A greener future

"Save Our Planet - Plant A Tree" initiative

In 2016 Babcock’s plant services business launched a recycling and upcycling programme with the aim of recycling 80% of all waste materials. Improvements were made to the waste management system and all employees were educated on the benefits of recycling, as well as the negative impacts of not recycling. The endeavour proved successful and during the 2016 financial year the business was able to save over R90 000 from their efforts.

As part of this programme, the business looked at CO2 emissions from their fleet of trucks, cranes and other LDV’s and tried to find ways to counter those emissions and reduce the carbon footprint over time.

That’s when they joined the Save Our Planet – Plant a Tree initiative, offered by Willow Feather Farm.

Site visits identified existing trees and areas in which to plant additional trees on Babcock properties. They then purchased 359 trees from Willow Feather Farms. The trees were distributed to the identified sites and also donated to Thaba Nature Reserve.

50 protected Camel Thorn tree seedlings were grown at our Jet Park branch and some of these Camel Thorn seedlings have been planted at Marloth Park Bird Sanctuary and at Thaba Trails. The remaining seedlings are intended for Thaba Nature reserve.

Our target for this year is to buy and donate over 1000 trees to the identified areas.

We have partnered with WESSA (Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa) and Willow Feather Farm who will identify areas that are in need of greening like rural schools, nature reserves, charities, churches and NGOs.