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Sibur International’s volunteers took part in an environmental cleanup campaign in Shanghai

28 january 2021

Volunteers from Sibur International in Shanghai recently took part in an environmental campaign called Ocean Waste Monitoring. 

SIBUR’s team was assigned a 50 sq. m. plot along the Pacific coastline, and there alone, nearly 6 kilograms of waste got collected. Having finished collecting, the volunteers embarked on a painstaking effort of sorting, weighing, and examining the material of the collected samples and their origin. The  brand names of various manufacturers found on the collected waste samples were analyzed and entered in a special database.

The database is maintained on a mobile app developed by the campaign’s organizers. This app allows one to see the full scope of the results of the volunteers’ field work. An official report published in 2019 contained information about the companies whose products are found in the marine waste. This urged manufacturers to start a search for more environmentally friendly packaging alternatives.

By the end of the clean-up day, 43.82 kg of waste of varying origins ended up being collected. SIBUR's corporate volunteers expressed their willingness to participate in future campaigns of this kind and to continue supporting the water-resources conservation program!

Chris Fang, a volunteer: As we were doing the cleanup, it dawned on me that we can protect our environment with more than just the traditional methods like cleaning our land from different kinds of waste and litter. There are now more and more of science-based, effective and reliable ways to protect our home, including data gathering, sample analysis and targeted cleanup campaigns. I'm proud to see that such new ways are emerging to help us solve the problem of global pollution, and that we, as volunteers, are given a chance to get involved. I am confident that with time we will succeed!

Roman Ishutin, a volunteer: As a yachtsman, I do realize that I am responsible for keeping the ocean clean, because I am sharing the same environment with its other inhabitants. What goes into the ocean, stays there in most cases. To the best of my knowledge, 70% of marine waste settles down onto the sea bottom, 20% remains floating on the surface, and only 10% ends up getting to the shore. During our campaign, it got me thinking: "How much of it can really be collected and recycled, or buried? What is the next step that I can personally take to keep our ocean clean?”

Julia Bylenok, a volunteer: These days, most people tend to get too fixated on living their day-to-day lives, and so this makes it hard to find the time and energy for things like volunteering, and that’s why I'm very grateful to the Formula for Good Deeds for initiatives like this. Not only do they remind us to do good for others and for our communities, but they also provide us with opportunities to do volunteer work on our own. Ocean waste monitoring is an important step in helping to conserve our environment, and I'm happy I was able to contribute to this noble cause.

Stepan Skirda, a volunteer: After I became a father, I noticed that I started thinking about what I could do for the next generation. The amount of plastics and other waste that gets accumulated in our homes is astounding, I don't want any of it to end up in the ocean. Nor do I want my son to live in a world drowning in waste. I'm glad that today I was able to contribute to conserving the nature and I want to be able to do even more going forward.