What you can do to be more sustainable
Here's some things you can do to live more sustainably.
From giving a little extra consideration to how you dispose of your waste, do your shopping or get around campus, to getting more involved and joining societies or initiatives across campus and the local area, every step you take towards being more sustainable is a positive one.
1. Reduce, reuse, recycle
- Purchase a YORCUP on campus to help reduce the number of single-use coffee cups sent to landfill
- Use our green coffee cup shaped recycling bins to dispose of your single-use coffee cups instead of putting them in general waste
- Use British Heart Foundation banks to give items second life
- Bin the bin and recycle more waste
- Check out our A-Z waste guide for the best ways to reuse, recycle and dispose of unwanted items
- Read our guide on using digital tools as an alternative to printing
2. Travel more sustainably
- Live or work at Uni? Use the cycle pool to borrow bikes
- Pick up a subsidised staff or student bus pass
- Save up to 42% on purchasing a bike with our Cycletowork staff salary exchange scheme
- Join our car club scheme to access reduced price parking and vehicles for occasional use
- Receive cycle training and cashback from our Transport Team
3. Shop more sustainably
There are many ways you can implement sustainable measures into your shopping routine; from bringing your own bags, to buying local or sustainably labelled products and purchasing items made from recycled materials, or reused goods from second hand stores.
- Scoop is a student run co-operative providing organic, exploitation-free and local produce at affordable prices
- Swap Shop is a Facebook page that allows members to post unwanted items that can be swapped/sold to other students.
- Look out for our new scheme aimed at reducing food waste and saving you money
- Staff members on Slack can join our #recycle-chat and #recycle-for-sale-or-wanted groups
4. Embrace One Planet Living
- One Planet Week runs every year during Week 6 of Spring Term to celebrate sustainability, promote awareness and share knowledge with staff, students and the general public
- Each year a One Planet Living Principal is chosen to provide the focus for social events, seminars and workshops run for the week
- Catch up with some of the talks on our YouTube Channel
- Find out the winner of our OPW23 Art and Nature Competition
5. Reduce your carbon footprint while working from home
- Reduce sending excessive emails and large attachments
- Change your search engine to help plant trees
- Switch off your work appliances after use
- Install a SMART meter
- Unplug your electronics
- Switch to a sustainable energy provider
6. Join the Green Impact Scheme
Green Impact is an environmental accreditation programme that recognises and rewards staff members’ sustainable actions at work.
- Students can get involved by working as a Green Impact Auditor and receive IEMA approved training. You'll visit participating departments and review the actions they have implemented.
- We also have roles available as Green Impact Project Assistants, where can you take part in a day-long training course and then work with a staff Green Impact team over the course of the year.
7. Get carbon literate
Get Carbon literate with our free training. Open to both staff and students, our courses on Carbon Literacy will be running in the Spring and Summer terms.
Training is in the form of 2 morning workshops plus some self-led learning using materials provided in advance of the course.
On completion of a final individual action plan you will receive Carbon Literacy accreditation from the Carbon Literacy Project. Register your interest here and you will be sent more details of when the courses are running.
8. Do some citizen science
Interested in wildlife? Why not do your bit for citizen science and record your campus wildlife sightings? Be it ducks or ladybirds, plants or lichens, we want to know!
Not only will it help with wildlife conservation on campus, but it could also be used in local and national conservation research and policy-making! Submit your records at opal.sei-international.org.
9. Join a group or volunteer for charity
- Join one of our green student societies
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The University Community Fund offers £500 - £5,000 for students or staff to develop their own volunteering projects
- You can help with filling bellies not bins by volunteering with Your Cafe and reduce waste by turning food surplus into meals served at their community cafe
- YUSU's eco volunteers work takes them to a number of beautiful locations dotted around the North Yorkshire countryside
- Volunteering at St Nicks is a great way to meet new friends, learn new skills and gain experience in a competitive sector
- Yorkshire Wildlife Trust relies on volunteers to run. Opportunities range from office work to practical conservation
