3 minute read
Environmental Initiatives
John FitzGerald, Chair of the Global Forum, stated it has been another productive year for the BITA Global Forum
The Global Forum is run by members of BITA with representatives from the United Kingdom, Ireland, IOM, and the United States, and has a partnership with Hibernia an organisation in Australia. Our international Ambassadors join the group by invitation to contribute on matters within their sphere of expertise.
The forums focus is to communicate and engage our membership on global sustainability and pollution issues and they use the hashtag #beplasticaware as a means of bringing attention towards the overuse of plastic within the construction industry and pollution in our oceans. Their aim is to facilitate the international expansion of BITA members working within the sustainability and innovation sectors.
This initiative is a long-term focus for BITA, with contributions through charitable action and organisational dedication to plastic reduction being carried out by our members and communities. The work we have already delivered with other organisations such as Changing Streams CIC, Beach Buddies and Ocean Conservancy has brought about a great start towards being more plastic aware, and we hope to continue this work into the future.
At a time when climate change is at the forefront of so many international government policies, alongside major events such as COP 27, it’s crucial for all BITA members to be mindful of how they could bring about a positive change to the environment.
A particularly significant focus of the Global Forum is to drive awareness of and participate in the annual World Clean Up Day. Each year we are very appreciative and gratified at the number of our members that get involved in the initiative with this year’s participation taking place from across the UK and Ireland, Turkey, Isle of Man and even stretching as far as the United States of America and Australia!
Furthermore, members of the forum and BITAx partnered with Powerday for their annual canal clean-up. This took place along London’s Grand Union Canal, and resulted in the collection of more than nine bags of litter. The efforts of everyone who came along to help are appreciated enormously, as even the smallest act is still one step closer to a cleaner world for the future.
We must give special mention to Kevin Deasy. His team, covering a variety of age ranges, helped to clean up Kilkee Beach by collecting a large amount of plastic and jetsam. Not forgetting Paul Whitnell, Tina Coy and their amazing team, who gathered a significant amount of rubbish from beaches stretching right across East Cork.
We are so pleased to see the challenging work that BITA members have done to help make the world a cleaner place, and we’re excited about what we can achieve on this front in the months and years to come.
Finally, BITA members who are planning to expand internationally can use the Global Forum as a key resource to start their global expansion journeys by virtue of tapping into the wider Global Forum network and to work with ambassadors in their target countries.
You can learn more about the Global Forum by visiting https://bita.ie/chapters/global-forum/
Meanwhile, you can discover further information about World Clean Up Day 2022, as well as plans for World Clean Up Day 2023, by visiting @worldcleanupday on social media or https://www.worldcleanupday.org/
Make sure to use the hashtag #beplasticaware for the latest updates or when you are posting to Social
