New Vertical Gardens for Tocopilla

More than 2,000 students will benefit from two new vertical gardens in the district of Tocopilla. The green lungs, featuring more than 500 new plants, will improve the landscape at the Arturo Prat and Bernardo O’Higgins schools.

Installation of the ten-square-meter vertical gardens marks completion of a year-long initiative in Tocopilla that included a series of online ecological awareness workshops funded by SQM.

Hosting the workshops on the Verdical platform enabled work on environmental protection issues to continue in the district of Tocopilla even when they could not take place in person.

“We have held our environmental workshops online since the beginning of the pandemic. We continued training agents of change in the district and reached more than 500 local students with workshops including vermicompost, vertical gardening with recycled material, pest control and household recycling. The process culminated with two vertical gardens to improve the landscape for these student communities and encourage more ecological initiatives,” explained Daniela Núñez Martínez, Founding Partner of Verdical.

Pablo Pisani, Director of Communications, Sustainability and Public Affairs at SQM, commented: “Through this partnership with Verdical, which dates back three years, we have installed vertical gardens in several Tocopilla schools and trained new agents of change with interesting workshops. The agents of change use the knowledge they acquire to protect the environment. This effort aligns with our corporate Sustainability Plan, which involves environmental metrics and commitments as well as creating shared social value with our neighbors.”

Cecilia Abarca, who works in the Environment Area at the Municipality of Tocopilla, commented: “I think it’s a wonderful initiative. I hope these green spaces can be replicated throughout the community. Collaboration with the municipality to benefit Tocopilla would be very positive.”

The ten-square-meter vertical gardens have about 300 plants each that adapt to the climate. They are arranged in layers and have hydroponic features as well as a drip irrigation system for efficient energy consumption.