On Saturday, more than 2,000 volunteers answered the call from Refriango and Nação Verde to join the celebration of World Clean Up Day, collecting solid waste from Praia Amélia, in the Samba Urban District, Luanda. This year’s Clean Up campaign broke records, with volunteers successfully gathering around 30 tons of solid waste.
Luanda, September 18, 2023 – For four hours, volunteers committed to environmental protection, with support from Refriango and Coca-Cola, collected approximately 30 tons of waste (including PET plastic bottles and other solid waste) from Praia Amélia in Luanda.
The action marked World Clean Up Day, celebrated in over 197 countries, and has been held in Angola since 2018. This year, the event was attended by representatives from the Vice-President’s Office, the Ministry of Environment through the National Waste Agency, and 15 private companies invited by Refriango to join this noble cause.
The volunteer group included members from the environmental association Nação Verde, academic, cultural, and sports institutions, and schools within the National Commission of Angola for UNESCO (CNU-Angola) network.
Inspired by a massive beach clean-up in Estonia in 2008, World Clean Up Day aims to raise awareness about the waste management crisis, engaging citizens, civil society, governments, businesses, and NGOs in clean-up actions and solutions for waste management.
Nuno Cruz, representative of Nação Verde Association, co-organizer of the event, emphasized the importance of Angola’s participation through civil society, public and private companies in this global action, which unites nearly two hundred countries to clean the world.
"We urge companies to join the United Nations Global Compact to commit to its 10 principles and align their actions with the 17 sustainable development goals. We also want to highlight the partnerships with private companies, like Refriango and Coca-Cola, who support and lead movements like today’s, helping spread the message and recruit more partners and volunteers for environmental defense projects,” he stated.
Tânia Jardim, Refriango’s Marketing Manager, stressed that “the unity of everyone present today is undoubtedly a sign of responsibility and change.”
The manager of Coca-Cola’s official bottler in Angola highlighted that "raising awareness has been at the heart of Refriango and Coca-Cola's actions. Our daily work seeks not only to find more sustainable ways to produce our products but also to educate our consumers and partners on the importance of preserving the natural environment. When we come together as a community, we show we care about the health of our planet and future generations. We must work together with environmental organizations, local governments, and businesses to find sustainable solutions and ensure a cleaner, healthier future for all."
Paula Lima Matoso, Marketing Director for Coca-Cola in Angola, underscored “the importance of hundreds of volunteers marking World Clean Up Day in Angola year after year with persistent and impactful actions that have a real and visible impact on the community and the environment.” She continued, “This is a long-term effort that requires time, effort, and dedication from all those who believe sustainability is an urgent mission.” "Globally, Coca-Cola is deeply committed to this issue through the JAMII platform and the World Without Waste campaign. We transpose these same objectives locally because we know that it is on the ground that we must act and set an example, as we saw today at Praia Amélia.”
Refriango and Coca-Cola are involved in a series of projects with partner institutions that reinforce environmental sustainability in the country. Among these projects is the installation of recycling points in the cities of Benguela and Lobito by the end of the year.
In Benguela Province, in the municipality of Bocoio, Refriango, Coca-Cola, and the NGO ForAfrika marked World Water Day on March 22 with the rehabilitation of a water pump. This action benefited 3,000 residents in the municipality’s headquarters.
Together with Nação Verde and CNU-Angola, both companies launched the "Environmental Education in Schools" project last April, which led to the installation of 10 recycling points in Luanda schools and the training of teachers and 20,000 students aged 13 and above in environmental sustainability. This program also included the school competition "Planet Ocean, The Tides are Changing," as part of the "Ocean Movement" and the International Oceans Day (June 8), and participation in the CNU-Angola Ecological Fair during World Environment Day (June 5).
Earlier this year, another ambitious initiative, in partnership with Nação Verde, led to the installation of eight recycling points at Pumangol gas stations in Luanda for recycling and reusing paper, cardboard, glass, and PET plastic, with an expected collection of over 5,000 tons of solid waste by the end of the year.
