Rembertów, one of Warsaw’s greener districts, conceals areas that have long been waiting for help. On 12 June, volunteers from GSK took matters into their own hands and set about tidying up one of these spots – and although the team was not large, the results spoke for themselves. The amount of waste collected was surprisingly high for such a short time, and the area turned out to be littered enough that we would happily return with another group to continue what we started.
Why Rembertów?
Districts with a large amount of green space, such as Rembertów, play an invaluable role in the city – they are a reservoir of clean air, a place of rest, and a refuge for wildlife. At the same time, it is precisely these areas, further from the centre and less frequently visited, that tend to be more exposed to littering. In large, prominent parks, the presence of people and maintenance services acts as a deterrent – in lesser-known corners, waste can accumulate for years, invisible to most of the city’s residents.
Plastic takes up to 500 years to break down in the environment, glass heats up in the sun and can cause fires, and foil and string become lethal traps for small animals. Microplastics seep into the soil and groundwater, from there into invertebrate organisms, and further into the entire food chain. Where waste has been accumulating for years, the natural regeneration of vegetation is effectively blocked, because no plant can push through a layer of plastic and rubble. The area in Rembertów that we visited was littered heavily enough that what we cleaned is only a beginning – and we look forward to returning with another group to finish what we started.
Integration That Happens by Itself
What set this action apart was the composition of the team – GSK volunteers represented different departments within the company, and for many of them it was a rare moment to work side by side with someone from outside their everyday professional environment. In large organisations, individual teams often operate in separate bubbles – different projects, different goals, different floors of the office building. Cleaning a forest together effectively breaks down these divisions, because next to a rubbish bag everyone is equal and everyone is doing the same thing.
The forest and the bin bags turned out to be a perfect backdrop for conversations that would probably never have happened in the office, and the energy that accompanied the work was exactly the kind that cannot be planned on a spreadsheet. Integration through shared action has something that no team building in a conference room can replace – it is authentic, unforced, and leaves behind something concrete that can be seen and touched.
Another Action, the Same Energy
Our collaboration with GSK is a consistent and fruitful relationship – and every successive action reinforces our conviction that corporate volunteering makes the most sense when it comes from genuine commitment rather than obligation. The team in Rembertów was focused, eager to act, and easy to work with – and that is exactly why we are already thinking about returning to the same spot to finish what we began.
Rembertów deserves more than one clean-up. We thank the GSK volunteers for their time and energy – see you at the next action.
