Simply Sustainable: Meet Our Green Team
How can we ensure that our company acts responsibly when it comes to sustainability?
At myhotelshop we are proud to highlight our Green Team, an employee group that brings together staff who are passionate about sustainability and about making a positive impact on the planet and the environment.
We spoke with our colleague André Schlarbaum about the origins and recent initiatives of MHS’s Green Team.
How was the Green Team formed?
One of the workshops of last year's “Myhotelshop Team Week” was supposed to tackle the topics of environmental sustainability and social commitment. We gathered ideas and defined a “Green Team” as well as a “Social Team” to structure upcoming activities well.
The Green Team tackles indoor as well as outdoor activities. “Indoor” includes e.g. keeping an eye on the electricity consumption, water usage, and its quality, order, and waste management (and others) while the outdoor team organises recurring waste collection sessions in the nearby parks as well as attending tree-planting activities across the city of Leipzig and its surrounding.
What has the Green Team been up to the past year?
In the past (last Autumn, this Winter, and this Spring) we took part in a waste collection program by the cleansing department of Leipzig where companies can organise themselves and choose an area to collect waste. The cleansing department provides materials such as bags, gloves, garbage tongs, etc. The waste gets picked up afterwards at an agreed place by the cleansing department of Leipzig. So far we did it at Clara-Zetkin-Park, near the office, as well as at the Fockeberg in Leipzig-South.
In April we also attended a tree planting session where we planted 140 cherry trees and 300 oaks, chestnuts, and acorns in a barren area near Antonienbrücke. It was organised by https://leipzig-pflanzt.de/ together with the city of Leipzig and "Grannies for the future". It was a nice event to bring kids as well, so I brought mine! Of course, it was fun but it is also important to me to teach my kids the significance of environmental as well as social commitment.
The campaign was carried out in cooperation with the Office for City Green and Water, which continues to look after the area and ensures that the trees are watered in dry times. Last weekend we organised an additional watering session since the last weeks were dry and the city of Leipzig could not assist the way they planned to. So we met Sunday evening, everyone brought watering cans to collect water nearby and we watered the seedlings.
Myhotelshop’s Green Team aims to improve the company's culture regarding better management of waste, environmental resources, and processes. Among our goals is to raise awareness of environmental issues, encourage people to share their ideas, and develop action plans. Rather than thinking of this topic as a team topic, we would like to make it an integral part of our company culture.
Globally, the push to "go green" is driven by many factors, but amongst the most powerful incentives are a sustainable future for humans, nature conservation, and economic and social well-being. For those of you who want to be more environmentally aware but aren't sure where to start, we recommend looking at sustainability as a process. Instead of trying to change everything at once, take one step at a time and live in a greener way. Don't be discouraged by small setbacks. The best way to start is to learn more about the topic! A more sustainable life is possible.
We wish to give a big Thank You to our Green Team, and keep up the good work!
