Students Working for Sustainability and Festive Cheer

This week the Sustainability Team has been finding a little bit of time in between eating mince pies and chocolates to consider the opportunities we have for students working in the Sustainability Office. We met Sarah Sheikh from the Business School, who has been encouraged by Mary McCartney (Business School Sustainability Champion), to find out what we have within the Sustainability Team for students to get involved in.

As usual the Sustainability Team is looking for students to become involved in all sorts of projects relating to a multitude of different subjects. The first position we are offering through the Business School is the position of Fairtrade Intern. With Fairtrade Fortnight coming up in February and March next year there is loads of Fairtrade fun to get involved with and great opportunity for a student to get experience in running events, project management, communications, administration, charity sector work and of course trying out all the latest Fairtrade products - whether it is chocolate, bananas or cotton buds! Sarah will be inviting Business School students to make an application to the role and if you are the lucky chosen student you will get a chance to really get involved and help influence the University's policies and delivery of Fairtrade events.

Naomi Debrah the 2010/11 Fairtrade Intern

The Sustainability Team will not be stopping there though! We have many more opportunities within the team for all sorts of different things, just last week Stuart Ashenden  in the School of Engineering recruited a student to start auditing the University's water usage, following on from previous projects completed by students on the University's energy use and travel. We currently have a couple of students working with Debbie Bartlett in the School of Science on the biodiversity projects going on across the campuses, you may remember Michael Fray providing us with some excellent bee photos while conducting a bee survey at Avery Hill: http://greengreenwich.blogspot.com/2011/04/bees-found-on-campus.html and recently Charmaine Wijemanna presented to the Biodiversity Steering Group on a pioneering new project developing the University's Campus Management Plan: http://www2.gre.ac.uk/about/news/articles/2011/a2124-landscape-ecology-msc. At the School of Education the students training to be teachers are currently implementing sustainability projects in the schools where they are completeing their placement.

Isabelle Monk collecting for the end-of-term Re-use Project

The Sustainability Team is always keen to make the best use of the amazing resource we have within the student population and we have loads more opportunities whether it is with Fairtrade, biodiversity, waste, communications, event management, water, energy, video making....... anyway you get the picture! Thinking back over the last year the Sustainability Team has been greatly supported by student interns who have all now gone on to graduate and find employment, often with a bit of support from the Sustainability Team as well. Naomi Debrah was our most recent Fairtrade intern, a great personality during Green Week this year and instrumental in gaining the University Fairtrade status. Stefano Maggi has gone onto work for an Australian radio station after being the driving force behind the communications of Green Week, Catherine Brown and Keir Burrows have both found work after helping us with our environmental management system and Isabelle Monk who worked on the end-of-year Re-use scheme went on to get a job in the charity sector and now works at ATD Fourth World.

As well as asking for some new student interns this Christmas we have also noticed that Santa has been starting to consider his environmental impact and the carbon footprint of his work. Ethical Ocean have had a go at measuring Santa's carbon footprint for him: http://ht.ly/843bj

And Santa also got Futerra to compile an end of year sustainability report for him. http://www.futerra.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Santa_CSR_Report1.pdf 
 
If you are considering how you can have a green Christmas you may want to check out how to 'upcycle' a Christmas tree: http://www.upcyclemania.com/ 
 
Whatever you are doing this Christmas the Sustainability Team wish you a very merry holiday season and a happy new year: http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/JprvaFyHoYsE1cee

Sustainable Procurement Takeover: Steps to Sustainable Procurement

Sustainable procurement is taking over the blog this week! As the new university year is beginning, we should all be considering the long term impacts of the things we are buying, to ensure that our university continues to flourish in the future.


The impact of procurement is not limited to our usage but to the full life cycle of the product, from raw materials and manufacture to disposal:

 
There are lots of ways we can purchase more sustainably to reduce these impacts. Here are seven simple steps to more sustainable procurement, both at work and at home:

1. Do we really need this?! Value for money is impossible to achieve if we don’t really need an item in the first place so think twice before ordering to ensure money is well spent and waste is minimised

2. Reduce usage. Considerate usage saves money and resources. Paper is the key example here: staff and students can make the most of our new multifunctional printing equipment (networked photocopiers and printers all rolled into one!) to reduce the amount of paper and energy we use through printing and copying

3. Can we reuse or refurbish? Most furniture suppliers will take back old furniture and refurbish it for us to the design we specify – this saves us significant amounts of money and prevents all that lovely material from heading straight to the tip

4. Can we acquire this item elsewhere? We can use the university’s Announce emails for advertising redundant equipment – if you know you are likely to need items in the future then keep an eye out on these emails! This saves money and reduces waste and resources. Items can also be procured from other organisations: http://xchange.procureweb.ac.uk/ features lots of equipment and furniture for resale online

5. Collaborate with colleagues. Sharing equipment is a sustainability win, simultaneously reducing spend and environmental footprint. Collaboration on deliveries is another good idea – placing orders at the same time can minimise the deliveries to site

6. Think sustainable labels. Think recycled, Fairtrade, EU Ecolabel, FSC, Energy Star - the list goes on! Don’t let the labels daunt you as they can assist us all in buying more planet friendly options - a good guide is produced by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), available here. Product and contract specific information for staff will also be supplied by Procurement & Business Services in the near future.

7. Badger your supplier! If you’re not sure what to buy then ask them! They want the university’s business so we’re in a brilliant position to influence the market. We’ve had progress from many suppliers already and several will be showcasing their products and services at the Sustainable Procurement Exhibition in October. Staff can sign up to attend here.

Naomi Debrah: Fairtrade Intern

This Friday it is the turn of Naomi Debrah, the Sustainability Team's intern on everything Fairtrade to take over the blog. Naomi joined the team a few months ago to help organise Fairtrade Fortnight and help the University achieve Fairtrade University Status. Here is what she has to say on it all.....

Naomi at Green Week in Medway

A few months ago, John from the Sustainability Team and I met up with Greenwich council to discuss our plans for Fairtrade Fortnight. It feels just like yesterday as the events have gone by so quickly. This was an opportunity for the University to be proud and loud in showing off its Fairtrade label. The catering and hospitality providers, ABM and Sodexo and the Student’s Unions SUUG and UMSA played their part by supporting the theme for Fairtrade Fortnight “Show off your label”.


Many of the items in the shops on campus are Fairtrade including tea, juices, coffee and chocolate. Being part of Fairtrade Fortnight has helped put the University one step up the ladder towards achieving Fairtrade accreditation and we are delighted to be associated with improving and promoting fair terms of trade for farmers and encouraging ethically sourced produce. Switching tea or coffee brands may not seem much, but it can make a huge difference and can put smiles on the faces of the farmers who depend on their products to support their families.

Being awarded the Fairtrade status is a huge achievement for the University and it will help towards raising awareness of the disadvantaged farmers around the world and continue to promote sustainable development. We are proud of this achievement and would therefore like to thank everyone who helped in making this happen!

University of Greenwich Achieves Fairtrade University Status

On the 1st march 2011 the University of Greenwich achieved Fairtrade University Status.

University of Greenwich Fairtrade Accreditation Certificate

The achievement reflects a lot of recent hard work and developments across the University towards promoting Fairtrade products, the Fairtrade Foundation and what Fairtrade does for farm workers across the globe. The arrival of the certificate and the accreditation is very timely as the University is very much involved with Fairtrade Fortnight as we speak.

SUUG are running a Fairtrade Wine Week at their bars, where you can get into the spirit of things and enjoy a glass of Fairtrade wine or two. Meanwhile we still have the competitions to win a Fairtrade hamper and a Fairtrade Chocolate fountain experience at the Mansion Site, Greenwich and Avery Hill Campuses, Fairtrade give aways at UMSA and SUUG shops and an attempt to break the world record for the longest continual piece of bunting at the Dome.

As well as the goings on in Fairtrade Fortnight we have received the accreditation for a year’s worth of effort, changes and actions. All the coffee and tea served in hospitality is Fairtrade, along with the sugar, which is refined locally at North Woolwich Tate & Lyle sugar refinery. The University has been working together with the caterers (ABM and Sodexo) the students unions (UMSA and SUUG) and collectively we have increased the amount of Fairtrade products available at the University, promoted the virtues of Fairtrade at events like the Freshers Fayre and Green Week and we are looking at a vast array of options for taking our collective commitment to Fairtrade further.

Rest assured we will not be resting on our laurels and you will see the range of Fairtrade products increase over the course of the next 12 months, various promotions and events and hopefully this time next year I will be able to report that we have achieved Fairtrade University status for the second year running.

Fairtrade Fortnight

Look out for the Fairtrade guarantee mark this fortnight

Today sees the start of Fairtrade Fortnight at the University of Greenwich and there is a plethora of events, deals and treats lined up for you over the next two weeks. The Fairtrade Foundation who organise Fairtrade fortnight nationally, are set up to promote and empower workers within less economically developed regions to gain a fair price for their produce. One of the ways that they do this is through the instantly recognisable Fairtrade mark which they award to products that comply with the Fairtrade Foundation’s standards. Put simply when you a buy a product with a Fairtrade mark on it you are guaranteed that the people who farmed or picked the product in its raw state, whether coffee, chocolate, cotton or banana are receiving a fair price for their work and often working in much improved conditions than farmers and workers who are working to produce products that do not receive the Fairtrade mark.

Fairtrade banana farmer (Photo: Simon Rawles)

The University and Students Unions have long been supporters of Fairtrade, and many Fairtrade products have been available across campus for some time. Recently though the University has decided to organise its efforts towards Fairtrade through the creation of a Fairtrade steering group last year and the approval of a Fairtrade Policy this year: http://www.gre.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/505201/Fairtrade_Policy.pdf Earlier in the month the University applied for Fairtrade University status which we hope we will be awarded before the fortnight is up.

So to encourage everyone on campus to support the cause we have brought together the University’s caterers ABM and Sodexo along with the Students Unions SUUG and UMSA to offer you the best deals on Fairtrade throughout the fortnight and a chance to learn about the difference your money can make to these people’s lives.

In all ABM outlets and cafes you will find an increased range of Fairtrade items being sold, including home baked cakes made with Fairtrade ingredients and Fairtrade bananas on top of all the usual delicious Fairtrade teas, coffees and chocolates. To encourage you to try Fairtrade ABM have arranged for some mouth watering prizes including a Fairtrade hamper and a Fairtrade chocolate experience to be won at each campus. Each time you buy a Fairtrade item you can claim a Fairtrade raffle ticket which will give you the chance to win one of these fabulous prizes. The winners of the prizes will be announced and contacted after the fortnight is over. While you are eating and drinking your Fairtrade delights in the cafe you will be able to read all about how Fairtrade helps the workers and farmers who grew and picked the product in the first place.

Fairtrade Chocolate experience to be won at each campus

In Sodexo’s outlet at the Dome there is a power-point presentation on loop across all the screens telling the story of Fairtrade farmers that you will be able to watch while you enjoy the increased range of Fairtrade goods on offer. As well as this, if you are feeling creative, you can join in the Fairtrade world record attempt at creating the longest continual piece of bunting ever with Fairtrade cotton bunting and drawing attention to the ‘great cotton stitch-up ‘.

SUUG poster for their Fairtrade Raffle

The Universities at Medway Student Association (UMSA) are holding a free raffle to win a Fairtrade cotton hoody, have an increased number of Fairtrade products on sale and will allow you to sample their Fairtrade products in the UMSA shop at Medway. The Students Union University of Greenwich (SUUG) are continuing with the theme of raffles and also offering you a chance to win a Fairtrade hamper full of all sorts of wonderful items including a University of Greenwich hoody made using Fairtrade cotton. For the drinkers among you there is good news too as Sparrows Farm and Bar Latitude are launching Fairtrade Wine Week from next Monday – all week long you will be able to get special offers on Fairtrade wine and perhaps get the creative juices flowing enough to contribute to the Fairtrade bunting record attempt. See more info on the SUUG website here:www.suug.co.uk/whatson/ftfortnight

The message is clear, this fortnight get yourself to the cafes, shops, canteens and bars on campus, enjoy the Fairtrade products that we have on offer and use the experience as a chance to learn about Fairtrade and what it means to the people whose lives are affected by it.

Photos from the Greenwich Green Week

The final day of Green Week saw the fayre roll into the Greenwich Campus. The day at Greenwich brought together staff and students who work and study on the campus. Along with the popular stands the day also saw Camilla Goddard take a number of staff and students to see the hives at the Mausoleum despite the pouring rain!

Graeme from ABM catering gets in early to prepare the culinary delights offered up by caterers ABM to the participants of Green Week. He has cheeses all local and organic, apples from Kent and cakes and flapjacks baked in house using Fairtrade products.

Dr. Bike gets onto some major bicycle repair, kindly provided by Greenwich Council for staff and students for absolutely nothing. After having his bike fixed one student remarked, 'this is the best event a student could wish for!'

Free food draws in the punters.

Camilla Goddard prepares the smoker before opening up the hives. The smoke helps to calm down the bees and allows beekeepers to tend to their bees without them getting angry.

Twelve staff and students came along on the 'Meet the bees' walk and got a chance to peer into the inner workings of the hive.

And this is what they saw. Bees reduce their numbers considerably in the winter time but come summer time and at the height of the pollen and nectar collecting season this hive could have as many as 70,000 bees inside.

Avery Hill Green Week Fayre

Today the Green Week fayre arrived at Avery Hill. Staff and students came along to the Dome to find out what the University is doing to reduce it's environmental impact, get their bicycles fixed by Dr. Bike, try out the bicycle powered generators and have a go at out rubbish competition!

Joanne  from the School of Architecture explains the rules of her 'Rubbish Competition'

Staff and Students write down their green ideas on what they would do if they were Vice Chancellor for the day.

Vanessa from Greenwich Council and Simon from the Transport Team promote the virtues of green travel to staff and students.

Moira and Ian get ready to attempt Joanne's 'Rubbish Competition'

Mike from tapwater.org explains to Gerrard how the average person spends £25,000 in a lifetime on soft drinks - switch to tap water and imagine what you could spend the money on.

Carol from the Avery Hill Library and John showing off the University's sustainability credentials.

Iain Metters and Tony Dodson race to see who can generate the most electricity

Lots of staff members went to try out cross-campus videoconferencing as a way of cutting down cross-campus travel

Green Week Photos

Photos from the Medway Green Week fayre

Medway Green Week fayre in the Pilkington Building

Graeme from the University's caterers ABM shows off their sustainable food credentials and Fairtrade products.

Two students race each other on the bicycle powered generators supplied by the School of Engineering

Naomi our student Fairtrade representative shows of what the University is doing to reduce its negative environmental impact.

John and Kat from the Sustainability Team race each other on the bicycle generators.

The bicycle generators continue to be a hit with competitive students wanting to race.

Can you pedal for long enough to make a cup of tea?

Christmas Carols, Parties, Meals and Meetings

It has reached that time of year where everything seems to come with a Christmas theme, this evening is full of excitement as Kat will be singing in the Carol Concert at the beautiful Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul in the Old Royal Naval College, Queen Mary building. Also this evening we have the Facilities Management Christmas party, so we can celebrate listening to Kat’s singing with a glass of mulled wine later on.

The Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul at Greenwich

Tuesday was the London Universities Environmental Group (LUEG) Christmas special with workshops on Green IT and Environmental Legal Registers and a big get together with London based People & Planet members to work together on our preparations for Green Week. Green Week is set for February 7th – 14th and has a love theme as a result of coinciding with Valentine’s Day and the strap line ‘Love your Future, Love your Planet’ will be the message spread across the country by the various People & Planet groups.

Without a People & Planet group here at the University of Greenwich the Sustainability Team has decided to take up the reigns and organise some events for Green Week in February. Our Sustainability Champions have been set the task of getting their department to contribute and our champions are currently working away on their ideas for February. If you would like to get involved please email the Sustainability Team and we will help you run an event for it. If you want to find out more about Green Week and People & Planet have a look at their website. http://peopleandplanet.org/gogreenweek/go-green-week-2011

This week has also seen the launch of Walking Works at the University and three lunchtime walks this week, Iain has had great success with his two walks at Avery Hill, marching through the snow and taking in the fresh air. At Greenwich on Wednesday we managed to scale the hill up to the observatory and look at the breathtaking views of London, meet our bees in the Mausoleum and learn some fascinating nuggets of information from our resident expert Alison Lawrence. These walks of course all contributed to our efforts towards the walking challenge, and I can reveal as of 11:30am December 10th I have worked off the equivalent of 2.65 mince pies this week! The University’s partnership with Walking Works is for the following 12 months so expect to see a lot more walking taking place over the campus throughout 2011. To register and work out your mince pies earned through walking go to: http://www.gre.ac.uk/offices/fm/transport/walking-works

Sunset and Snow at Avery Hill

Walkers at Greenwich

Yesterday saw a meeting between Sodexo, SUUG, ABM and the Sustainability Team to draw up plans for Fairtrade Fortnight at the University. ABM as usual were full of bright ideas for the fortnight and still enjoying the wave of success from receiving all those awards at the Good Food on the Public Plate awards last week. Keep an ear to the ground and eye out for more Fairtrade promotion during 2011 and the Fairtrade Fortnight from February 28th – March 13th. Fairtrade Fortnight 2011

Green Cleaning Up at the Sustainable Food Awards

Guess what? It’s been very busy with the Sustainability Team again recently with a whole load of different goings on.

Firstly we are going to do a little self congratulating. Last week Kat was at the Good Food on the Public Plate Awards and picked up not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE awards for our efforts on sustainable food! Through ABM (the main caterers at the University) we have been awarded for ensuring:

- Only Marine Stewardship Council fish is purchased
- Only free range eggs are used
- Only organic milk is used
- Red tractor meat is purchased as a minimum
- Fairtrade and organic coffee is offered at all sites

The Good Food on the Public Plate Awards celebrate best practice of the public sector organisations who recognise their responsibility to spend money on food produced in a way that achieves environmental, social and economic benefits for London and further afield. Through the achievements we have been awarded for the University is ‘helping to sustain a market for farm assured products and birds kept in humane conditions, guarantee a fair price for farmers overseas and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.’ The University has a strong Sustainable food policy in the pipeline and continues to promote sustainable and Fairtrade delicacies across campus.

Kat enjoying the glamour and glitz of being in the Sustainability Team at Greenwich

Last week has also seen the introduction of 100% recycled toilet roll in the University. Recently we retendered our cleaning contract and wrote sustainability credentials into the process for tendering and into the contract itself. Along with the toilet roll we have seen ‘Green Planet Solutions’ cleaning products introduced, new energy efficient cleaning machinery and we are also about to start experimenting with the Eco-cube waterless urinal system.

A monumental effort on Kat’s behalf this week led to the draft version of the Carbon Management Plan being submitted to Anna and Mark from the Carbon Trust and we now start the process of getting the plan ready to go to the University Court in the new year. The plan aims to set out a succinct and detailed strategy for the University to cut its carbon emissions over the next five years and set out targets for the next ten years, once this whole process is complete we will post up a link so that you can have a peruse of it.

This week we also see the launch of Walking Works at the University with John from the Sustainability Team and Alison from Greenwich Campus FM offering a scenic walk through Greenwich Park on Wednesday for all those interested (meet 12:30 outside Dreadnought Library). Iain Metters is organising two walks at Avery Hill Campus on Tuesday and Thursday (from David Fussey at 12:15) and all of this is thanks to a great initiative by Living Streets to get more people to consider walking as a viable means of transport and as a good, accessible and very cheap way of exercising. You can also sign up to the Mice Pie Challenge and work out how many mince pies you are burning off with your walking efforts.

In other news we are still interviewing for the Fairtrade internship, looking forward to the LUEG Christmas lunch tomorrow and getting ourselves prepared for the Fairtrade and biodiversity meetings coming up later on in the week.

There's a buzz around the University of Greenwich

There's a buzz here at the University of Greenwich. We have been working hard here at the Sustainability office and have some exciting new developments and have made progress across a few areas since I last updated you.

Firstly that buzz you may be able to hear if you have been around the Avery Hill Campus recently. We have our first University of Greenwich bees. In the gardens of Southwood House we have a few fuzzy friends buzzing around our new set of hives. Our bees are of the honey making variety (maybe if you are really nice to us we will be able to make some available to you) so expect to see some University of Greenwich branded honey in the future.

Keeping with the theme of biodiversity we have found a few more interesting species on campus here at Avery Hill, a Mullberry Tree has been found, plenty of blackberries have been harvested, an oak tree that must be well over 100 years old has been spotted and few interesting species of fungi too - though I haven't been confident enough to harvest any mushrooms yet over a fear of an upset stomach.

Mushrooms in the Southwood House garden

We have been toiling away in preparation for the new academic year at the University and preparing ourselves for Freshers' Week. Expect to find us represented at both the Avery Hill and Greenwich Campus fayres and looking for members of our new People & Planet Group, telling new students about the recycling facilities at the halls of residence and distributing all sorts of information regarding anything to do with sustainability to anyone willing to listen.

Svetta our new intern has been busy scouring the University for information on the recycling facilities and we expect we should be able to put out a reasonable guide covering all the facilities, policies and practices across the University as a whole in the near future. Helping us along the way have been a few RAs and you can expect to meet some of them at the Freshers' Fayres next week.

The University has also had it's first Fairtrade Steering Group meeting, attended by SUUG, Sodexo, ABM and representatives from the University itself, who will be trying to gain Fairtrade accreditation for the University by increasing the number of Fairtrade products on campus. As well as the lovely Fairtrade products you can expect to see on the shelves you should be finding sustainable food too - the University is finalising it's sustainable food policy as we speak.

My biggest excitement recently though has been the arrival of a draft Green Impact Workbook in my inbox. A little while ago Charlotte Bonner from the NUS dropped by to meet some of our already enrolled sustainability champions to get ideas for making the University more environmentally friendly. So far she has sent 40 ideas across to us to peruse, adapt and comment on before we get the workbook finalised when she returns from cycling the Col du Tourmalet in France - an enduring test of strength and guile that I am all too familiar with! There is A LOT more to follow on this one and I can't wait to keep you updated as we progress!