We recently launched our new three year approach to sustainability, outlining our four pillars (Innovation, Trust, Diversity and Inclusion, Education and ESG) focusing even more importance on our people’s wellbeing, innovation, ‘Bridging the gap’ in education and positively impacting the environment. We believe in offering sustainable and continued support to the communities in which we live and work, and whilst flag bearing on nominated days can be important to raise awareness, we believe it is more important to embed these values and beliefs into our everyday and into everything we do — weaving sustainability in all its forms into the very fabric of our company and society.
We also know that every company and individual have a responsibility to do more. Our four pillars of sustainability are aligned with the ‘United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ and their ’17 Goals for People, for Planet’. And we believe by living a more environmentally mindful life, we can make a positive impact towards five of these goals together: Oceans, Life on Land, Clean Water and Sanitation, Life Below Water and Climate Action.
GiGsters have been actively cleaning waterways, the countryside, and recycling for many years — and we as a company have implemented lots of events and get togethers to encourage further support. We’ve always invested in initiatives which go above and beyond the usual recycling basics, from introducing travel free months (before the pandemic) and changing our lighting and energy using systems, to introducing reusable water bottles, mugs and bamboo straws and many things in-between. But we have to admit one of our favourites and most sustainable, is getting our people together for team building events where they support a cause and raise awareness on vital topics. After over a year of separation, we were able to get our people together again safely, and we weren’t going to miss this year’s United Nations World Oceans Day, and extended it to a week of focused activities across our office locations and for our remote workers.
Over the course of the week 70 GiGsters spent 295 hours cleaning up (on land and scuba diving using their GiG Gives paid volunteer day) over 1000lbs of rubbish from waterways, beaches and oceans, protecting habitats across the seven countries, and donated funds to support renowned conservationist and oceanographer Klaus Thymann, to replenish Danish coral reefs.
Read about what we did in each of our locations, remembering throughout that we followed all local government Covid-19 restrictions, putting our people’s health first at all times.
Denmark
Our people here make huge daily efforts nationally and according to the 2020 EPI Index, produced biennially by Yale University, Denmark is the best in the world when it comes to its environmental performance. Denmark scored 82.5 out of 100, just ahead of Luxembourg (82.3), Switzerland (81.5), the UK (81.3) and France (80.0). The Danish Government have even employed large teams specialising in waterway and ocean sanitation, on top of many other green practices to improve water conditions. So our teams here decided together to use their GiG Gives budget to support famous conservationist and oceanographer, Klaus Thymann, to work on the coral reef in their waters in Jutland. You can read more about the work here.
Malta
In Malta we had 30 people joining this great initiative at Tigne Point, Sliema, with some GiGsters scuba diving and others cleaning-up the waterfronts. We partnered with the Malta Blue Diving company, who supported us on the day, providing us with scuba diving equipment, safety instructors and of course more hands to clean up in the ocean. Our waterfront cleaners were divided into smaller groups of four, following all safety Covid-19 regulations to clean up on the land and the surrounding of Tigne Point. We managed to collect 216lbs of waste from the land and ocean. After the clean up, our people had lunch together, using eco-friendly packaging, as a small thank you for all their work and support.
As one of the 28 members of the NGO iGaming European Network based in Malta, we can also proudly report that iGEN organised a further clean-up where 11 members joined forces bringing 50 people together, cleaning up a different site, raising awareness locally and in our industry, which employs a significant number of people on the beautiful island.
Spain
We had a team of 10 people join the clean-up in Marbella, meeting at Playa de la Fontanilla beach to collect waste from the land. In fact during their clean up marathon, they managed to collect around 297lbs of waste from around pavements, streets and on the beach. After this activity we thanked our people for taking part by taking them for lunch at a small local restaurant featuring organic local produce, and in turn supported a small business owner.
Riga
Our team in Riga, who recently joined our GiG family, didn’t think twice about joining in from a beautiful sandy beach. We had almost the whole team, 11 people in total, filling up one rubbish bag each with waste found all over the beach. By spending a few hours helping the environment and making an impact together, they managed to remove 169 pounds of rubbish from their local environment, protecting habitats.
Remote GiGsters
Our remote working GiGsters who could not join us in our offices in Denmark, Latvia, Malta or Spain, could join from their locations by selecting a local area to clean-up. We offered all equipment including scuba gear rental, as we wanted to ensure everyone felt included. In the end we had people joining in with their family and friends from Italy, Spain, UK and the USA. In total a further 361lbs of rubbish was removed from waterways and oceans, protecting habitats around the world.
We really appreciate everyone coming together across all seven countries for this week of activity, and know everyone will continue the good work and raise awareness every day, not just for the day or week. And we will continue as a company to encourage and facilitate regular and sustained activities like these, growing together as a team, adapting and learning together to improve our environment.
For those of you reading this and wondering what you can do to pitch in, it couldn’t be simpler. Be mindful of the packaging you buy, in fact try not to use packaging and non recyclable items at all, pick up rubbish in the street and join any local litter picking groups or educational environmental societies — you can start small, but just keep it consistent and regular and we’ll make a real impact #together. Visit the UN’s page for more ideas.
If you’re looking to work with a people-centric company where true sustainability is prioritised, from tech innovation and education to supporting local communities, it’s time to work with GiG — visit www.gig.com/careers.
