This week, Mars Chocolate UK in Slough is celebrating ‘Energy Week’ and the wide range of ongoing activities that have resulted in an 11% reduction in overall energy usage. This is part of Mars’ wider environmental commitment: a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020.
As part of the ‘Energy Week’ celebrations, pupils from St Edmund Campion Catholic Primary school in Maidenhead visited Mars in Slough on Thursday 12th November, to discuss their school’s green activities.
The school has recently been awarded the prestigious and nationally recognised Eco-Schools Green Flag Award for their efforts in energy usage reduction.
St Edmund Campion is just one of the local schools that Mars has helped as part of their community activities in recent years. Mars funds ongoing consultancy visits to schools in the area to offer expert sustainability advice.
Since 2005, Mars has funded 45 school visits, and 40 of those schools have gone on to receive an Eco-Schools award. Mars’ support scheme has been so successful in Windsor and Maidenhead that this year it has been extended to include schools in Slough too; St Edmund Campion School was one of the first to receive a visit from the consultant.
Kay Nicholls, Mars Chocolate said: “It was great to welcome the pupils from St Edmund Campion Primary school on Thursday. We take energy saving very seriously here at Mars Chocolate and it’s great to have young people helping us with our ‘Energy Week’. They were so enthusiastic and we really enjoyed hearing about their eco activities, we had a lot of fun together.”
Jenny McQuillan, St Edmund Campion school said: “This year has been fantastic for St. Edmund Campion Catholic Primary School. We are delighted to have gained the 'Green Flag Award', as well as an outstanding OFSTED report, which commented on the children's excellent sustainability work. Our children are knowledgeable and passionate about how to save our world. Recent initiatives have included introducing 'Carbon Free Friday' (where we try not to use energy that isn't absolutely necessary, one Friday each term) and 'Wipe Out Waste' (a competition where the children think of ways to reduce or eradicate waste in the school). It has been a wonderful opportunity for the children who visited Mars to tell the employees their own ideas and to realise that what they have to say really matters. After going on a 'Green Walk' around the Mars building, the children have also come away with fresh ideas and inspiration for what we can do next. We hope to maintain this link in the future.”
Mars has a number of other activities going on during ‘Energy Week’: representatives from the Energy Savings Trust will be on hand to advise employees on how to save energy and on Friday, associates can pledge to reduce their energy consumption.
To celebrate the energy reduction achievement, Mars Chocolate is giving employees a free energy monitor which can help them to reduce the electricity usage at home too, saving them money and reducing their carbon footprints.
A case study of how Mars achieved this energy saving is available in the commitments section of our website: Click here to read more.
