ECOBEKO
Came, cleaned, conquered
Is it possible to turn garbage collection and sorting into an exciting quest? Yes, it is, if we mean "Clean Games". These ecological competitions were launched in St. Petersburg in 2014. About three hundred Russian cities have already taken part in the incentive, and in the fall of 2022, the Clean Games were held for the first time in Kirzhach. And the Beko plant became its active participant.
The main objective of Clean Games is not just to take away all the garbage left by tourists on the banks of rivers and lakes, in forests and fields, but also to promote environmental responsibility: to explain people why separate waste collection is so important, how to reduce the amount of waste in every home and most importantly, how to maintain the cleanliness in places already cleaned by volunteers.
The event was supported by the Kirzhach city administration, Kirzhach district administration, the Union of Ecological Volunteer Organizations, the Youth Club of the Russian Geographical Society in Vladimir. The regional waste management operator, the Khartiya company, provided cargo containers for separate waste collection and the Beko plant provided tents for the organizers and prizes for the winners. According to the rules, each member team must, within a limited time, not only clean up the contaminated areas, but also sort the collected waste for further processing, and find rare “artifacts”. Points are awarded for each bag of garbage and for sorting. The team with the highest score wins.
The event was supported by the Kirzhach city administration, Kirzhach district administration, the Union of Ecological Volunteer Organizations, the Youth Club of the Russian Geographical Society in Vladimir. The regional waste management operator, the Khartiya company, provided cargo containers for separate waste collection and the Beko plant provided tents for the organizers and prizes for the winners. According to the rules, each member team must, within a limited time, not only clean up the contaminated areas, but also sort the collected waste for further processing, and find rare “artifacts”. Points are awarded for each bag of garbage and for sorting. The team with the highest score wins.
The games were opened by Irina Churikova, head of the Ecological Kirzhach project. Despite the rainy and bad weather, 13 teams gathered on the shore of the Krugloye lake, one of the favorite places for recreation of Kirzhach habitants. They quickly collected and sorted garbage and, following the different sectors of the quest, collected "artifacts" and solved problems on an environmental theme, gaining points. Thus, in a playful way, the participants of the game managed to purify the territory surrounding the lake, clearing it of 253 kg of secondary and 176 kg of non-recyclable waste. Separately collected waste is sent for recycling after which will be used as raw materials for production of new useful things.
- The idea of partnership and participation of Beko in the "Clean Games" was firstly initiated by the organizer of the Kirzhach environmental movement Irina Churikova, - said environmental engineer Aliya Gilmullina. - Initially, there were quite a lot of people who wanted to take part in the competition, and I planned that Beko would be represented by two teams. Unfortunately, external factors made corrections to the original plan, and only Alena Biryukova and Anastasia Sukhova were able to arrive on the day of the Clean Games. As a group of three, we searched for large accumulations of garbage in order to collect our bags faster. It was also necessary to find some interesting types of garbage. For example, we found a glass jar with a real miniature ecosystem - clover is conveniently located inside it. It was my first experience of participating in the event lie this. Despite the heavy rain, I did not even notice how quickly the time has passed. Taking into account the fact that our team included only 3 girls, I think we performed successfully - we took 4th place out of 13! And I am grateful to the Beko leaders for supporting this initiative and our team. I hope that we will continue to participate in such events.
Accountant Alena Biryukova, a participant of the games, added:
- The competition was interesting and even reckless. During the games, it was possible to use a mobile application on a phone, providing the map with marking of the most littered areas. It was a little hard physically, especially at the end of the Games: running through the forest with bags full of garbage is really not easy. I especially liked the creative mini-competition "Artifact", the task was to find an unusual garbage, and then compose a story about it. I consider such events to be very important, in particular, for the younger generation: an important idea about the preservation and maintenance of the nature purity is presented in an entertaining form. The main impression at the end of the competition was like this: the forest had never been cleared so quickly and so thoroughly!
Accountant Alena Biryukova, a participant of the games, added:
- The competition was interesting and even reckless. During the games, it was possible to use a mobile application on a phone, providing the map with marking of the most littered areas. It was a little hard physically, especially at the end of the Games: running through the forest with bags full of garbage is really not easy. I especially liked the creative mini-competition "Artifact", the task was to find an unusual garbage, and then compose a story about it. I consider such events to be very important, in particular, for the younger generation: an important idea about the preservation and maintenance of the nature purity is presented in an entertaining form. The main impression at the end of the competition was like this: the forest had never been cleared so quickly and so thoroughly!
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Cleaning of the territory in the competition form provides new life to urban and natural spaces, and one of the most important goals is environmental education in the format of a game.
– We must take care of the Kirzhach nature with special attention, because our company Beko belongs to Arçelik, the largest Turkish manufacturing concern, which makes a great contribution to environmental protection. And the plant itself is located in Kirzhach, a city surrounded by picturesque forests and rivers. All this requires careful protection, - the third participant of the competition, secretary Anastasia Sukhova, notes. – As for the event, I liked the level of organization: they provided necessary equipment, physical exercises were carried out before the race, hot tea was available, pizza was offered at the end of the games, mini-competitions with prizes were held, and we have assembled a map of the Vladimir region from puzzle. I am sure that everyone can contribute to such events and find something very important and interesting for himself.
Cleaning in the competition form provides new life to urban and natural spaces, and one of its most important goals is environmental education in the format of a game. It may be said that "Clean Games" is a way of activating people, attracting them to environmental problems. And the Beko plant is one of the leaders in this direction.
© Beko 2021