Social Responsibility Day – Pharmaceutical company cleans up Lucerne and Zurich
September 29, 2023 8:00 am ET
As part of the Volunteering Days on September 27th and 28th, employees of the pharmaceutical company MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme AG) freed the cities of Lucerne and Zurich from littering. With the help of the Swiss Competence Center against Littering IGSU, a total of 54 employees collected 68 kg of waste and disposed of it correctly.
An intact environment is essential for human health. The pharmaceutical company MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme AG) knows this too. That is why the company held clean-up days for the second time on September 27th and 28th with IGSU, the Swiss competence center against littering. In Zurich and Lucerne, the employees of MSD were trained by IGSU ambassadors in the areas of environment, recycling, and littering: In the morning, the employees took part in an introductory session and were made aware of the correct handling of waste and recyclables in a presentation. In the afternoon, a total of 84 employees walked through the area surrounding two locations in Zurich and Lucerne, freed them from litter and disposed of the waste correctly.
Visible improvement
MSD employees can devote 40 hours of paid work time to volunteering for charitable projects every year. MSD Switzerland therefore regularly organizes Volunteering Days in which employees from all five locations can take part. Volunteering Days are an opportunity for companies to get involved with their employees for a good cause. “Through our commitment to Switzerland, it is important that we as a company give back to society and the environment,” explains Dimitri Gitas, Managing Director of MSD Switzerland. “During last year’s Clean-Up Days with IGSU were met with great enthusiasm among our workforce, and we decided to partner with IGSU again this year. Our employees appreciate the fact that they themselves can actively contribute to a clean environment and contribute to a visible improvement.” MSD employees in Zurich and Lucerne collected a total of ?? kg of waste.
Widespread interest in proven measure
The IGSU ambassador teams not only hold volunteering days with Swiss companies, but they also travel to over 50 locations throughout Switzerland every summer, where they encourage passers-by to talk about the topics in a friendly and humorous way raising awareness for littering and recycling. There are also assignments on hiking trails and in ski areas in autumn and winter. The IGSU ambassador teams also ensure less littering at events such as street food festivals, city festivals or fairs and sensitize schoolchildren from kindergarten to vocational school to the littering problem with workshops.
Support for cities, communities and schools
The IGSU also supports cities, communities, and schools with many other preventive awareness-raising measures in their commitment against littering. For example, with the national IGSU Clean-Up Day, which is supported by the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN, the Swiss Association for Municipal Infrastructure SVKI and the Pusch Foundation. This year, the Switzerland-wide IGSU Clean-Up Day took place on September 15th and 16th. In addition, IGSU, together with Swiss Recycling, offers free teaching materials for teachers on the topics of litter and recycling, awards the no-littering label to cities, communities and schools that are committed to combating litter, and supports institutions in implementing room sponsorship projects.
Do you need a quote for a report on littering or do you have a question on the subject? The IGSU experts are at your disposal.
Media Contact
- Nora Steimer, Managing Director IGSU, 043 500 19 91, 076 406 13 86, medien@igsu.ch
- Jean-Blaise Defago, Policy & Communications Switzerland, 058 618 30 30, media.switzerland@msd.com
MSD Merck Sharp & Dohme in Switzerland
In Switzerland, MSD Merck, Sharp & Dohme employs around 1,000 people at five sites in the cantons of Lucerne and Zurich. At our site in Zurich, in “The Circle”, we operate the newly opened global innovation and development hub. Our main therapeutic areas are oncology, infectious diseases, immunology, and diabetes. We also operate a broad portfolio of vaccines for the prevention of diseases in children, adolescents, and adults. Switzerland is part of MSD’s global clinical research program with more than 30 clinical trials annually. At our site in Schachen, we manufacture drugs for global clinical trials and operate a forensic laboratory. MSD also takes local responsibility for the community and has been involved in the “Trendtage Gesundheit Luzern” and the Alliance Health competence. In 2023, MSD received the “Top Employer Switzerland” award for the eleventh time in a row.
For more information, please visit msd.ch, de.msd-animal-health.ch and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
IGSU – Swiss competence center against littering
The IGSU is the Swiss competence center against littering. Since 2007, it has been campaigning nationally for a clean Switzerland with preventive awareness-raising measures. One of the IGSU’s best-known measures is the national Clean-Up Day, which will take place on September 15th and 16th this year. The IGSU is sponsored by the IGORA cooperative for aluminum recycling, PET recycling Switzerland, VetroSwiss, 20 Minuten, Swiss Cigarette, McDonald’s Switzerland, Migros, Coop, Valora, Feldschlösschen and International Chewing Gum Association. They also engage in their own activities to combat littering and, for example, set up additional waste bins, carry out regular clean-up tours around the branches or organize clean-up campaigns with the public.
Copyright © 2023 Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA and its affiliates. All rights reserved.
CH-NON-02344, 09/2023
