NAFTA also supports local events aimed at environmental protection

NAFTA is also actively involved in local environmental protection initiatives, providing funding and support for them. An example is the Earth Day events NAFTA has long been involved in along with the town of Plavecký Štvrtok, where it is based, and local residents. This tradition began in 2011 when a group of volunteers, led by Zuzana Ondriášová from Plavecký Štvrtok, decided to clean up the neighboring forests. Because NAFTA has provided support to all meaningful projects, it welcomed the opportunity to contribute and has been doing so now for a number of years. Besides residents of Plavecký Štvrtok, the local hunting association, PZ Sokol, has been regularly cleaning the forests and the area surrounding the town. It makes for an impressive combination, with the region no longer perceiving NAFTA as just a typical corporation, but instead a “good neighbor” that cares and supports the activities of the local community.

Even though this Earth Day volunteer initiative has received generally strong support in town, residents of the nearby Roma settlement had in the past not been engaged in it. The situation turned in a positive direction this year when NAFTA contacted activist Rút Zemanová, who lives in the settlement, asking her and others to help in clearing the access road that leads there. Unfortunately, the forest had been too often used as a garbage dump, not only by those in the settlement, but also others preferring to take their rubbish to the forest rather than to the town’s collection site.

NAFTA provided the necessary materials and containers, while also subsequently storing the waste they collected. These joint efforts cleared rubbish away from a larger part of the forest and likewise made the road to the settlement accessible. More important than having cleared the area of waste, however, is what the people living had done themselves to improve and clean it. Although just the first steps, they are always the most difficult.

Positive numbers were also achieved, with six eight-cubic-meter containers filled and over 10.6 tonnes of waste collected.

Yet none of these endeavors end with Earth Day. Keeping the town and the nearby forest clean and removing litter remain jobs to do throughout the rest of the year. Over the past several years, the amount of waste collected has gone down and littering itself is declining. Plavecký Štvrtok mayor Radoslav Benkovič has welcomed these cleanup efforts and the desire to maintain a high-quality environment and landscape. “I am very glad that cleanup is continuing and we will be promoting it in the years to come.”

Zuzana Ondriašová, founder and organizer, has her own dream of one day no longer having to organize waste collection drives because people will be taking better care of the neighborhoods where they live and the nature around them. Nonetheless, she is ready to help and promote Earth Day again in Plavecký Štvrtok when the time comes