Reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink

During the first Sekisui European Children’s Eco Summit the central theme was “How to become Eco Heroes”. The program aimed to provide knowledge, a positive attitude and inspiration to practice “reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink” into action. During the event children aged 10 to 18 from France, Germany, UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands were challenged to discover playfully why sustainability is a topic they want to get involved in and what they can actually accomplish themselves to preserve the environment.

Circular economy: challenging creativity

The program concept was developed in line with the corporate sustainability program. The challenge was to introduce the young participants in a fun and cool way to the theme of waste management with the purpose of changing their attitude and behavior with regard to this subject in their everyday live. This goal has been achieved: the participants had lots of fun, learned a lot and were planning to put reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink into practice. The participants valued the program developed by Finch & Beak with elements such as an Eco Hero Rap, a GPS expedition, An Eco Hero Quiz and the building of a TV studio out of Sekisui waste material with an average of 8,9.

Youngsters casted as change agents for sustainability

The participants in the latest global summit were appointed "Eco Ambassadors" and asked to implement their summit activities reports in their local sites. The sites around the world will receive the reports from the youngsters, and discuss their implementation in local business and environmental activities.

Some concrete suggestions and ideas that were derived from the Global Eco Summit:

1. Create biodegradable products that are friendly to the environment, and housing that uses natural light
2. Prepare educational materials for children on the subject of protecting habitat-specific living creatures
3. Establish opportunities for learning like the Eco Summit

About Sekisui

Sekisui Chemical Company, the Japanese manufacturer of high quality polyolefin foams is very active in the field of sustainability. In 2007 Sekisui celebrated its 60 year anniversary. In order to celebrate this, Sekisui organized the first Global Children’s Eco Summit in Japan with children from all over the world followed by a second in 2012. In September 2008 the Children’s Eco Summit concept was broadened with a regional event in Europe, which was repeated in September 2015.