Sustainability mindset at Leonardo leads to international impact

Released On 23rd Sep 2024

Employees at the company have been encouraged to maintain a sustainability mindset to maximise the reuse of materials and products used by the business, as part of the organisation’s journey to net zero. The Leonardo team has just learned that smart screens they donated via Luke Simon, Founder and CEO of the ‘School in a Bag’ charity in Chilthorne Domer in Yeovil, will soon find their way to schools in Ukraine as a learning tool for children.

Leonardo Charity Committee member, Molly Dugmore, said: “We manage the disposal store on site where people leave items no longer needed by the business. There were ten smart screens in there that were taking up a lot of room, so we donated them to ‘School in a Bag’ thinking it could help them plan their deliveries. The smart screens actually come with pens and we also had white boards and speakers that we were able to donate. When Luke saw them, he was excited because he knew they needed these to teach lessons at schools in Ukraine and there is a big drive at the moment to get more learning materials out to them. It made us feel really great that we could help them.”

School in a Bag is a small Yeovil-based charity that distributes school supplies to disadvantaged children around the world. According to recent UNICEF figures, almost one fifth of the world’s child population will never attend school. The charity gives schools learning materials, school bags and equipment to help children start a personal path of educational attainment.

Luke explained: “The projectors and smart screens donated by Leonardo are a fantastic contribution which we are extremely grateful for on two levels. At least one set will be used in the conference room in the barn at School in a Bag HQ which will significantly improve our work and delivery of meetings. The rest will be sent to the region in Ukraine where we have been providing SchoolBags to children impacted by the war for the past 18 months. The need for IT equipment is vast, and the screens and projectors will revolutionise the way in which their national curriculum can be delivered. They will become such an incredible modern addition to the classrooms in conjunction with our SchoolBags. On behalf of the team at School in a Bag and the children and teachers in Ukraine, thank you so much for this generous act.“

The Yeovil Charity Committee also found five television screens that were no longer in use due to a recent upgrade and delivered them to Yeovil Hospital for use across the wards.

Debora Walker, an IT support manager at Yeovil Hospital, which is run by Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said: "The donation of the screens from Leonardo will mean that we can install additional display and patient information screens for both our colleagues and visitors to use without this costing the NHS additional money."

Leonardo Sustainability Spokesperson, Zevi Watmough, said: “We’re so proud of our Charity Committee members for thinking of new ways that they could repurpose equipment to benefit others. Rather than throwing equipment away, they’ve recycled it by reintroducing it into communities, so they reduce waste and expand the life of the products beyond their original use within the business. Whether you are a business or an individual, everyone has finite resources right now, so it makes sense to keep products and materials in circulation to reduce waste and pollution.”