85 volunteers remove 1359.4 kilograms of litter and illegally dumped waste from popular tourist destination
iGEN is an association of leading iGaming companies based in Malta and operating on the European and international markets. Our mission is to give the industry a common voice and to drive positive change in the environments we operate in.
On September 17th iGEN carried out our third clean-up of 2022, as part of World Cleanup Day 2022. This annual event gathers 60 million volunteers from 191 countries world-wide to get out and do good deeds for their local environment, and this year we were one of three official participants from Malta. Our aim was to create the biggest single cleanup seen in Malta to date, breaking our attendance records from the previous two clean-ups for Earth Day and World Oceans Day.
The event, carried out in collaboration with KFS (Koalizzjoni għal Futur Sostenibbli), was supported by the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Enterprise, who provided rangers from Ambjent Malta. We also had support from the fire and ambulance services, EFRU, as well as Mgarr Council, with special help from Mayor Paul Vella, who volunteered as mini-bus driver.
Above are just some of the 85 volunteers, at the after event mingle on the beach at Golden Bay.
We had volunteers from eleven iGEN members including Videoslots, Games Global, Betsson, Raketech, Aspire Global, Trustly, Entain, Glitnor, Suprnation and GamingMalta. Everymatrix joined up through our WCD event page, and we also had a great turnout from KPMG, with circa 40 volunteers swelling our total ranks to 85.
We also had a surprise visit from the Economy Minister Silvio Schembri, who arrived with friends and family in tow. He toured the site, thanked the volunteers, and then pitched in, clearing rubbish into sacks and then removing them for processing by the rangers. Here he is seen in conversation with iGENs Glen Smith and Ivan Filletti of Gaming Malta.
“While it is gratifying to see so many people turn out for an event of this type, it is a shame that we need to do it at all. We are convinced that there are better ways to protect the fragile environment of Malta from rampant exploitation and dumping of rubbish. We are here today to make that point.” – Glen Smith, iGEN CSR Coordinator and KFS member
