Directors lend a hand as Cathay Pacific staff volunteers clean up Lantau Beach

2012-10-22 — /travelprnews.com/ — Around 100 Cathay Pacific staff and families/friends joined together on Saturday to clean up a stretch of beach at Tong Fuk on the southern shore of Lantau Island. The volunteers collected some 500 kilograms of debris and left the beach in pristine condition after hours of backbreaking work.

The CX Volunteers, the airline’s volunteering team drawn from staff across all areas of the company, has been participating in the beach cleanup since 2009. More than 2,800 kilograms of debris has been collected in the four clean-up sessions conducted so far.

In line with the International Coastal Cleanup, an annual global event initiated by Ocean Conservancy, the Volunteers have been working with the event’s Hong Kong coordinator, The Green Council, to record the types of waste collected from the beach. This information will be analysed and used to identify the sources of debris and to develop initiatives to help reduce marine debris globally.

Cathay Pacific Director Corporate Affairs Chitty Cheung and Director Service Delivery Philippe de Gentile-Williams joined the latest beach cleaning activity. The former also oversees the airline’s environment portfolio and is also Chief of the CX Volunteers.

“This was a great effort by our staff volunteers and I thank them all for giving up their free time to take part,” said Ms Cheung. “Cathay Pacific has a strong commitment to sustainable development and we are happy to get involved in activities such as this which serve multi- purposes – it keeps up with our efforts in sustainability development by protecting the environment, contributes to the local community as a socially responsible corporation, and provides us an opportunity for team building and staff engagement. Most of all, however, it helps us give something back to Hong Kong, the home and root of the airline for 66 years.”

###