Omo Liquid Schools Campaign encourages youth to go green

As part of the campaign, children are encouraged to take as many of their empty OMO liquid bottles to school as possible as a pledge for the switch to a cold wash. The empty bottles collected will be placed into recycle bins stationed at each school with the intention of filling up as many bins as possible. The campaign kicks off on 15 July 2013 and will be targeting Grades 1-7 learners.

Andrew Mysell, marketing manager, OMO said: "As the effects of climate change continue to affect us all more and more, millions of people across the globe will become agents for change in support of a greener, cleaner and more sustainable planet when World Environment Day is celebrated on 5 June.

"The aim of the schools campaign is to raise awareness about the effects of climate change while also encouraging people to realise that their small actions can make a big difference to the environment.

"The more empty bottles that we collect and the more people that have converted to cold washes, the greater the positive impact on the environment."

Recycle to reduce environmental impact

The benefits of recycling are numerous: it reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills; conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals; prevents pollution caused by reducing the need to collect new raw materials; saves energy; reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change; helps sustain the environment for future generations; and helps create new well-paying jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries.

Unilever is committed to reducing our environmental impact and helping to educate children so that they also understand the importance of looking after the environment and how they make a difference through their individual actions.

Unilever has partnered with a professional waste management company that will be responsible for collection of the empty OMO liquid bottles from schools and recycling them.

Some of the ways in which consumers may contribute to a greener and cleaner planet include: purchasing eco-friendly products with eco-friendly packaging; making use of alternative renewable energy resources; switching from a hot to a cold wash cycle; switching from a laundry powder to a laundry liquid detergent and making the effort to recycle. Not only are these practices simple and realistic - if applied in a manner conducive to the environment, they are also achievable.

Constructive competition

The schools challenge which runs until November provides parents in each region with an incentive to win R5000 towards their child's school fees simply by participating in the competition.

Winners of the national schools competition will be announced at a prize-giving ceremony in November.

One winning school from each region will each receive R25,000 worth of equipment towards upgrading their school facilities for collecting the most OMO liquid bottles.

The winning schools will also have an opportunity to nominate an underprivileged school of their choice to win R25,000 worth of equipment towards upgrading their school facilities.

As an added bonus, the winning class in each region will receive a Toys"R"Us voucher to the value of R10,000.

For more information about the OMO Liquid Schools Campaign 2013 and how to participate, call +27 (0)87 350 1207, email az.oc.sloohcsomo@ofni or go to www.omoauto.co.za.