Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/550022
Events 42 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 AUGUST 2015 Famalco Group holds blood drive FAMALCO Group, a diver- sified Group of Companies based in Attard, will be or- ganising a blood drive on the 7 August in collaboration with the National Blood Transfu- sion Service. The event forms part of the Group's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, which aim to give back to the community. "Blood is constantly re- quired, and two major traf- fic accidents can be enough to drain Malta's blood bank. There are over 300,000 peo- ple who are eligible to do- nate blood but only 5% do so. Therefore, we are inviting the general public, together with the Group's employees to ded- icate half an hour from their day, and a unit of blood for this noble cause. Being part of this initiative is our way of giving back to the commu- nity," says managing director Hermann Mallia. There is no substitute for hu- man blood, and doing so will not decrease donors' health. Persons interested in joining this altruistic cause are in- vited to visit the Mobile Blood Donation Unit between 08:30 and 13:00 on the 7 August, outside the Famalco Group Head Office in Pitkali Road, Attard. Donors are request- ed to bring their I.D. card or driving licence. For more in- formation call 2339 2347. Fexserv Financial Services celebrates 20 years of operations in Malta COUVRE Porte in Birgu was recently the setting for the celebration by Fexserv Fi- nancial Services on the 20th anniversary since setting up their operations in Malta. The recently restored Couvre Porte, itself a gateway into the historic city of Vitto- riosa, was an ideal venue for a company which today acts as a modern-day gateway to the ever expanding financial serv- ices industry in Malta. Besides a multitude of local guests, made up of clients, agents and staff members, a number of repre- sentatives of Fexserv's foreign partners were present to mark this milestone. As the evening drew to an end the time came for recalling the achievements of the organisa- tion through a video presenta- tion and short commemorative speeches from one of the com- pany directors Pa Nolan and the Chairman of Fexserv Tony Zahra. Nolan recalled the early days when he came to Malta togeth- er with another colleague from Fexco in Ireland in 1995 to help set up Fexco Malta and assist in the knowledge transfer process to Maltese employees. He then went on to thank the custom- ers and staff for their loyalty throughout the years. Zahra also recalled the early memories and took the oppor- tunity to thank his fellow direc- tors for their sterling support in directing the company to what it is today. He stated that Finan- cial Services is now one of the main pillars of the economy and is looking brightly to the future that this industry can have in Malta. He concluded by hint- ing that Fexserv will early next year be launching a very exciting new financial service in Malta through which Fexserv will be doubling its present staff com- pliment. Set up as Fexco Malta Ltd in 1995 and rebranded to Fexserv Financial Services Ltd in 2010 the company has today grown into one of Malta's leading spe- cialised financial services com- panies offering foreign exchange services including its landmark product Fexserv Travel Money with more than 100 currencies available, inward and outward bank payments through its cor- respondent bank Deutsche Bank, and remittance payment service through its agency agreement with Western Union which to- day is serviced through 66 lo- cations including all Maltapost Branches. The Fexserv organisation in Malta also encompasses Fexserv Investment Services, the unique gifting solution through the One4all Gift Voucher, Fund ad- ministration services and Bas- tion Wealth Fund Management. GreenPak's 2015 Local Council Awards recognises improvement by localities THE Local Councils of Luqa, Attard, Għaxaq, Kalkara, San Ġwann and Xagħra, Gozo were officially recognised as winners of the recycling awards during the 2015 Annual GreenPak Lo- cal Council Awards organised by GreenPak Cooperative Society. The awards serve to recognise those local councils that have striven most to improve their green credentials for the better- ment of their locality and their respective environment. Three local councils were nominated as finalists in each of the six catego- ries. This year's edition saw the in- troduction of a new award 'Waste to Recyclables Award' which is in- tended to stimulate the diversion of waste away from the mixed waste collection (black bag) and towards recycling (green bag). This first award was won by Luqa Local Council. The 'Best Overall Performance' which measures the perform- ance per capita of how much re- cyclables are collected from the door-to-door separate waste col- lections and Bring In-Sites, was awarded to San Ġwann Local Council with an annual collec- tion rate of 50.5 kg / capita. At- tard Local Council scooped the 'Most Supportive Locality' award for continuously motivating the locality to recycle more. The awards of 'Best Perform- ance: Glass Recycling' and 'Most Improved Locality' were adjudi- cated to be the localities of Ka- lkara and Għaxaq respectively. For the second consecutive year, Inspire Foundation sponsored 'The Inspire Foundation Award' as a token of appreciation to those local councils participating in the used clothes collection campaign held during the past year. The award was won by Xagħra Lo- cal Council whose residents col- lected an average of 2kgs of used clothes per household. Ing. Mario Schembri, GreenPak Coop Society CEO, said: "With satisfaction, one notices that amongst the runner ups and win- ners are local councils who have joined GreenPak in recent years for the purpose of improving their environmental credentials. In the space of a few years, these local councils have improved so much that they are now enjoying both benefits and rewards and are an example for others to follow. " The award ceremony was at- tended by more than 80 local council mayors, executive sec- retaries and councillors. The Minister for Sustainable Devel- opment, the Environment and Climate Change Leo Brincat and the Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government Dr Stefan Buontempo congratulated the local councils and encouraged them to keep improving on these results in order to reach Malta's recycling targets set out by the EU. Minister for Sustainable De- velopment, the Environment and Climate Change Leo Brincat, said "When we look back at the re- sults achieved by GreenPak along the years, together with innova- tions introduced in Malta in the waste management sector, we are convinced that newly introduced WEEE system will achieve simi- lar success as that achieved in re- cycling of waste packaging." "In this regard, we augur suc- cess to scheme operators such as GreenPak together with the Lo- cal Councils because, although it is the government who drafts policies, they cannot be obtained without their direct input and collaboration," added the Minis- ter. Parliamentary Secretary for Lo- cal Government Dr Stefan Buon- tempo, said: "The increase gener- ated in waste in Malta shows that we are victims of our success as a country, because this is intrin- sically linked with an increase in economic activity. GreenPak's scheme, which brings together 41 local councils and translates into about 70 per cent of the country's population, has collaborated fully with Local Councils. GreenPak, a MEPA authorised scheme, is the largest waste re- covery scheme in Malta. The or- ganisation is a founding member of EXPRA, a not-for-profit inter- national organisation promoting the concept that it is industry it- self that should take up recycling and let recycling be a burden on Government or Local Authori- ties. GreenPak has for the past decade been one of 35 national producer responsibility systems operating under the PRO Europe umbrella. Stefan Buontempo and Leo Brincat (centre) with the Greenpak prize winners