Special Report – Being invested in sustainability

The summer heatwave in 2022 has pushed the threat of climate change into the headlines and to the top of the agenda for many parents.

‘More and more people are interested in sustainability now,’ says Cheryl Hadland, managing director of Tops Day Nurseries. ‘If nothing else motivates people, it's when they’re personally affected by something. So the message is getting out more and more. The challenge is what to do about it, where do we start?’

For early years providers, the work is not purely limited to ensuring children understand sustainability.

Chief executive of Kids Planet, Clare Roberts, explains, ‘Not only are we educating children to care about the environment, but it's our job to try to educate parents, and implement sustainable practices ourselves.’

But not all parents are enticed by eco-friendly claims, warns Hadland.

‘Generally, in more middle-class areas, parents are 100 per cent on board and absolutely delighted their children are using washable nappies, for example,’ she says. ‘In other areas, parents don't know what we’re talking about, and we have to educate as we go along. Then some parents, probably less than five per cent, simply don't care. Then you have to decide whether you want to try to bring them on board, or whether you’re just not the nursery for them.’

PROVING YOURSELF

Accreditations, such as Eco-Schools Green Flag or the OMEP Early Childhood Sustainable Citizenship Award, can be a good way for settings to prove their sustainability credentials to interested parents.

At Tops, which is certified as a B-Corporation business, Hadland says accreditation can be positive.

‘B-Corp proves we go the extra mile when it comes to being sustainable,’ she says. ‘ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) standards can also be helpful to use, because parents might understand them from their own businesses.’

Ultimately, however, she believes actions speak louder than words.

‘You could just demonstrate your credentials in practice, by asking parents not to bring in single-use plastics or idle their engines outside the nursery, for example.’

Accreditations could also be used to introduce sustainability to parents and staff who are less engaged with the issue. London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) is a member of sustainability certification Planet Mark.

Chief executive June O’Sullivan says, ‘Accreditation doesn't drive change for us, but at the moment, having a flag is probably sensible because it helps start conversations with parents about what we are trying to do.’

She acknowledges that signing up can be pricey.

‘A lot of these schemes are making a lot of money – they’re not cheap – but, at least to start with, they help parents understand what we are doing and why.’

EXPENSE

Cost can be a significant concern for owners looking to make their business greener.

Some parents now pay £1 a month in a ‘Green Tax’ to LEYF to promote ownership and understanding of the steps the group is taking towards sustainability.

Tops has an entirely electric fleet of vehicles and solar panels across many of its settings, which required significant upfront investment.

‘I’ve had a long-term view,’ explains Hadland. ‘That won't necessarily help people who haven't invested already, but it's not too late. We’re about to be hit by a projected 200 per cent increase in our gas bill. That's a very good business reason to be sustainable.’

Other options, such as reducing waste collections to fortnightly by increasing the amount you recycle, or using solar window films to reduce reliance on heating and cooling systems, have also helped Tops keep costs down.

UNIFYING THE SECTOR

Hadland believes sharing tips like these is key to improving sustainability across the sector.

‘A lot of people don't know what to do to make a difference, because it wasn't part of our education,’ she says. ‘We have to do all our own research, whichis a lot when we’re already flat-out coping with Covid-19, inadequate funding and the rest. It's not number one on everyone's list.’

To spread the word, Hadland founded GECCO, the Green Early Years Choices Champion Organisation, a registered charity aiming to share best practice in caring for children in a sustainable way.

O’Sullivan recommends starting slowly, with a long-term strategy of gradual change. ‘Start by recognising you probably can't do everything. Some of the sector can be a little bit finger-pointing and lecturing on this, which just alienates people. If you make just one change that's meaningful, that is worth a lot.’

Hadland agrees. ‘The thing is not to dwell too much on the negative. You can do something positive and it feels so great. No matter what it is, whether it's going on a rubbish pick, growing something or starting a food bank, anything that works for you. You don't have to do it all, just do something.

‘We’re all in the same boat. None of us has any money, we’re all suffering from increasing utility bills and inflation. Climate change isn't going away. It's just going to get hotter, but we have to stay open, because we don't get paid otherwise, so we have to find ways to make it work. If we wait for the Government to pay, we will be waiting a very long time. So we have to do it ourselves, find ways to make savings, and then invest those savings to make a difference.’

CASE STUDY: Young Friends Kindergarten

‘We’re trying to create a completely genuine, sustainable experience for both parents and children, with no contradictions at all,’ says Louise Lloyd-Evans, owner of Young Friends Kindergarten in Hove, East Sussex.

The nursery was designed as a nature-based setting when it opened in 2009, but by 2016, Lloyd-Evans wanted her business to reflect the choices she made at home. In order to minimise waste and get staff and parents on board, the switch to a sustainable model was managed slowly.

‘It's important to have a slow action plan,’ says Lloyd-Evans. ‘For the staff's sake, you can't do everything at once. You have to be patient. We actually found they were really proud of what they were doing, especially when we made sure to involve them, and congratulate and praise them.’

Meanwhile, in a relatively affluent area, parents are generally on board with the concept in principle, but still require support. Complaints included a parent irritated that he had to remove his shoes when disposable shoe covers were taken out of the setting, and some parents unimpressed with a switch to reusable nappies.

‘Some parents say they’ve heard we are a sustainable nursery, but don't necessarily realise quite how we work until they get here,’ says Lloyd-Evans. ‘Because of that, we created a much more robust settling-in system for parents which is similar to the onboarding we do for staff. We really talk about our ethos and say we’re changing things every day. To be truly sustainable, you have to, because things might not work, or there might be a better way. That helps cover your back.’

With a new setting, run on wind energy, set to open in Hassocks, West Sussex later this year, Lloyd-Evans plans to expand her approach and has set up Young Friends Tribe, an online framework to allow other nurseries to move towards creating a sustainable nursery.

‘In the new nursery, I will be thinking about all these things from the start,’ says Lloyd-Evans.

‘I’d have loved my first nursery to be full of solar panels and not use so much energy, but it's in an old building, and we just couldn't do it. We couldn't do everything straight away either, as I was stuck in all these different contracts when I first decided to go sustainable and couldn't get out of them immediately. It's about doing what you can.’

CASE STUDY: Watermead Day Nursery and Pre-School

Watermead Day Nursery and Pre-School in Loughborough has introduced sustainability as its target focus for this year, enhancing its existing emphasis on the environment with recycling projects for children, a review of suppliers and a new sustainability policy.

At training days and monthly staff meetings, teams are asked for their input to help make the setting greener.

‘We want to get them involved, so ask them to bring their own ideas and think about how we can better the nursery,’ says nursery manager Kyla Fory. ‘We don't just want to tell them what we are doing.’

In turn, staff have helped keep parents involved in sustainability efforts.

‘One of the greenhouses in our Forest School broke recently,’ Fory says. ‘Rather than buy more plastic, staff suggested we ask parents to bring in their old water bottles, so we’re going to make it out of them instead.’

Encouraging parents to engage in the setting's sustainability efforts also helps keep messaging consistent for children.

‘We ask parents to bring recycling in from home, like glass, so we can all go down to the glass bottle bank together and help children understand about the different bins they can go to,’ Fory explains. ‘Then children get parents on board too. One child said she told her mum off for not recycling properly.’

Regular parent questionnaires help monitor parents’ feedback on the nursery's efforts, and have even thrown up more ideas.

‘Parents suggested we introduce a flexitarian menu to help reduce our carbon footprint,’ Fory explains. ‘Now each week we have a vegan and a vegetarian meal, which helps encourage children to eat lots more different things too.’

The setting is currently working with Earth Warriors, an organisation which has developed a new early years sustainability curriculum to run alongside the EYFS. Fory says the approach has been very effective, but acknowledges that getting to use it on a free trial basis has been key.

‘It might have been a barrier for us if we did have to pay for it,’ she says. ‘It's a shame there isn't a way for settings to get sponsorship or support to do these things, because it's the way we’re moving forward, in all sectors, not just the early years. Helping to embed it in children while they’re young, so they grow up to know it as the norm, would be better than trying to get adults to do it first.’

She adds that activities such as litter picks, composting and recycling projects help the local community, just one of several benefits of a greener approach.

‘We really want to give back,’ she says. ‘Of course, we want to reduce our energy costs too. Becoming greener is a great unique selling point for nurseries, especially as more and more parents are becoming aware of sustainability. We want to keep up with what children are doing at home, but also come up with ideas for parents to try, like taking home seeds to grow vegetables, so we can all make a difference together.’

Recommended resources

• All the products from Community Playthings (www.communityplaythings.co.uk) are made with wood from responsibly managed forests, either Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)- or Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)-certified to prove they come from forests that are managed in an environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable way. Options range from furniture to role play and block play resources, as well as outdoor equipment, storage solutions and workbenches and easels.
• Resources made from a variety of eco-friendly alternatives are available from TTS (https://www.tts-group.co.uk/early-years/sustainable-resources/?sz=90), including giant building blocks or small-world vehicle sets made from sugarcane-based bio-plastic, role-play dinner sets made from fully recycled, eco-labelled plastic, and recycled card and cardboard rolls for arts and crafts.
• Bamboo makes for a more sustainable option than wood as it can be harvested in three years rather than the 10 to 20 years it takes for trees, and absorbs 35 per cent more carbon than the equivalent area of trees. Cosy Direct offers a range of bamboo resources (https://www.cosydirect.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=bamboo) that includes tubes for channelling water and sand, guttering for rolling pebbles, acorns and pinecones down, pathways and tunnels for small-world play, and a variety of collection pots for loose parts and counting pots. The company also offers a range of coconut resources, with designs on shells to show letters, symbols and facial expressions (https://www.cosydirect.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=coconut).
• Conscious Craft (https://consciouscraft.uk) offers a wide variety of toxin-free, natural toys and craft materials such as eco paper, felt-tip pens, fingerpaints and playdough.
• Nappy Ever After (www.nappyeverafter.co.uk) provides a cloth nappy laundry service for nurseries and Children's Centres across three London boroughs, offering delivery and collection.
• Bristol-based company Early Years Catering (http://www.earlyyearscatering.co.uk) uses electric vehicles to deliver food to settings and is powered by a renewable energy provider. The company recycles 86 per cent of its waste and has increased the number of plant-based meals on its menu, only serving meat that is organic, free range or farm-assured from UK farms that have been checked through its Soil Association accreditation.
• Meal provider Zebedees, which delivers to nurseries in East Sussex, West Sussex, Kent, London, Surrey and Essex, is working towards a Silver Certificate under the Steps to Environmental Management Scheme. The company has installed a heat transfer unit, a baler to bale and sell waste cardboard, and diverts over 50 tonnes of waste annually from landfill to be converted into compost.
• Terracycle's Zero Waste Box (https://zerowasteboxes.terracycle.co.uk) offers settings a way to recycle toys, baby equipment, arts and crafts waste and baby food pouches by collecting items in the boxes then using the pre-paid, carbon-neutral-shipping label to arrange collection.
• Reuseful UK (https://www.reusefuluk.org) is a volunteer-led organisation supporting a network of scrap stores, creative reuse and resource centres across the UK, providing clean, reusable scrap materials for children to play with.
• 50 Fantastic Ideas for Sustainability by June O’Sullivan and Nick Corlett (Bloomsbury, 2021) introduces a range of activities to help children reduce, reuse, recycle, repair and be respectfulof the environment.