An Eco-Citizenship Day to build environmental awareness!

15 kg of rubbish plus a pallet, gathered from Honfleur beach in just 2 hours — that's the haul our Verlinde teams collected during last autumn's Eco-citizen day.

At Verlinde, we decided to build our employees' environmental awareness by holding a citizen action day centred on beach pollution. With the associations Normandie Challenge and Rivages Propres, around twenty volunteers learned about the local ecosystem and how to protect it, before using proper equipment to clean up the beach.

Michele Lapouge, who organised the day, explains: "The guides walked us along Honfleur's beach and pointed out things most of us never notice — whelk spawning grounds, lugworm casts, ray or bird eggs, and shellfish, some of which arrive from abroad attached to ship hulls and alter our ecosystem. They explained the various sources of pollution, some of which end up in the food chain. Everyone then joined in the clean-up, and the sheer amount collected won over even the biggest doubters."

She adds: "This awareness day marks a first step for Verlinde. Given how enthusiastic everyone was, we asked each participant to suggest an idea for a future ecology-themed day. We hope to bring in even more people next time."