities to make a difference for the environment. Freeport employees from various departments including operations, engineering, purchasing, and finance participate in the team building events organised during EWWR to encourage the employees to implement actions that address the “3Rs”: Reduce waste, Reuse products, Recycle material. For the team building events, the employees are divided into different groups and they collaborate with the local community to perform certain tasks, all within the theme to address the “3Rs”: Reduce waste, Reuse products, Recycle material as well as waste management.  In recent years Malta Freeport is involving the community of Birzebbuga and the Birzebbuga Primary School students for the team building activities. As part of the team-building activity in addition to the importance of education on the 3Rs, the employees also disseminate information to the residents of Birzebbuga regarding the environmental measures being taken by the Freeport. Malta Freeport Terminals’ employees also participate in clean-up activities of areas at the locality of Birzebbuga which are identified by the Birzebbuga Local Council as part of the Freeport’s efforts to contribute in the cleaning up of its neighbourhood.  Malta Freeport Terminals’ employees have also planted various trees in the locality of Birzebbuuga as part of the activiities  organised during EWWR.

Malta Freeport Terminals participated with great success in EWWR between 2013 and 2020 as follows:

EWWR 2019 challenged each one of us to change our own habits first and then inspire others to follow suit as we can have a positive impact on the world around us. Freeport staff from various departments including operations, engineering, purchasing, and finance participated in the team building event organised during EWWR to encourage the employees to reduce their waste in everyday life. The employees were divided into 3 themes and they had to seek the collaboration with the local community of Birzebbga, where the Port is located, to perform certain tasks, all within the theme to address the “3Rs”: Reduce waste, Reuse products, Recycle material as well as waste management. As part of the team-building activity in addition to the importance of education on the 3Rs, the employees also disseminated information to the residents of Birzebbuga regarding the environmental measures being taken by the Freeport. The activities were held in various places in Birzebbuga including the market place, the church area, and Birzebbga Primary School. In fact, for one of the activities organised the employees had to involve the students to do musical instruments from recycled material.

Employees from the Malta Freeport Terminals volunteered to help the Birzebbuga Local Council clean up the locality.  The clean-up of the locality was part of the team-building activity. Employees also planted various flower plants during this event.

The thematic focus of EWWR 2018 was ‘Hazardous Waste Prevention Time to Detox’. Hazardous waste poses a greater risk to our health and our environment when compared to other types of waste and hence it is crucial to reduce our consumption of products with hazardous contents as much as possible and to make sure that hazardous waste is properly disposed of.

During the team building activity, Malta Freeport wanted to disseminate the thematic focus for this year with both its employees and also wanted to spread this key message with the community of Birzebbuga by organising team building exercises to attain its target in a fun way. The employees also emphasised on the importance of the separation of waste as well as on the different initiatives being pursued by the Freeport to protect the environment. The personnel were divided into four teams for the team building event and each team was given a map and plotting tools to determine their route in order to complete the different challenges within the shortest time possible. The four coordinated challenges were the four places selected for the activities namely Birzebbuga Church Parvis, Birzebbuga Primary School, the Aquatic Sports Club and Pretty Bay. To be able to undertake the four challenges, each team had to answer a number of questions about hazardous waste prevention, the importance of waste separation, and on the measures being taken by the Company to minimise its impact on the environment. The challenge organised at the school was ‘Sort It Out’ and for this challenge, the teams were assisted by a number of Level 5 students.

During EWWR 2018  Malta Freeport Terminals donated to the Primary School of Birzebbuga 2 used computers but which are in very good condition. These computers were assembled by the Company’s IT employees using a number of parts from several computes. Malta Freeport Terminals’ employees also participated in a clean-up activity of an area at the locality of Birzebbuga and  2,300 kg of waste was collected. Before commencing the teambuilding building event, officials from Wasteserv gave different presentations to the Freeport’s employees on the importance of waste separation as well as on the various initiatives that can be taken to reduce waste.

The festive season at Malta Freeport Terminals took a distinct recycling theme, as employees created a Christmas tree, snowmen and sleighs for Santa using items that would normally be discarded as Malta Freeport Terminals participated once again in European Week for Waste Reduction with the theme of this year being ‘Reuse and Repair – Give it a new life!’

Eighteen Freeport staff from various departments embraced the principle of reuse and repair and sought to give a new life to several items including tyres, pallets, wood and other forms of waste. The items were displayed at the Freeport’s pedestrian gate area. Staff also took part in a clean-up activity of Birzebbuga, where the Freeport is located, and Malta Freeport Terminals also donated four computers to the local council. Two of these will be used in the library, while the others will be installed at the Birzebbuga Day Centre.

During EWWR 2016 the Company organised various activities including a team building activity for its employees which focused on the theme of EWWR 2016 – Packaging Waste Reduction. The team building event involved a treasure hunt with a twist to encourage Malta Freeport Terminal’ employees to participate. The main objective of the activity was the effective dissemination of this year’s core message by the Freeport’s employees to various people from all walks of life. In fact, the Freeport’s employees were asked to visit various places as well as to undertake a number of tasks to be able to convey the key message of EWWR 2016 in an innovative way with as many persons as possible. operations. Malta Freeport Terminals’ employees also participated in a clean up activity whch was followed up by tree plantation in the locality of Birzebbuga. It is important that the initiatives taken during EWWR to reduce waste will be maintained as it is only in this manner that we can have a positive impact on the environment.

The slogan chosen to celebrate EWWR 2014 was ‘Nurture the Earth – compost your waste! Various events were organised for the Company’s Employees, their children and also for a number of third parties whose operations are directly related to Malta Freeport Terminals. 

Undoubtedly the highlight of the event was the ‘Trekking & Abseiling Teambuilding Activity’ which was truly enjoyed by all the participants. The group started the trekking experience at Hagar Qim and walked up to Ghar Lapsi where the abseiling activity was held.  During the activity, the participants were challenged to venture around unfamiliar locations, rock scramble, and all of them also eagerly participated in the abseiling initiative.

Other initiatives were pursued during this year’s event including the planting of trees at the Freeport Centre, by the CEO of Malta Freeport Terminals, Mr Alex Montebello. After the planting of the tree, the CEO highlighted the various measures pursued by Malta Freeport Terminals to protect the environment. It was highlighted that this year the Company was awarded the ISO 14001 certification, an internationally recognised standard for an Environmental Management System. Other trees were planted by the employees that participated in the Trekking & Abseiling Team Building Activity at Xrobb l-Ghagin and at Qajjenza. A clean-up activity was also held at the Container Terminals during EWWR & Environment Day 2014.

Mural

A mural, titled ‘Different Perspectives’ depicting different environmental realities was painted with acrylics on cardboard at the Freeport‘s premises by Freeport employees on the occasion of EWWR and Malta Freeport  Terminals’ Environment Day 2014. The mural illustrates a pair of eyes, whereby the right eye portrays positive environmental initiatives whilst the left eye exposes the brutality of our actions on the environment. The mural is embellishing the foyer of the Freeport Centre where it was hung.  Stephen Calleja coordinated the painting of the mural and originated the idea whilst Malcolm Caruana and John Falzon painted the mural.  Different Perspectives’ is a truly magnificent piece of art, which is being valued by Malta Freeport’s employees and all the visitors of the Freeport.

Malta Freeport Terminals celebrated with great success ‘Malta Freeport Environment Day 2013’. The event started off with the ‘Clean-Up Activity’, whereby an area which was identified by the Birzebbugia Local Council was cleaned by Malta Freeport’s employees and members of the Local Council as part of the Freeport’s efforts to contribute in the cleaning up of its neighbourhood. This activity was followed by two main presentations, one on the initiatives being pursued by Malta Freeport to minimise its operations’ effect on the environment and the other presentation on the Waste Management System was delivered by Wasteserv Malta Limited. During this event Dr Duncan Borg Myatt, Director HR, Health & Safety, Quality expressed his sincere appreciation to all the employees who participated in the event and congratulated them for the clean-up activity which was truly a big success. Dr Borg Myatt also presented the Mayor of Birzebbugia, Mr Joseph Farrugia and Mr Joseph Baldacchino a cheque of €1,000 to be used for the plantation of trees in Birzebbugia. Funds for this cause were collected by Malta Freeport Terminals’ employees and the amount doubled by the Company.

The day culminated with the much awaited ‘Go Green GPS Challenge’ Competition where the participants took part in the latest Treasure Hunt set around the village of Birzebbugia using Tablets specifically pre-loaded with ‘GPS Challenge Apps’ and all the latest features including Interactive Map and Live Scoreboard.  Information on the environmental initiatives being taken by the Freeport and general information on the environment were communicated to the participants through the ‘Go Green GPS Challenge’ using an innovative and entertaining learning experience. As part of the initiatives taken by Malta Freeport for Environment Day, a presentation was delivered to all the students of St Benedict College Birzebbugia Primary on the initiatives being followed by Malta Freeport to reduce the Freeport’s impact of its operations on the environment.

In 2013 Malta Freeport Terminals won the  ‘Business Category’ of the European Week for Waste Reduction Awards (EWWR) for the multitude of waste reduction actions which the Company implemented during EWWR 2013 involving employees, their families, clients and other third parties. The Ministerfor Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change, Hon Leo Brincat presented certificates to all participants and the awards to the winners of each category, namely Businesses, Schools, Public Entities, NGOs, Individual Citizens and other Organisations

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