Thai Union Group PCL., the world's seafood leader, has followed its commitment to Healthy Oceans, by having its employees from across Thailand, Europe, and Africa volunteered join a global clean-up program on World Oceans Day to help protect the marine environment.
A total of 10,016 kilograms (10 tons) of trash was collected from 8 clean-up sites including mangroves, beaches, and rivers in Thailand, Ghana, Portugal, Italy, and France. The most common items collected were plastic bags, plastic bottles, foam, old fishing gear, and cigarette butts.
The clean-up program was part of a global campaign by the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS), which Thai Union is a founding member of, and the Ocean Conservancy, to protect the environment.
"As a global seafood company, the oceans are crucial to our business," said Thai Union CEO Thiraphong Chansiri, who is currently Chair of SeaBOS. "We recognize that ensuring the oceans remain healthy is critical for the future of our business, but more importantly critical for the future of the planet. That is why we are so passionate about clean-up events such as this and we will continue to expand these."
In Thailand, 38 volunteers from Thai Union Group PCL and its subsidiaries including i-Tail Corporation PCL, along with 312 official offices, community groups, and educational institutions from the Samut Sakhon region joined the effort, collecting 2,183 kilograms of trash in the mangrove forest.
In Ghana, 300 employees and members of the community came together to clean the canoe landing beach and the surrounding area close to its factory in Tema. They collected 7.5 tons of trash and old fishing gear.
In Portugal, the Company rallied 40 volunteers who collected 80 kilograms of trash at a beach in Peniche, where the factory is located. In Italy, Thai Union's Italian brand, Mareblu, joined forces with their NGO partner Legambiente. Thirty volunteers cleared 17 kilograms of trash from the beach of Genova Sturla in Liguria. In France, Thai Union's teams from Petit Navire, MerAlliance, and Thai Union Europe organized four clean-ups with 59 volunteers, collecting 236 kilograms of trash from beaches and the Odet river near their factories in Brittany and around their commercial office in Paris.
"At Thai Union, we have a strong corporate commitment to Healthy Oceans and we work hard to implement actions to ensure they remain healthy," said Adam Brennan, Group Director, Sustainability. In addition to clean-ups, we are also tackling the issue at the source. For the past five years, Thai Union has also been working with the Global Ghost Gear Initiative to help address the issue of abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear.
"Next month, Thai Union will announce even more initiatives to support the health of the oceans when we launch the next iteration of our new SeaChange(R) sustainability strategy, which will include new commitments and goals through to 2030."
The trash collected during World Oceans Day was separated and data collected following the International Coastal Cleanup guidelines. The recyclable items were processed by local waste handling companies and the non-recyclable items were taken by local waste management organizations. Since Thai Union joined the global coastal cleanup campaign with SeaBOS in 2021, Thai Union volunteers across the regions have collected 14,135 kilograms of trash.