Car seat recycling and loan scheme wins International CSR Award

EASST and Kier are delighted to have been awarded an International Corporate Social Responsibility Award at a prestigious ceremony at the RADA Theatre in London on July 16th 2018.  The Award was given in recognition of EASST’s and Kier’s joint project which saw the establishment of a car seat recycling and loan scheme for low-income families in Tajikistan.

Working in partnership with Kier and the Young Generation of Tajikistan (YGT), our car seat recycling and loan scheme is raising awareness of the importance of restraints and providing child car seats to families who could not otherwise afford them.

Last year, Kier Group collected around 100 car seats at their Household Waste Recycling Centre in North Somerset.  The seats were then safety checked and packed up onto pallets to make the 4,000-mile journey to Dushanbe.

Here, the YGT used their local networks to identify suitable families as well as working with a local NGO that supports parents of children with Autism to distribute the seats and provide information and advice on the importance of child restraints and how to use them safely.

The probability of children aged 1-7 years being injured in a crash is reduced by around 70% when an appropriate child restraint is used instead of a seat belt only. Child restraints are a vital protection for children in cars. However, in low countries like Tajikistan the cost of child restraints can be an inhibiting factor for many families.

The scheme coincided with the public awareness campaign run by the YGT to increase seat belt wearing in Dushanbe. A recent observational study of over 5000 cars conducted by the YGT found that only 3.3 per cent of children were fastened in child car seats. Yet, using a child restraint is a simple measure that really can save lives.