The volunteers of the Romanian Post Foundation cleaned up the Tomis beach in Constanta thus marking the event World Cleanup Day. Cleanup Day is an international initiative organized every year by the global organization Let’s Do It! World. This year, PostEurop, the association of public postal operators in Europe, which includes the Romanian Post, joined the action.
PostEurop participated in the World Cleanup Day with 18 countries, including Romania which, through the volunteers of the Romanian Post Foundation, cleaned up Tomis beach in Constanta at the end of the tourist season. On this occasion, the Romanian Post intends to draw attention to the negative impact that different types of waste have on the environment.
“Volunteer postal employees decided to not rest this weekend, but go to work to make Tomis beach clean again. They found a lot of cigarette butts on the sand, for example, a sign that the beach is considered by some to be one big ashtray. The action of our volunteers may be just a drop in the ocean, but symbolically it is extremely valuable. Because in this way we are sounding the alarm and reminding Romanians of the hundreds of millions of tonnes of illegal waste that end up in nature and in the oceans every year. In the face of this tragedy, we have an obligation to take a stand and even the smallest step counts”, stated Claudia Bibire, Coordinator of the Romanian Post Foundation.
In order to reinforce the postal employees’ environmental message, during the Cleanup Day, the Art Museum in Constanța exhibited the works of the well-known painter Petre Chirea, a former postal employee who worked for a period of 15 years within the company. His works are a manifesto against the human carelessness that led to the death of thousands of albatrosses on Midway Island in the North Pacific Ocean in 2009 through plastic ingestion.
“I painted one of the albatrosses that die after their stomachs explode with pieces of plastic that they nibble from the water and the beach, sensing these are food. Plastic corks, lighters with gas inside and toothbrushes have all been found in the bellies of these innocent birds. Photographer Chris Jordan captured the story long ago, and his photos have become known all over the world. He was my inspiration. It’s very sad because this tragedy has remained unsolved to this day and I think I’m not wrong in saying that we can multiply it endlessly with any living creature in the wild.”, stated the artist Petre Chirea.
Who is PostEurop
PostEurop is the association of public postal operators in Europe. It was founded in 1993 and this year it celebrates 30 years of promoting cooperation, sustainable growth and continuous innovation. PostEurop’s over 50 member postal operators and territories together operate more than 175,000 post offices, with more than 2 million employees and connect 800 million people every day. PostEurop is officially recognised by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and is based in Brussels, Belgium.
What is World Cleanup Day
Cleanup Day is an annual global program of social action aimed at combating the global problem of solid waste, including marine waste. It is coordinated by the global organization Let’s Do It! World, based in Tallinn, Estonia.
Who is the Romanian Post Foundation
It is the first foundation of a state-owned company in Romania. Established in late 2022, its aim is to deliver good in the communities where only the postman is said to reach. The foundation carries out educational and environmental projects that aim to promote both social responsibility and environmental protection.
Source: Posta Romana