Mission for a good cause
Social Day 2018: Shimadzu Europe plants 1,500 new trees
The social day, at which Shimadzu employees support social projects, has become a tradition within the company since 2013. Once again, volunteers have been actively involved in their community and in December 2018 helped to reforest an area in the city forest of Duisburg with 1,500 new trees. This will contribute to the long-lasting woodlands development. So far, the heavily thinned out area was covered only with birch and bracken.
The 1,200 young European oak and 300 sweet chestnut, littleleaf linden and hornbeam have been selected to fit the natural tree species spectrum, growing well in the sandy soil. Forests with these indigenous trees serve as a habitat for many rare and endangered animals, plants and fungus species. Additionally, oak and linden trees are particularly long-lived, so future generations will also enjoy this biotope. The planted woodland is part of the Duisburg Sechs-Seen-Platte (Six Lakes Region), a recreational area with a network of hiking trails of 18 kilometers.
The two-three-year-old trees with a size of about 1.50 m were planted relatively densely, so they can decide among themselves which of them grows best in the first 20 to 30 years. This replicates nature that produces an unimaginably large number of seedling offspring by natural seeding from the mother trees, which evolve over the years so that only a few trees remain and their number continues to reduce further as they grow. Usually the trees prevail which secure the best spot in the sun over the longest period, receiving the most sunlight in the long term.
Social Responsibility
‘Realizing wishes for the well-being of mankind and the Earth’ is one of Shimadzu’s established corporate principles. Engaging in community, society and the environment expresses this claim at the local level.
In the year of its 50th anniversary in Europe, Shimadzu gladly supported this long-term project and thanks all 30 participating employees of Shimadzu Germany and Shimadzu Europa for their individual social commitment.
