A new generation of environment volunteer leaders

Bucharest, 07 July 2009

On the 7^th of July takes place the graduation ceremony for a new generation of environment volunteer leaders of Romania, trained within the project Recycle Raft & Race, initiated by the Association MaiMultVerde (MoreGreen) in partnership with Heineken Romania. The project is part of the environment program of the Heineken Romania Company, „Think Green!“, as well as to the volunteering program developed by the Mai Mult Verde Association, Volunteering 2.0.

The 100 young volunteer leaders take the role of mobilizing and launching in their communities their own cleaning, planting, information and education programs, having got the experience of the Recycle, Raft & Race project.

„What attracted us to the partnership with the Mai Mult Verde Association, beyond the common objective of improving the social climate and the environment in which we operate in, was the extraordinary idea to start not one waste collecting project but 100 environment projects”  said  Ana-Maria Mureşan, Corporate Relations Manager Heineken Romania. “We involved all our resources in this partnership, up to volunteers from among the employees of Heineken Romania, who came to the Prahova Valley in order to collect the waste in the area.”

„The Recycle, Raft & Race project represents the second stage of the Volunteering 2.0 campaign, after launching the online platform www.maimultverde.ro in April 2008. After organizing for one year volunteering actions coordinated "from the center", we wish now to spread the environment volunteering  <<virus>> all over the country. The 100 youngsters that we trained in the camp will think, organize and coordinate their own planting, cleaning, information and education actions, coagulating around them the volunteering resources of the communities they come from. This is the new volunteering culture that MaiMultVerde intents to develop in Romania through its mission.” Doru Mitrana, Executiv Director, MaiMultVerde Association.

During the interval 4-31 May 2009 was organized a training camp in which, 4 series of 25 youngsters attended leadership, orientation and survival, as well as communication and development, courses in the field. The environment cleaning component of the camp presumed collecting the waste in various areas of the Prahova Valley, and the collected PET bottles have been used for building rafts on which volunteers of the four series of training will compete on July  7 on the Băneasa lake of Bucharest. Subsequently, the PET bottles will be transferred to a recycling company.

Under the umbrella of the “Think Green!” program, Heineken Romania develops projects aimed to prevent the negative impact and to maximize its positive impact on the environment. „Romania is one of the most beautiful countries in Europe. It is a huge responsibility for all of us to keep it beautiful or to refresh its beauty where needed. Bearing this conviction, Heineken Romania, is ready, as a responsible company, to contribute at achieving this objective by making people aware and involving them in protecting the environment. Therefore, we pledged to collaborate with the MaiMultVerde association in the program „Think Green!“. It is a good way of making people understand that a beautiful Romania is worth the effort”, a stated Jan Derck van Karnebeek, General Manager Heineken Romania. 

Within this program of Heineken Romania there have been organized, along with the Recycle, Raft & Race project, recycling and tree planting projects within the “Paper Tree” project launched by MediaOrg, as well as many internal education and information projects.  

The Heineken Company has o global strategy of social responsibility by which it wishes to ensure a sustainable activity growth on all the markets on which it operates. More details about the Responsibility Program of the Heineken Group, see www.heienkeninternational.com.

In the Heineken Romania company, responsibility is being built on three pillars: Environment – programs for the environment protection under the slogan “Think Green!”, Social – education and information programs dealing with the responsible consumption of alcohol and Economic – constructing an ethical and profitable business and implementing responsibility principles in the organization.

Heineken Romania is one of the largest beer brewers in Romania, with a market share of 29%, in terms of sales volumes (AC Nielsen, 2008). The brands portfolio offered by Heineken Romania covers all the market segments: Heineken, Ciuc Premium, Golden Brau, Neumarkt, Bucegi, Edelweiss (import), Zipfer (import), Gösser, Schlossgold, Silva, Gambrinus, Harghita and Haţegana. Heineken Romania aoperates five breweries in Constanţa, Craiova, Haţeg, Miercurea Ciuc, Târgu Mureş.

Contact person:

Ana-Maria Mureşan, Corporate Relations Manager Heineken Romania: 0724 388 750 or e-mail a.muresan@heineken.ro, or

Ramona Andrei, PR Director Ogilvy PR: 0742 579 402 or e-mail: ramona.andrei@ogilvy.com