The 5th of June is the World Environment Day, and also the Day of the Ecologist. The problem of global pollution of the environment is not novel, each year scientists and companies develop new and more effective methods for its solution. One of such companies is Coca-Cola HBC Russia, which cooperates with SUSU. We asked the Coca-Cola Hellenic regional director for external and internal communications Marina Mokina, what Coca-Cola does for improving ecological situation, and how students of our university participate in the activity.
– How did your cooperation with our university start?
– Cooperation between Coca-Cola HBC Russia and SUSU started in 2007, and it has already been 10 years that we annually implement projects for students of this university. For a few years already our company has been holding competitions for language internship in London. Last year, 10 students and 10 postgraduates were awarded with scholarships and grants of 10 000 to 30 000 rubles from the Coca-Cola HBC Russia company.
– Why is it important for Coca-Cola to improve the ecological situation? Which ecological problems do you observe in our region?
–One of the most important projects which are implemented in cooperation with SUSU is the ecological educational project “Green Teams”, which was initially organized by the Coca-Cola HBC Russia company in 2004. During this time, the “Green Teams” united more than 57 thousand people all over the country in a struggle for the cleanliness of Russian cities: volunteers clear city parks, river’s and water bodies’ banks of rubbish, plant trees, organize ecology lessons and workshops for teenagers. Among those who become volunteers there are the company’s employees and their family members, representatives of cities’ administrations, students, ecological organizations, and local citizens who are not indifferent to the future of their region. During this time, by combined efforts, almost 1700 tons of rubbish was gathered; part of it was sent for recycling. In 2017, the Chelyabinsk “Green Teams” along with SUSU students came out for cleaning a quarry pit.
Specially note that protection of environment is one of the key priorities of Coca-Cola HBC Russia. And one of the most important topics is responsible attitude to gathering and processing of wastes. Each resident of Russia produces half a ton of wastes per year. According to statistics, only 4-5% of this amount is then sent for further recycling. Rubbish that is not recyclable, is sent to dump fields, buried or burnt. From the position of ecology and environment security, the option of recycling is more preferable. An important stage of recycling is sorting. It is exactly on how efficiently this process is carried out depends the amount of wastes which will not be thrown away but used as recyclable material.
– Have you got a plan for solving these problems?
– Separate collecting of wastes supposes placing containers for different types of wastes in the cities. Due to this measure, wastes do not mix together. But what types of wastes are we talking about? What should not be mixed? There are different classifications of wastes for different needs. But regarding the separate collecting, it is more often that special containers are installed for plastics, glass, paper and other wastes, which can be sent for recycling.
At this very time, Coca-Cola Russia is implementing a scale project “Share with us”. It is targeted at promoting in our country the culture and practice for separate collecting of wastes. A part of it is an eco-flashmob, with the help of which we are trying to excite interest to this topic. Until June 5 of 2017, everybody who is willing can join the flashmob and complete a few interesting challenges. Another important goal of the flashmob is teaching people to deal with wastes as with a source of valuable recyclable material for producing new things.