I can’t believe how fast time goes. I still remember hearing  about our very first Environment Days in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in 2006. I am very pleased to see how our reach has increased from 16 sites in 11 countries in 2006, to 24 sites in 15 countries in 2007 to finally over 31 sites this year. I want to congratulate our country teams who organized the events. Well done!

We mark the UN World Environment Day (June 5) by encouraging our employees to organize environment-related activities in their offices, for example collecting out-dated IT equipment, inviting external speakers or organizing any other event which brings environmental issues into focus.

I would like to point at some of this year’s highlights but I’d also like to say that all events were highlights in themselves. Portugal for example organized a fair outside the office building where art and craft items and organic products were sold. Besides, our Portuguese team organized a take-back event where 28 pieces of IT equipment were collected. 

Leixlip in Ireland picked up the theme of the World Environment Day “Kick the CO2 Habit” and set up a car exhibition of low CO2 emission cars in front of the office. Representatives of the car companies provided additional information. To also promote emission-free traveling there was a display of the latest bicycles. Finally, our employees at Leixlip encouraged the canteen to display the amount of food miles each dish on the menu had incurred that day.

Each year I hear about these great initiatives and I am impressed by our colleagues’ enthusiasm and creativity. I talked to some colleagues and they described their event as a great initiative which received positive feedback from our employees. I cannot wait until next year’s Environment Days. 

Jeannette Weisschuh, Head of Corporate Affairs, HP EMEA