Unilever And Coles Provide Young Aussies In Hawkesbury With Lesson Plans To Help Clean Up Australia

Unilever Australia has joined forces with Clean Up Australia, Cool.org and Coles to supply free Clean Up Kits and online educational resources to schools in Hawkesbury.

With 44 per cent of young Australians rating the environment as their most pressing concern, schools are increasingly looking at how they can equip students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to address the complex challenges of our world.

To help support this, Unilever is donating $150,000 to Clean Up Australia which is being used to update five lesson plans on Cool.org - an online platform supporting Australian teachers to bring the real world into the classroom through curriculum-aligned resources.

The updated lesson plans cover key topics including how litter affects nature; what a circular economy is; the Australasian Recycling Label; and how to dispose of waste correctly.

The donation will also be used to supply up to 1000 free Clean Up Kits to schools across the country.

Unilever Australia and New Zealand, Head of Country, Nick Bangs said Australia had some of the most beautiful landscapes from pristine beaches to lush rainforests, and they wanted to keep it that way.

“We’re taking actions across our business to reduce our environmental impact - from redesigning our packaging to use less plastic and using renewable energy to reduce our emissions,” Mr Bangs said.

“But we can’t do it alone and educating our future generation about protecting and conserving the environment will be essential to galvanising a more sustainable future for us all.

“We’re really proud to be working with Coles, Clean Up Australia and Cool.org on this.”

Cool.org CEO, Thea Stinear said sustainability education was a vital component of the Australian school curriculum.

“Through our lesson plans we aim to make it easier for teachers by equipping them with the knowledge and resources they need to inspire their students,” Ms Stinear said.

“With Unilever’s support, we estimate we’ll reach around 30,000 students.”

Unilever’s donation is made possible thanks to Hawkesbury Coles shoppers.

Whenever shoppers from Hawkesbury buy one of Unilever’s participating products at Coles supermarkets or online between May 1 and 28, 10 cents from each purchase will go towards the total $150,000 donation.

This is the fifth consecutive year the initiative has run and, with the help of Australians, Unilever has donated over $400,000 to Clean Up Australia which has helped supply more than 6000 free Clean Up Kits.

To mark World Environment Day on June 5, Unilever and Coles have encouraged teachers in Hawkesbury to register for a free Kit and organise a clean-up to go into the running to win one of three $1000 Coles gift vouchers.

Visit https://www.cleanup.org.au/schools for more information on the competition and to register for a Clean Up Kit.

• Topics:

• Environmental Issues