Diversey Care has become the headline partner of Eco-Schools England, becoming part of the largest environmental schools programme in the world. Under this new commitment, Diversey Care will offer advice and support on sustainable cleaning and wider sustainability topics to schools that want to achieve and maintain Eco-Schools accreditation. This will include bespoke materials for pupils and staff and online resources available from a dedicated website at www.eco-schools.org.uk.
Eco-Schools empowers pupils to make positive change with a highly focused programme that provides a framework for learning and action. Schools follow a simple seven-step process, based around nine core topics, to achieve a sustainability accreditation. In England, the programme is operated by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy. More than 18,000 schools participate and 1150 of these currently hold the highest level of award, the Eco-Schools Green Flag. Globally, more than 16 million children attend an Eco-School in 64 different countries. The programme was established in 1994 in response to the 1992 UN Rio Earth Summit.
Lindsay Childerhouse, Eco-Schools project leader at Diversey Care in the UK, said: “Supporting Eco-Schools is a natural extension of our commitment to sustainability and working with schools and the community. Improving the efficacy of cleaning chemicals and efficiency of equipment is what we do. We’ll use our long-standing experience in cleaning and hygiene to help schools improve sustainable processes, achieve their Eco-Schools programme objectives and secure a Green Flag Award. We’ll also work with the Eco-Schools team to help them identify opportunities to develop the programme.”
Tim Knappett, Eco-Schools partnerships manager, said: “We are excited to partner with Diversey Care and help schools to keep improving along their sustainability journey. We work with businesses who share our vision for educating and empowering the next generation to take on the environmental challenges we face. We are delighted to be working with Diversey Care to further this support to children, young people and schools.”