Free water-saving kit amongst carbon cutting prizes, in action to highlight sustainability steps by schools
Zellar – an online sustainability tool helping cut carbon footprints and energy bills at businesses, sports clubs, schools and other UK organisations – has teamed-up with water retailer Water Plus, to share green actions with pupils that are making and impact.
It’s part of a free to enter competition for schools as part of a partnership between Water Plus and Zellar to drive further progress on carbon reductions, savings and actions for the environment. Two winning schools: one for 4 to 11-year-olds and one for 11 to 18-year-olds will receive the prizes, including £1,000 for each school to spend on a green project, to help them save water, save energy and cut carbon emissions.
Water Plus is also highlighting water-saving steps for schools – and actions schools have taken to cut water waste – in its Be Wise On Water awareness campaign.
One school saved 456 litres of water an hour – that’s equal to 5 bathtubs, of 80 litres of water – after a leak that saw water seeping through brickwork into a boiler room was stopped. The Water Plus Advanced Service team located a leak on a cast iron pipe and repaired it, in September 2023. The leak could have also caused further issues in the boiler room, if the school hadn’t requested the services to save water.
An estimated 3.9 million litres of water (3994 cubic metres of water) could have been lost over 12 months – equal to 15.9 million cuppas, holding 250ml of liquid each. It’s more than £12,400 in water costs over 12 months.*
Water Plus has also been sharing water-saving tips with school pupils in 2024, as part of its role in a careers hub.
Scott MacIndeor, Head of Advanced Services at water retailer Water Plus, said: “The water-saving figure illustrates how regular water checks at school – and sites generally – is worth the time, along with checking water meter readings regularly – ideally every month, or more often during term time, throughout a year, if the meter is safe to access.
“Small steps can really add up to great results for schools and lower utility bill costs, even saving energy when less hot water is used through more water efficiency.”
“There are carbon emissions linked to all water a site receives and the water that’s taken away and treated, so increasing water efficiency is well worth it – and helps reduce impacts we can all have on the environment,” Scott added.
Prizes for the Zellar Green Schools competition winners include:
- £1,000 towards an environmental project in their school, championed by Zellar and Water Plus.*
- A one-day Water Efficiency Visit which will explain how to save water across a school site. For sites in mainland England and mainland Scotland this will be onsite. For Wales and islands of UK, this will be a virtual water saving call.*
- Two 227-litre water butts, provided by water retailer Water Plus, to help reuse rainwater and reduce tap water use for outdoor growing projects, to support wildlife, biodiversity, health and wellbeing.*
Suzy Lloyd, head of digital and social at Zellar, said: “There’s so many amazing sustainability projects hidden across our schools. Our mission is to shine a light on them and inspire others. We want every school to send us a picture of their project, no matter how big, or small, as long as it’s helping to improve the environment. Some of the amazing projects we’ve seen so far include eco zones in every classroom and biodiversity days to support nature.”
“It’s great Water Plus is supporting the competition, which will drive real change at schools and help reduce impacts on the environment we can all have,” Suzy added.
To enter the Zellar Green Schools competition each school just needs to snap a photo of their sustainability project, write a brief description, and share it on Instagram, X, or by email – and/or by posting a comment on a Zellar Green Schools post on the Zellar UK Facebook.
Each way of entering counts separately, giving four chances to win. Winners will be selected at random, from entries, by Zellar.
* For more on the competition, the prizes and the full competition Terms and Conditions, see: www.zellar.com/greenschools and www.zellar.com/green-schools-terms-and-conditions . Entries can be submitted up to 11.59pm on Sunday, 16th June 2024.
Winners will be announced on Thursday, 27th June 2024.
*Water loss an hour based on meter readings taken. Cost in 12 months based on wholesaler costs per m3 of water and wastewater for 24/25.
