More than 220 Ever Rich Duty Free staff and customers came together on International Coastal Cleanup Day in Taipei to remove 1,350kg of marine waste in one hour.
For the initiative organised last week by the American Ocean Conservation Association, Ever Rich chose beaches close to the Linkou District in New Taipei City – 12km from Taoyuan International Airport – for the clean-up effort by volunteers.
Over 100 Ever Rich staff came forward for the ESG initiative, with the remainder of the volunteers travel retailer customers. Ever Rich called on consumers via a member system and social media using the #Duty4Taiwan hashtag and Facebook fan page.
The International Coastal Cleanup Day event is part of Ever Rich’s wider commitment to tackling marine waste. From 1-17 September, the company’s staff participated in more than ten beach cleaning activities in locations including Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Kinmen, Penghu, Green Island and Xiaoliuqiu.
Across these activities, 368 volunteers removed 2,279kg of coastal waste.
Earlier this year, Ever Rich Duty Free announced a series of measures to reduce its carbon footprint of 9 million kg through three major policies. They centre around reducing plastic waste, saving energy and using environmentally-friendly packaging.
Initiatives include the travel retailer offering discounted prices for consumers purchasing coffee and tea by using their own cups and free member points if no shopping bag is taken when purchases are made.
The company is also working with green suppliers to introduce products made using environmentally-friendly materials, and has situated smart recycling machines outside shops.
Through this kind of work, Ever Rich said it hopes to “convey the green concept into everyone’s daily consumption habits, in order to protect Taiwan and the earth”.
