Story Title: Alcoa Tree Planting
Episode: Two
Date: October 3rd 2009
Presenter: Neville Passmore

Neville finds out what Alcoa is doing to help the environment when he takes part in the Alcoa tree planting weekend.

Alcoa Australia:

• Community volunteering and looking for ways to be part of the solution to climate change are part of daily life at Alcoa.

• This year is a big milestone for Alcoa - it marks the 20th anniversary of its employee tree planting weekends.

• Over two days, a group of around 50 dedicated Alcoa volunteers and their partners are planting hundreds of trees under the guidance of the Wooroloo Brook Land Conservation District Committee. In doing so, they’re helping to rehabilitate and revegetate the stream zones that drain into the Wooroloo Brook and ultimately the precious Swan River – helping keep WA’s rivers healthy. Their efforts are also helping address important issues such as salinity, erosion, and habitat loss.

• All the trees planted across the weekend are going towards Alcoa’s global Ten Million Trees Program. It’s a program which was launched by Alcoa in 2003 - with the aim of Alcoa employees and their families planting ten million new trees by 2020. Those ten million new trees will then absorb more than 250,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year during their lifetime.

• Alcoa’s Ten Million Trees Program grew from the company’s extraordinarily successful One Million Trees program. This was a program that began in 1998 with the goal of planting a million trees over ten years. Alcoans and their families - from more than 140 Alcoa locations in 20 countries - raced to that goal in half the time expected. It was then that the company started the Ten Million Trees Program.

• Alcoa employees are committed to donating their time to help the community and the environment. Last year alone, Alcoans in Australia volunteered over 90,000 hours – that’s equivalent to nearly 10 and a half years!

Contact

Alcoa Australia

Address: Corner Davy and Marmion Streets, Booragoon WA

Phone: (08) 9316 5208

Fax: (08) 9316 5228

Website: www.alcoa.com.au