July 20, 2011
Alcoa Russia Participated in Alcoa Foundation’s Green Works Initiative
More than 1.4 thousand Alcoa Russia employees took part in a Alcoa Foundation’s new global  Green Works initiative. Alcoa volunteers in Samara, Belaya Kalitva (Rostov region) and Moscow held 26  projects to green their communities and improve the environment. Alcoa volunteers were joined by their family members, representatives of partnerorganizations and members of local communities.   

Green Works initiative is Alcoa’s further  contribution to environmental protection, and it focuses on Alcoa  core environmental priorities to Reduce, Recycle and Replenish. Green Works events were held  at Alcoa locations in 20 countries from April 21 till June 21, 2011. Within this period, global eco-holidays, such as  Earth Day, World Environment Day and Arbor Day, are celebrated. This initiative was implemented in order to make these holidays a part of Alcoa corporate tradition, to further develop environmental volunteering of the company employees and community residents.

Green Works in Samara, Belaya Kalitva and Moscow included various projects, both with long-term partners as well as with  new partners. Some of them were initiated by individual  employees or teams of volunteers which demonstrated  the increasede employees’ engagement in  community work and commitment to Alcoa  environmental goals.

Some of the Green Works projects in Russia:

Samara

April 23 – 150 Alcoa  volunteers led by Mikhail Spichak, Location Manager, performed a major spring cleaning of territory around their location. As a result of their work, 2.5 hectares of land were cleaned, and natural and domestic y wastes were removed by 6 trucks. 

May 21 – ten volunteers worked at boarding school 71 to make its premises cleaner and safer for kids. The school building is under reconstruction, and due to this fact, the cleaning of its territory has become a critical issue. More than 140 kids with special needs study at this school, and many of them are orphans. Alcoa has been supporting this boarding school for more than 3 years.

Belaya Kalitva

April 20 – Green Works in Belaya Kalitva started with an event on the Environmental Path attended by Andrey Donets, Alcoa Russia President, Alcoa Metallurg Rus volunteers and partnership school students. Young ecologists told about their project on creation of the Environmental Path within the framework of Alcoa Foundation Program In Charge of the Future and the importance of this Path for Belaya Kalitva residents. All the participants removed rubbish from the adjacent path and planted trees. Alcoa Russia President explained to the students the importance of recycling for waste reduction and preservation of resources. He gave aluminum as an example, which can be recycled as many times as it is needed thus making it a unique packing material. 

Moscow 

May 14 – volunteers of Alcoa Moscow office planted 20 Amur corktree nursery plants and Manchurian walnut nursery plants on the territory of Moscow city Palace of Children’s Crafts on the Vorobyev Hills. This event took place during the annual festival Moscow Parks Gather Friends, and the Alcoa Foundation’s partner -  Zapovednics EcoCenter together with young environmentalists – festival participants – took part in this event.   

June 4 – Seven Alcoa volunteers held an environmental event on the territory of the First Moscow hospice. They pulled the weeds in flower beds, cut off dead branches and planted flowers. This project was implemented in partnership with the Charitable Foundation for Hospices Support “Vera”.