20 Jun 2023

On 5 June each year, World Environment Day is a reminder that even the smallest steps towards sustainability can have a significant impact. At Intertek, we see this event as another opportunity to reinforce our commitment to Build Back Ever Better – and our offices around the world have different ways of doing this.

Planting in Bangladesh

We extended our South Asia planting initiative to Dhaka, Bangladesh, where our local team devised a clever solution for a lack of space. Wanting to plant saplings, they asked two customers – Plummy Fashions Ltd and Crony Apparels Ltd – who readily offered land. In a crowded megacity like Dhaka, the lack of space can make building a green future very difficult, but this project demonstrates what teamwork can achieve.

The population density can also be an obstacle to introducing greenery at home or in the workplace. To help our employees overcome this, we organised a discussion and demonstration called Urban Gardening: Bringing Nature Indoors.

Reusing, repurposing and recycling in India

In the week leading up to World Environment Day, we held collection drives for old or surplus clothing and stationery across some of our Indian sites, including Delhi, Gurugram, Bengaluru and Tirupur. We did this in association with various local nongovernmental organisations, distributing the collected items to be reused or repurposed for people in need.

Tackling plastic pollution in Ghana

Our teams in Ghana embraced the 2023 theme of 'Beat Plastic Pollution'. Our employees joined forces with a local company along with Solution Oriented Youth Africa, a group pioneering sanitation and climate change, and the Students Representative Council of the local University of Professional Studies for a clean-up project at Laboma Beach, Accra. In addition to picking up plastic waste, the group, numbering more than 50, talked to local people, explaining the need to keep the beach clean and conserve our environment.