Konica Minolta South Africa's 18 178 trees tip the balance towards its carbon neutral status

Issued by icomm for Konica Minolta South Africa
Johannesburg, 03 Oct 2013

In line with its promise to operate in the most sustainable way - from an environmental, social and economic perspective - Bidvest company, Konica Minolta South Africa, has been supporting South Africa's national greening and food gardening social enterprise, Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA), for five years, most recently planting 500 trees in the impoverished Lawley Township in Gauteng. This brings the total of trees donated by the company across the country to 18 178.

The 500 River Bush Willow trees were planted in Extension 1 of the Lawley township, under the FTFA's Trees for Homes initiative and also in celebration of Arbour Month.

Having worked in this area previously, the FTFA had already trained community educators, who helped gauge the community's interest in receiving trees and to check the space available. Lawley residents then convened at the local fire station, where they were educated on the importance of proper ground preparation, planting techniques and aftercare, before being given their trees to take home to plant.

The appointed community educators will also undertake follow-up checks throughout the year and provide support and assistance where needed. This will ensure the trees will flourish and will be enjoyed by generations to come.

Laetitia Coetzer, special projects manager for Konica Minolta South Africa, says: "The company is dedicated to highlighting the essential role trees play in sustainable development and the livelihoods of people and their environment, now and for the future. Its dedication to this cause extends to maintaining the company's carbon neutral status, recently awarded by the Carbon Protocol of SA (CPSA). As the saying goes, 'He who plants a tree, plants hope,' and we are delighted to do just that."

From Konica Minolta South Africa's Johannesburg branch in black shirts: Hayley Britton, Tasmyn Ashby, Desiree Bothe, Andrew Kruger.

Konica Minolta South Africa

Konica Minolta South Africa, wholly owned by the Bidvest Group, stands at the forefront of business solution providers as the principal importer and distributor of the innovative and award-winning Konica Minolta range of bizhub digital multifunctional, colour and black-and-white devices, laser printers, fax machines and business solutions, into South Africa as well as Namibia, Malawi, Botswana and Swaziland. Konica Minolta South Africa's head office is based in Johannesburg and 14 branches and 43 dealerships support its distribution network. With an operational stance of consultative business partnering, the group provides clients with holistic document management solutions: through pre-sales analysis, audits to sales, installation, ongoing onsite technical and software management, as well as the supply of spare parts and consumables.

FTFA

Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA) is South Africa's first national social and environmental enterprise since 1990, working towards a healthier more sustainable and low carbon future through developing, managing and promoting greening, climate change action, sustainable natural resource management, organic farming and food security programmes. Over 4.2 million trees have been distributed, thousands of natural food gardens, bamboo projects and organic farms for poor communities have been developed. FTFA has been a pioneer of climate change response, mitigation and adaptation, launching the first South African carbon calculator, the Carbon Protocol of South Africa and the Climate Hero Awards Africa. Most recently, FTFA has been appointed as the African Branch Managers for Al Gore's Climate Reality Project.

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