BSU ENVIRONMENT NEWS

BSU secures dual environmental award

A new EcoTeam is born

More savings from furniture re-use

WaterAid benefit from transport survey

January 2011

An Eco-Team is bornThe University witnessed the formation of a new environmental campaigning team last October, aptly named ‘Team Green Focus’.

The idea behind the team’s creation was for current BSU students to go into the halls of residence and raise awareness about recycling and other environmental issues on campus.

The team consists of two pairs of students who together cover all the halls of residence at Newton Park. Since their formation in October the team have been visiting the halls on a weekly basis, talking to the students about how they are coping with the current recycling system installed in their kitchens.

They have also been gathering students’ suggestions for improvements as well as speaking to the Domestic Services team about their own experience of the recycling system.

The team have made it their goal to encourage the students to get more involved and to take ownership, making the job of recycling easier for everyone. So far the students have welcomed the suggestions given by the team and regular kitchen meetings have been arranged where further suggestions can be voiced. Team Green Focus also gave the students recycling bags for their bedrooms to reduce the amount of recyclable material from filtering into the general waste.

Team Green Focus is looking to improve the situation weekly and their goal is to eventually bring recycling harmony to the Newton Park campus, where students are eager to recycle independently and there is the minimum amount of waste being produced.

With this goal in mind, the team are delighted that their work will support Bath Spa’s environmental policy, and help to maintain the EcoCampus Platinum & ISO 14001 accreditation.

“I’m proud to be part of a University that cares about the environment,

and seeks ways to be as green as it can be”

Team Green Focus show off their boundless enthusiasm

The university achieved the EcoCampus Platinum award in November, as well as the international environmental standard ISO 14001. This was a major achievement, and Bath Spa is the first University to achieve this dual accolade.

The award means that the system we have built is robust enough to drive significant improvements, identify all areas we have an environmental impact, identify laws we must comply with, prioritise our actions and set annual targets.

To maintain the accreditation we will be audited each year, meaning we all have to keep the standard up as well as show that we are making progressive improvements.

The essence of the Environmental Management System (EMS) is continuous improvement... it isn’t about us hitting 100% perfection from the off - its about setting the systems in place to deliver year-on-year improvements. Our targets for 2010/11 aim to reduce our impacts... at the end of the year, we’ll review how we’ve done and set new, more ambitious targets.

To read about our targets and progress to date, visit our webpage at www.bathspa.ac.uk/environment

Environment plans reach heady heights

Transport survey makes a splash for WaterAidOur first foray into the world of electronic transport surveys last term was a great success. We received almost as manyresponses as in 2009, and the process was much more efficient and involved printing significantly less paper.

As promised, we are donating 20p to charity for every completed response. WaterAid was the charity chosen at our voting stations in @Moreton and Cafe Sion, and fundraising volunteer Pat Spry was delighted to accept a cheque for £237.80.

The money will help to fund a project in Niassa, Mozambique to provide safe water, effective sanitation and hygiene education to some of the world’s poorest people (one of the UN’s Millenium Development Goals). All money raised by Pat and her fundraising group supports this specific project - they are aiming to reach £100,000 by March, and are currently at £83,000, which took over 15 years to raise!

As to the transport surveys, the information collected is increasingly helpful in planning improvements to travel options - it’s nearly impossible to do this unless we know where people need to get to and from, when, and what the barriers are. The University’s travel plan is being reworked to reflect our current position and targets. The revised version will be posted to the website as soon as it is available.

Thank you to all who completed the survey.... bet those who didn’t wish you had now... We’ll repeat the survey annually, so watch out for your chance to take part later this year.

Pat Spry from the Frampton Cotterell & Coalpit Heath WaterAid Group accepting our donation

Movin’ on up...the waste hierarchy!

Oak Tree Day Nursery has been the latest department to benefit.

Domestic Services always try to shuffle items around to those who need them, and have (very limited) stores in which they keep things too good to throw away.

After looking at the items available in the stores, the Nursery chose 6 items of quality furniture including bookshelves, cupboards and lockable shelving units. These were needed to tidy toys away to keep play areas clear and safe.

Some of these furniture items would have cost up to £200 each to buy new... savings which leave more money to be spent instead on other facilities for the children at the nursery.

Corsham Court have also decked themselves out with several bookcases, office tables as well as many office chairs, which were all destined for the scrap heap.

All of these items (plus more) had been thrown out by departments across the University. Its always worthwhile checking what’s on offer, by looking at the Re-use Pages on the Wiki, or contacting Mick Tarran on x5765 to see what’s in the store. But be quick, as the good stuff doesn’t hang around long!

You may have heard of the ‘waste hierarchy’ which reminds us to first Reduce, then Reuse, and finally Recycle...this promotes the best environmental options first, which is exactly what our furniture reuse scheme aims to do.

Save energy with your

local library!You’ll know that your local library loans out books, but did you know they also have electricity monitors for loan?

Whether you have made a New Year’s Resolution to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle or simply want to save energy and reduce bills (and who doesn’t?!), it’s now even easier to save energy at home.

Bath Central, Keynsham and Midsomer Norton Libraries have electricity monitors available to loan for a 3 week period free of charge. This is sufficient time for your household to gauge where energy is being wasted and see how you can adopt energy saving habits to waste less.

Visit www.bathnes.gov.uk/electricitymonitor for further details.

Last term we removed a dozen bikes that had been abandoned in Newton Park cycle racks since before the summer. These have been granted a new lease of life by the Julian House Bicycle Workshop.

The workshop repairs old bikes and sells them on at very reasonable prices, generating income for the charity. Julian House provides help and support for homeless people in the Bath area.

Reconditioned bikes start from £35, and if the excesses of Christmas have made you think about getting fit by cycling, the workshop is open for anyone to visit at 35-36 Corn Street, Bath - just opposite the Avon Street car park - from 9.30 until 5, Monday to Saturday.

If you cycle to Newton Park, you can find showers at the top of the site in the sports changing block - this is alongside the car park, at the far end of the Walled Garden. The changing block is open from first thing in the morning - perfect to warm up in winter or to cool down in summer! Ladies will also find a shower in the Main House WC on the first floor.

Bicycles revitalised by Julian House

How is it

A final word to answer one of the questions we get asked most often...

Since a picture tells a thousand words, we’re leaning on the great folks at RecycleNow.com who have produced some short, fun animations to sum up the process in less than a minute.

To see the animations for each of the materials we collect for recycling here at BSU, click on the icon to visit our Recycling webpage.

We hope you enjoy & find them informative.

Click on our man!

Upcoming Events:• Feb 28th - Mar 13th: Fairtrade Fortnight•Mar 22nd: World Water Day•Mar 21st - 27th: Climate Week•April 22nd: Earth Day•May 9th - 13th: Walk to Work Week•May 22nd: World Biodiversity Day• June 5th: World Environment Day• June 8th: World Oceans Day• June 11th - 19th: Green Transport Week• June 19th - 27th: Team Green Britain Bike Week• June 29th - 4th Jul: Change Your World Week, with Sustrans• July 23rd - 31st: Love Your Park Week• Sept 22nd: World Car Free Day