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by Vasso Petridou, Marketing & Communications Director at Embryolab

What motivated Embryolab to become a #gopafree partner?
At Embryolab, our mission is fertility. Our daily work aims to change lives and creating families. In other words, assisted reproduction science leading future. Sustainability is a prerequisite for the future and for our children. This is what motivated us to become a #gopafree partner, and we actually sought out the #gopafree project and the collaboration.

It is also part of Embryolab’s DNA to contribute to a healthier and therefore more fertile lifestyle for people. Smoking is not an option for someone who wants to be fertile, nor is it for someone who is becoming a parent. This is the world we dream of for our children.Of course, in an organization of 99 employees (78 women and 21 men), 10% are smokers, and in terms of our visitors (i.e. women and men who come for IVF treatment):

1 in 2 Greeks of reproductive age smoke
1 in 10 of our patients from other countries smoke

How are partners, the public and visitors involved in the initiative to recycle cigarette butts?

We embraced the initiative from the very beginning. Even though we provide IVF medical services and the flow is uninterrupted throughout the day, as a company we have instituted a 30-minute break, so our staff has time to eat in our kitchen and smokers can smoke.

 

What have we achieved in less than a year!

From 22/3/2023 to 31/12/2023, we collected:

2.54 kg of cigarette butts, 3,750 cigarette butts.
From their processing through recycling, the following will be produced:

0.56 kg of fertilizer and 1.96 kg of raw material for industrial plastic.
Benefits for the environment:

29.25 m3 of fresh or salt water saved from pollution
16.26 kg of CO2 not released into the environment
395.99 MJ of non-renewable energy saved from the production of new materials.
This is about protecting the environment, health and aesthetics, as our bins are so aesthetically pleasing that they are sought after as a meeting point for smokers and non-smokers alike.

We are #gopafree with a strong commitment!

We are a socially and environmentally responsible company. We have already trained a staff member in ESG and we are moving forward with a corresponding plan. We are here to support this very important effort and to increase participation. All of Thessaloniki #gopafree. Let’s spread the message.

Thank you @cigaretcycle.org! Together we are creating the future.