A scroll around the world

The Event

Veolia Environment (VE) subsidiaries Onyx, Dalkia and Three Valleys Water hosted a special ceremony at the House of Commons last Thursday (27 May) to raise awareness of environmental issues with children across the world.

It was attended by former environment secretary John Gummer MP, Paul Boateng MP and a class of children from Barham Primary School in Brent.

The ceremony marked the twentieth stop for VE's Chinese scroll which is travelling to 22 cities across the world to collect children's ideas about caring for the environment.

Three pupils were chosen to represent the UK by drawing their own environmental message on the scroll which will be exhibited at the Pasteur Institute in Paris on 17 and 18 June.

Barham Primary School actively encourages pupils in Education for Sustainable Development and recently won a London School of the Environment Award for its initiatives, which include a gardening club, a paper recycling scheme and a bi-annual Litter Week.

In preparation for the event at the House of Commons, the children attended a water and environment day organised by the Three Valleys Water Environment and Education Team where they illustrated their ideas on being water-wise, reducing, reusing and recycling waste and saving energy.

While the final drawing was completed at the House of Commons, the rest of the children took part in an interactive lesson on waste management and the importance of recycling, via the online educational resource, Eco-Star.com.
The package, designed by Onyx in collaboration with educational professionals, is aimed at Key Stage 2 (7-11 year olds) and links to the National Curriculum.

Mr Boateng told the children that when he was a child in Ghana they had to obtain water from a central tap in the village, which is still the case in many places in the world today. To have drinking water straight from a tap in the kitchen, he said, was a real privilege.

Speaking about environmental education, Mr Boateng said:
"It's important for all of us, and particularly for young people, to be aware of the environmental challenges facing us both locally and globally, now and in the years to come. 'A Scroll Around the World' is an exciting and innovative way of engaging young people with these issues all over the globe. I am happy and proud that Barham School from my constituency was selected to represent London in this important project and I must express my thanks to all at the school and to Veolia for making this happen."

Veolia Environnement's activities in the UK

Its companies include Three Valleys Water (part of Veolia Water), Onyx and Dalkia. Together these companies employ over 11,000 people.

Three Valleys Water

Three Valleys Water has been supplying water to the local community for more than 130 years and is committed to delivering a high quality water service to all its customers. It provides over 860 million litres of water each day to three million customers, in parts of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey, and the London Boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon and Enfield.

Three Valleys Water is the UK's largest water supply only company and is part of Veolia Water, the world leader in water and wastewater management. Veolia Water started developing partnerships and investing in UK water supply in 1987. It operates three water supply companies in the South East of England - Three Valleys Water, Folkestone & Dover Water Services, and Tendring Hundred Water Services and provides 900 million litres of water a day to over 3.2 million people. Veolia Water UK's activities employ some 1,300 people.

Onyx

Present in Great Britain since 1990, Onyx is amongst the largest waste management providers in the country. Onyx provides integrated waste management and environmental services to local communities and industry throughout the UK. It serves over 5 million residents with a range of services including refuse collection.It also provides comprehensive on-site waste management services for more than 25,000 customers, catering for all types of solid, liquid and chemical wastes.

To support its integrated approach, Onyx operates a network of landfill sites, material recovery facilities, transfer stations, state of the art energy from waste plants, liquid treatment facilities as well as green waste composting. Onyx has over 5,000 employees working across its range of services in the UK.

Dalkia

Dalkia has been providing services in the UK for more than 35 years. Dalkia serves more than 40,000 client sites in the commercial, industrial, retail, health and public sectors. Dalkia delivers comprehensive facilities and energy related services, including full technical and maintenance support, through tailor made solutions that enhance customer competitiveness and help focus on core business.Activities include facilities and energy management, mechanical and electrical services, lighting, industrial maintenance and multi-utility solutions. These directly deliver around 3,000 MW thermal power, 137 MW electrical generation and serve more than 3 million m² of floor space. Dalkias CHP (Combined Heat & Power) plants across the world annually save 3.7 million tonnes of CO2 from going into the atmosphere - equivalent to 2.5 million cars travelling 25 billion miles a year.