Brussels Employee-led Tree Planting Initiative enters its 8th year

Treeplanting 2018 team picture

On the 16th of March 2018, dressed in wellington boots and rain jackets, employees from Sappi Europe’s Headquarters in Brussels headed out to the Forêt de Soignes to plant a further 1,100 saplings. They were rewarded with rays of sunshine, and the feeling of satisfaction after a hard day’s work. This will bring to over 17,350 trees planted since the initiative stared 8 years ago.

Sappi’s employee-led tree planting initiative started in Spring 2010 in association with ANB (Agentschap voor Natuur en Bos), the equivalent of the Department of Forestry. This organisation is responsible for the planting of approximately 30,000 trees in the Forêt de Soignes every year as part of the National Forest Management Plan (Belgium).

Marco Eikelenboom is VP Sales & Marketing Graphics at Sappi Europe “What better way to reconnect with our roots than to plant trees together; and what better way to teach future generations about our renewable industry than to also involve them in tree planting. Along with our colleagues, we had the pleasure of having some employees’ very young children to help us during the afternoon.” The team planted a mixture of hornbeams, hawthorns and oaks and celebrated by each signing a panel which was erected on the site and says “These trees were planted with the support of Sappi Europe NV – 16th March 2018.”

Further Information

La Forêt de Soignes is a forest located in the south-eastern part of Brussels covering an area of over 4,400 hectares.

Our approach to sustainability is based on a holistic view of Planet, People and Prosperity (the 3P’s). These values and commitments underpin everything we do, from our business decisions and processes to our dealings with stakeholders and customers.

Through Eco-Effectiveness, we as Sappi Europe make sustainability very real, moving it from a corporate topic to a topic relevant to each and everyone of us, every single day. The tree-planting initiative is just one of a series of actions clearly showing that sustainability is at the heart of everything that Sappi does.

ENDS