Konica Minolta South Africa is continuing to reaffirm its commitment to sustainability with a donation of fruit and shade trees to the city of Pretoria – just in time for World Environment Day.
The donation was celebrated with a tree planting ceremony on 3 June 2022, at local high school, Solomon Mahlangu Freedom School. The donation – which comprises of 20 fruit and indigenous shade trees – was made possible by Konica Minolta South Africa’s dealer, Kinetix, in partnership with Food & Trees for Africa.
“This exciting occasion is even more auspicious by the fact that World Environment Day takes place just two days later, on 5 June,” comments Mr Mulaudzi, principal of Solomon Mahlangu Freedom School. “It thus provides the ideal opportunity for us to educate our learners and community members about the benefits of planting trees – which, of course, go well beyond environmental greening to include creating shelter for animals and conserving water.”
Toby Wells, Managing Director at Kinetix, a Konica Minolta dealer, agrees that the tree planting ceremony is significant for young South Africans. “If we can ensure that our younger generation is primed to actively promote sustainability, we have a far greater chance of creating a healthy environment.”
“Konica Minolta South Africa is keenly aware of its own responsibilities in terms of sustainability. For example, the trees gifted to Solomon Mahlangu Freedom School are part of a larger donation to the greater Pretoria area: an additional 1,000 trees will be planted at 27 beneficiaries throughout the city, including 21 schools and six community organisations,” explains Marc Pillay, CEO of Konica Minolta South Africa
Pillay notes that the 1,020 trees that are being planted will offset 376.38 tCO2e during their lifetime. He adds that the latest donation brings the total number of trees, spekboom and bamboo donated by Konica Minolta South Africa since 2008 to 63,329. An impressive 1,302 schools and 89 community centres have benefited from the company’s planting campaign, while a total of 23,368.63 tCO2e has been offset, enabling Konica Minolta South Africa have achieved a carbon neutral status since 2013.
At the same time, Konica Minolta South Africa is working to prevent pollution from the use of its products. Their Toner Recycling Project was launched in 2014 to address waste created by toner bottles and cartridges, providing a solution for products that are not accommodated in the recycling market, and which are not reusable or refillable. To date, more than 90 tons of used toner bottles, cartridges and imaging units have been saved from landfill and recycled through the project.
