More than 1.2 tons of rubbish were collected by McDonald’s Malta staff and their families at the annual Clean Up the World Day last Saturday.

McDonald’s, in collaboration with Nature Trust (Malta), this year earmarked the Xrobb l-Ghagin coast for its main green event on its corporate social responsibility activities calendar. The activity focused on the area extending from Tas-Silg along to the St. Paul’s Military Battery to the nature park. More than 80 volunteers covered an extensive area around the former Deutschwelle station site in Marsaxlokk. 

“McDonald’s is committed to being a conscientious member of the community,” McDonald’s Malta General Manager Dorian Desira said. “This annual Clean Up the World Day is one of many initiatives we undertake. Our environment-friendliness extends to our day to day processes. We recycle cooking oil into bio-diesel fuel and part of packaging cardboard and plastic from our nine restaurants are dispatched for recycling.”

Nature Trust (Malta) appreciated McDonald’s support for its efforts in this particular area.

“We have invested lots of time and money over the past few years to preserve the former Deutschewelle station site and turn the surrounding area into a nature park for everyone to enjoy,” Nature Trust (Malta) executive president Vincent Attard said.  “The site helps to promote eco-tourism to the south of the island and is useful for environmental awareness campaigns aimed at thousands of students visiting the park each year.”

He urged visitors to try harder to keep the place clean for others to enjoy.

 “The Marsaxlokk Local Council would like to thank the staff of McDonald’s who last Saturday expressed their corporate social responsibility by carrying out a cleaning activity at Delimara. A special thanks goes also to Nature Trust (Malta) for coordinating this activity. Delimara is rich in historical heritage and also provides a natural niche in an otherwise industrialized South of the Island. It is the Local Council’s wish to have a national park in the whole peninsula of Delimara where people can enjoy natural and heritage trails. Thus, we encourage the respective environment and heritage authorities to take note of such cleanup activities as being an expression by the people involved to take more care of the natural and historical heritage of this area”, Marsaxlokk Mayor Perit Edric Micallef said.