Under the watchful eye of the 6th grade students of Arenas School, this Tuesday, April 2nd, José Luis Mataix, Director of AENOR in the Canary Islands, presented the renewal certifications of Environmental Management ISO 14001 to the directors of Arenas School and Arenas Internacional School, in a heartwarming ceremony held in the Mª del Carmen Ojeda Hall, which was attended by the General Director of Arenas School, Arenas Atlántico and Arenas Internacional, Alberto Rodríguez.
Arenas Internacional School in Lanzarote and Arenas School in Gran Canaria are the first and only educational centers in the Canary Islands that possess these certifications, an external recognition of the center's management of its interactions with the environment through exhaustive audits carried out by AENOR.
The ceremony began with the participation of a group of 6th grade students who explained to those present the importance for the Centers of having acquired these certifications that make them ECOCENTERS, and presented some of the environmental projects that are carried out, as well as the actions that are necessary to carry out both in the Center and outside of it to preserve and contribute to the care of the environment. Next, they presented the robotics project "Ecological City" in which they have been working, managing to build a more sustainable and environmentally friendly city through the different existing renewable energies.
Next, Mataix congratulated the Schools and their students, expressing that "they have not only carried out a magnificent and arduous task to obtain the Certification but they have done it with honors." "The beauty of this project is that the students have been involved, whom I also congratulate for the work done and the presentation made today," he said.
For his part, Alberto Rodríguez explained the process that has led the schools to obtain this certification. "We were pioneers in obtaining the Quality Certification more than 15 years ago and now we are also pioneers in this one, it is the logical procedure." "Despite the fact that a school is not a very polluting company, the challenge of contributing to preserving our environment by helping to create awareness among our students was undoubtedly our main reason for starting this path that we culminated in 2018, and for which we will continue working every year because we firmly believe in an environmental education capable of contributing its grain of sand to reverse the situation that the Planet has today and leave others a better world."
Along with Alberto Rodríguez and José Luis Mataix, the director of Arenas Internacional School, Delfina Rodríguez, and the directors of Arenas School, Manoli Hernández and Teresa Santana, together with the head of Quality and Environment of the Centers, Orencio Martínez, attended the event.
The international standard ISO 14001 for environmental protection, the most widespread environmental management tool in the world with 362,600 certificates in 181 countries, has allowed the Arenas International School (AIS GROUP) centers to establish an environmental policy, verify that all legal requirements are met, train the people of the organization in a process of continuous improvement and work in accordance with the goals defined in an environmental program. Its usefulness covers aspects such as the reduction of environmental impacts, consumption of paper, light, water in the center and throughout the educational community, preventing pollution, reducing waste and for us the most important, strategic objective of AIS GROUP, that of EDUCATING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, training, raising awareness and sensitizing the entire community for a sustainable future.
Spain is the fifth country in the world and third in Europe by number of ISO 14001 certificates, with more than 13,000 recognitions, according to the latest report from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
