Rosa Mumford-Turner
This remarkable consistency underscores our unwavering commitment to sustainability. The achievement not only celebrates our ongoing efforts and dedication to fostering sustainable change in collaboration with our passionate students, but fuels our determination for continuous improvement.
Our commitment to sustainability extends to addressing period poverty and promoting eco-friendly alternatives. Through our Sustainable Period Trial, we distributed 287 sustainable period products (moon cups, period pants), saving students a remarkable £5,125.27. We've also dramatically increased accessibility to period products, partnering with UWE's Cleaning Services to expand provision to 91 locations – a 21% increase from last year. These initiatives have led to an estimated saving of 4,752g of plastic this year, with a potential saving of 23,076g over five years. Furthermore, we provided 45,804 disposable period products across all of UWE’s campus sites, a 53% increase from the previous year, ensuring no student is left without essential supplies.
To alleviate financial pressures on students and promote reuse, our Placement Uniform Swap Shop at Glenside continues to be a huge success. 381 students utilised the swap shop for healthcare uniforms, saving an impressive £7,358.56, averaging approximately £19.30 per student.
"You have made me feel more comfortable and confident in my placement; I really valued the service!" – Glenside student
Our annual Green Fortnight, in collaboration with UWE Bristol, was full of events and activity. We hosted 58 sustainability-related events, attracting over 1,300 student attendees. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with students describing events as "very inspiring and motivating" and "great fun and good recycling for the environment. Legends."
Celebrating A Successful Green Fortnight
We successfully achieved reaccreditation for SOS-UK’s Responsible Futures Award, in partnership with UWE, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to embedding Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) at UWE. Ten UWE students rigorously audited our work, passing us on all 50 criteria. We also hosted a Student Sustainability Symposium Conference, where students globally had the opportunity to present talks and learn about Green Skills, fostering a new generation of sustainability leaders.
We've brought greater transparency to food choices in our Commercial Services Outlets by introducing carbon labelling on meals. This empowers students to make informed decisions about the environmental impact of their food. The results are already positive, with an increase in sales of low-emission meals and a decrease in E-rated meals (those with the highest carbon emissions), indicating a growing preference for sustainable options. The Sustainability Officer, in collaboration with the Sustainability Committee, led a food campaign ‘War on Waste’ engaging over 100 students in a Food Waste Fair with different stallholders talking about food saving processes such as fermentation, composting and growing your own!
UWE Students' Union Embraces Sustainability with New Carbon Labelling Menu
A huge congratulations to our very own UWE Bristol student Aoife Philips who won the 'Student Leader Award'!