Ritra Cargo and UNICEF form long-term partnership

28 July 2025

Not only are we driven to always achieve the best results in our own field, we also cannot turn a blind eye to those for whom a place in society is not as obvious. That is why we have supported a multitude of small initiatives for many years. What’s more, Ritra Cargo became a UNICEF Business Buddie on 1 December 2024, and now supports the ‘Plastic Bricks’ programme in Côte d’Ivoire: a programme that combines sustainability, employment and education in a way that is both very efficient and kind. We would love to tell you more about this great partnership!

Proud of our team’s social commitment

Ritra Cargo is a freight forwarder with a commercial character. Without a doubt. However, we also feel it is very important to do our part when it comes to social engagement. Although we are (almost) continuously enthralled by solving issues to do with capacity shortages, delays and rotation changes, we still realise all too well that life is about more than our hard work in logistics and transport. That is why Ritra Cargo has been involved in various sponsoring activities for many years.

Whether it’s sponsoring one of our customers taking part in the Alpe d’Huzes or a small-scale local project at a primary school in Rotterdam-Zuid, where we had lots of fun – together with one of our partners – handing out cuddly toys and world maps to the pupils. And then there was the internal cost-saving we made at the end of 2024, which resulted in a donation to the doctors at the Erasmus MC. We do this because we believe it is important to contribute as a company. However small or big the contribution might be.

The team likes to get involved too. For example, some of them completed a 10 km walk in October for the Sophia Rotterdam Ronald McDonald Huis during the Harbour Run. Of course, with some Ritra support along the trail. We were also personally involved in a Footprint Challenge over two years ago, in which the team significantly (and permanently!) reduced its own carbon footprint within a short time.

What does it mean, being a UNICEF Business Buddie?

For a while, we had been looking for meaningful collaboration with a party that could help us to make an impact on a larger scale, and this brought us to talks with UNICEF at the end of last year. And in December 2024, Ritra Cargo became a proud UNICEF Business Buddie! This is a long-term collaboration.

The long-running ‘Plastic Bricks’ programme allows UNICEF to tackle several challenges in Côte d’Ivoire at once.

‘We train women to gather, safely store, and process plastic waste.’

‘We give these women entrepreneurship training so they can start their own business.’

‘We buy the plastic waste from them at a fair price.’

‘We process the plastic waste into bricks in a factory, and use these bricks to build new classrooms.’

Spring 2025 produced the following results:

Source: UNICEF

Would you like to find out more or help by doing your (brick) bit?

For more information, please contact our Marketing & Communication department, or take a look at this website: https://www.unicef.org/