Go Green Week 2011 is well underway and the organised events have been well received by students. I managed to attend Carbon Speed Dating at Kaffeccinos on Monday 7th February and although my friends and I were a tad nervous before hand, we actually ended up having a really good night!

As we arrived at Kaffeccinos the organisers of the event, Green Scene and People and Planet, made everyone feel very welcome and even treated us to some free wine as we entered (always a good way to calm the nerves). After an initial half hour mingling session, everyone was then given a sticker displaying their individual carbon footprint. Mine was a shocking 12.86 tonnes of carbon! Shameful indeed, but as I originate from Northern Ireland it’s a bit of a long walk to Newcastle on foot and unfortunately my large number of flights has bumped my score up. I’ll have to recycle extra hard in the future to make up for it!

Once everyone had a while to settle in, it was then time for the actual speed dating. Every boy I had a speed date with was lovely although there were some eccentric individuals! One boy gave me a pen and asked me to draw on his face so naturally gave him a lovely new pair of glasses. It was the most inventive ice-breaker I’ve ever experienced!

There were eighteen boys and eighteen girls in total and you had approximately 2-3 minutes with each person. After the 2 minutes you then had to rate your date out of 10 and once all the scores were added up at the end your carbon footprint was then subtracted. The top boy and top girl then received a fun golden foot trophy each to signify their charming personality and environmentally friendly ways.

Overall, a great evening was had by all. I didn’t manage to find love but I did get some free wine and new friends and that was good enough for me! Keep an eye out for the next organised event by Green Scene, “Non-Electric Open Mic Night”, it looks set to be another great night out!

Lisa, Student Engagement Intern

The University’s Sustainability Team are looking to create a series of educational films to showcase the recycling processes – i.e., what happens after you put the recycling in the appropriate bin – with the aims of providing knowledge, raising awareness and doing so in a fun manner (not a long boring guidance document). We are looking for keen film makers to create these films, based on our scopes (below). The films are aimed at University staff / students with no prior technical knowledge of the processes, and will go on the Sustainability Team’s website, and here on the blog, as well as being publicised to all staff.

The film makers can have full creative licence, providing the below scope is met in the film, and any ideas meet the target audience / educational expectations (Ideas of film style should be reviewed by the Sustainability Team prior to filming). Some projects will require UK travel – We would reimburse / pay expenses for any travel / hotel costs (UK travel projects only), subsistence, and film making consumables (tapes / dvds etc). The film projects can be undertaken by an individual, or by a team, although only the expenses for 2 people will be paid for UK travel (i.e. additional team members for editing etc are expected to remain at home / university). As a duty of care, a member of the Sustainability Team will need to visit the aforementioned sites across the UK, regardless of these projects. Therefore, the filming can be undertaken with a Sustainability Team member present for assistance. The Sustainability Team is happy to provide a reference for the work.

If you would like to be involved, please email Kay Gregory, on kay.gregory@ncl.ac.uk

We have a number of projects we’d like film students to help us create;

The Life Cycle of an Apple Core / Orange Peel; Food to Garden (campus based).
Short educational film about the lifecycle of the orange peel / apple core etc that staff put in the food waste bins on campus, detailing the process we go through in order to get the compost we then give back to staff for free, as well as include the technical aspects of how the composter works (micro-organisms, varying temperatures, carbon sources etc) and reasons we compost (saves on disposal costs, creates free, local compost, reduces waste to landfill, reduces the University’s environmental impact etc). The full process includes eating, disposal into food waste bin, collection of waste by cleaners, transport of waste by porters to Building Science Yard Rocket Composter, loading of composter with food waste and wooden chips, outcome of immature compost, storage and turning of compost to mature it, staff receive free compost, compost goes on garden, grows pretty flowers. For reference, there is an educational sign to be displayed on the side of the composter shed, to educate staff / students. The film is intended to be of similar content, but with more detail.

The Life Cycle of a Plastic Bottle; a journey through the recycling process of plastic waste (UK travel involved).
Short educational film about the lifecycle of our plastic waste, from the moment a student puts a plastic bottle into the recycling, detailing the journey via the North Tyneside sorting centre for O’Briens (our waste contractor), to the plastic mill in Derby, and potentially afterwards (sale of plastic polymers as a commodity, to be used in manufacturing another product). Including why we recycle, why we ask staff to segregate plastic bottles and other plastic (different polymers), legal compliance etc. Possibly include plastic waste reduction tips (have a packed lunch using Tupperware instead of buying lunch in plastic containers etc) and plastic waste reuse tips (reuse of plastic bottles etc).

The Life Cycle of Paper; a journey through the recycling process of paper waste (UK travel involved).
Short educational film about the lifecycle of our paper waste, from the disposal of paper in the office, detailing the journey via the North Tyneside sorting centre for O’Briens (our waste contractor), to the paper mill in Kent, and potentially afterwards (sale of paper as a commodity, to be used in manufacturing another product). Including why we recycle, types of paper we can recycle (e.g. nothing laminated), contamination issues (staples etc), legal compliance etc. Possibly include paper waste reduction tips (do you really need to print that email?, print on both sides, etc) and paper waste reuse tips (use scrap paper for making notes etc).

The Life Cycle of a Computer; a journey through the recycling process of WEEE waste (UK travel involved).
Short educational film about the lifecycle of our electrical waste (WEEE – Waste electrical and electronic equipment). When the university has old computers, lights, fans etc, the ‘waste’ is collected by Second Byte, a charity in Doncaster who mend / take apart and reuse bots of, the ‘waste’ to create working appliances. The charity employees people who have been terminally unemployed, and they have a shop from which they sell the appliances to keep the charity going. The journey should include the decision to get rid of the (for example) laptop, via the forms filled in to arrange a collection, the collection, the charity, the shop and then in a new home. Also need to include legal issues (data protection etc), why we recycle our WEEE, legal compliance etc.

For more information on Newcastle University’s recycling, please visit www.ncl.ac.uk/recycle

Go Green Week is People & Planet’s annual national week of action on climate change in schools, colleges and universities. This year at Newcastle University, students will be holding a week of activities to raise awareness and launch their “Going Greener” projects.

Local company Green Scene have teamed up with Newcastle University’s People & Planet in order to provide environmentally themed, alternative nights out and first on the agenda is Carbon Speed Dating (just in time for Valentine’s Day!). This fun and relaxed evening is taking place on Monday 7th February at Kaffeccinos and it is a great opportunity to get out and meet new people. And who knows, as well as finding a few tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint, you may even find love!

So if you fancy a night out with a bit of a difference check out their facebook page here for more information on tickets.

To highlight unnecessary amount of waste in the food industry, People & Planet members will also be outside the Robinson Library handing out FREE SMOOTHIES on Tuesday 8th February made from fruit which would have otherwise been thrown out by local supermarkets and markets. So thirsty passer-by’s, keep a look out!

Continuing on with the food theme, you can catch a showing of Food Inc. on Wednesday 9th February at the Salsa Cafe, with the film kicking off at 8.30pm. Food Inc. is an Oscar nominated eye-opening documentary which examines America’s corporate controlled food industry – a must see for keen movie and food fans. More details about the event can be found on their facebook page here

To round up Go Green Week, People & Planet and other local Green Initiatives will be setting up some stalls outside the Robinson Library on Friday 9th February. So pop down and have a look if you fancy getting involved with future activities, there may even be some freebies handed out from us here at the Sustainability Team!

Lisa, Student Engagement Intern

When I was a kid, I was a huge Blue Peter fan – I even own a Blue Peter badge, thanks to a runner’s up prize to design a stamp when I was 10. So it’s understandable that I’d grow up with a ‘here’s one I made earlier!’ attitude.

When Julia Robinson, Environmental Co-ordinator for Robinson Library, suggested a Recyclometer, I jumped at the chance to help create it. Just like the Blue Peter fund-raising thermometers, a recyclometer would be a great way to visually show people the recycling rate for their building.

After looking into making a home-made version, it was decided that, even with a Blue Peter badge, the guys at Character Signs ( http://www.characterssigns.com/index.php ) could do a better job of bringing my vision to life.

A large, heavy parcel arrived several weeks later, and no time was wasted in ripping the masses of packaging off (all recycled, obviously). Despite the fact it took over an hour to unpack, once put together, the recyclometer was a thing of beauty – even better than my version using double sided tape and loo roll could have looked! The green shiny backing, the bright white lettering, the clear plastic tube…. have we finally made recycling cool?

The aim of the recyclometer is to publicise to all building users that the University is considering sustainability, and to let everyone know how good they are at recycling. It also adds in an element of competition, complimenting the Recycling League Table, to bring out the primal urge to meet the neighbouring building’s recycling rate. And hey, if that means we recycle more, then we welcome that urge.

So how does it work, I hear you ask? Each building has a recycling rate (that’s the percentage of all the waste created that is recycled). The recyclometer displays that rate using the clear plastic tube; the tube is filled with materials (re-used waste of course – remember the waste hierarchy?!) to match the percentage of the recycling rate. As each building has a different recycling rate, we needed the recyclometer to be able to display any percentage.

The recyclometer has just started its grand tour of campus, stopping off at each building over the coming months, starting with the Robinson Library. Look out for it in your building.

And FYI; it was the earth in a greenhouse (representing global warming) that was my fantastic entry in the stamp design competition – I was destined to work in sustainability!

By Kay Gregory, EC Support Officer, Aged 26 and a half.

We launched a lug a mug campaign last week. Blog post to follow. But this is the first public sighting of one in use!! Woop.

A little while ago we had a great deal of polystyrene to dispose of. Big massive polystyrene blocks.

We were going to send it off for recycling but via a contact in fine art we heard of an artists who was on the look out for “Big massive polystyrene blocks.”

8 trips by our porters- pulling out all of the stops- managed to get the material over to Theodore Harper-Davis on new bridge street, new bridge SPACE. The new gallery just opposite the new city libary.

Theodore sent us some up date pictures. I do not know where he is going with this but it looks very interesting. More images to follow soon!

Degree: Environmental Science
Stage: 2
Placement role: Environmental Management Assistant

What did you expect to get out of your placement?
-As my placement role is an environmental management assistant, I expect to have a better understanding of how the environmental management system works in a big organisation like Newcastle University. What I’ve principally done before was a lot to do with agriculture, coming from a farm and having that sort of background, so I wanted to broaden my horizons and add another string to my bow. An Environmental Management System affects everyone and everybody has to be on board for it to work, it involves a lot of communication between different departments and hopefully everyone can work together.

What about your future career? Do you think this placement will benefit you?
-Yes I hope so. Personally I want to do something involving agriculture in the environment so this placement really benefits me because so far I have been doing things such as an environmental audit which you can apply to agriculture as well, like a pollution audit. If I don’t do something in agriculture then I want to do work for big organisation, like this. I suppose any experience is better than no experience.

What have you been working on so far?
-Well the first few weeks I was just getting an introduction to the environmental management system so I was just looking through different documents to gain an understanding of how everything worked. Over the last couple of weeks, I and two of the other placement students, Hannah Howarth and Hannah Wright, did an environmental audit of the university which checked bin storage, chemical storage, any elements of fly tipping. We then had to outline where all the bins and skips where so that we could put it on to a Google map and anyone across the system can look at it. This is one of the requirements for a stage in EcoCampus.

What exactly is EcoCampus?
-EcoCampus is an Environmental Management System and award scheme for the higher education sector, like universities.The scheme allows universities to be recognised for addressing key issues of environmental sustainability. The aims of the EcoCampus Scheme are to encourage, reward and provide tools to assist institutions in moving towards environmental sustainability through good operational and management practice.

Where are you going to put the map once it is finished? Can students access it?
-I think it’s more for academics to look through and for people across the different sectors in the university. For example one of the things we did was “Grot Spots” which is any instances where there is fly tipping so the people around the university can fill out a grot spot form and it then can be put on to the Google map and marked with a red marker and once it has been dealt with the marker will turn green. That’s one of the things they are talking about doing. We put some of the grot spots me, Hannah and Hannah found on the map but in the future it will be open to anyone and there will be an online form to fill in.

What do you think of it so far?
-Really interesting! I wasn’t sure what I would be doing when I first turned up but it’s a lot better than I first expected. Time flies when you’re here. It really feels like I achieved something when I’m working.

Have you faced any challenges since starting your placement?
-There is a lot to get your head around in terms of the legal requirements, that is what I am actually going to be doing today, looking at the legal register and all the legalisation attached to it. To complete one of the stages of EcoCampus you have to complete a lot of sub-sections so there is a lot to look through and to get to grips with. We just completed the Silver stage of EcoCampus in October and we are now working towards the Gold stage which will be hopefully achieved in April.

What do you think of the atmosphere in the Sustainability Team office?
-It’s really friendly and everyone is really nice. Everyone is really busy but I feel that I fit in well.

What future work will you be doing on your placement?
-Well because it is a work in progress I’m not sure what exactly what jobs I will be carrying out in the future but I look forward to the challenge.

Would you recommend other students take a placement as part of their degree, either with the Sustainability team or another company?
-I definitely think they should do it within the university because you get a better understanding of how the university works and how much work goes in behind the scenes. Before this placement I never knew the Sustainability Team existed, we had an idea that there were systems in place to ensure that everything works properly but I didn’t understand the amount of work that goes in, for example with control of energy use, there is someone there checking the heating all the time. It is really useful to do a placement and it also means that if you do it as part of your degree, you don’t have to do it during the summer.

Lisa, Student Engagement Intern

More mutually beneficial partnership work…

We run a part time internship programme each year in partnership with NCL+. Placements last four or five months for a minimum of half a day a week.

What are the benefits? It is a great opportunity for Newcastle University students to work in a fast-moving, creative environment geared towards making sustainable change happen on the campus. And the Sustainability Team gets high quality meaningful project work completed. Without the interns this work would have to wait until the resources became available.

Interns are allocated to one of the sustainability team’s areas of work and occasionally we recruit interns to work on specific project work also.

We love our interns, they are a crucial part of the team and vital in helping us achieve our aims. We make their time with us stimulating and rewarding. We fully encourage them to become part of the team contributing to meaningful work, attending meetings, brainstorms, events, and generally get all of the experience required to make a head start in the sustainability businesses.

All interns have regular meetings with a dedicated line manager to discuss their personal development and progress.

We’re proud of our interns and we hope that they go on to change the world.

We have 7 interns working for us this year and we also have other students picking up smaller one off projects.

Temp intern positions

The Waste Management Intern, works to improve recycling and reduce the amount of waste produced on campus.

We have two analyst interns. One working on energy use and the other on waste production. They are tasked with setting up systems to monitor, record, analyse and interpret the energy used and waste produced on campus, leading to higher efficiencies and cost savings.

We also have two EMS interns. The University is in the process of implementing EcoCampus, an Environmental Management System (EMS). The interns are developing University environmental objectives, targets and procedures. This role suits graduates who know that they want to work in environmental management and auditing.

The Student Engagement Intern- helps to develop communication campaigns and networks to encourage students to take responsibility for their actions towards energy, waste travel and water issues.

The Environmental coordinator intern stimulates action on sustainability issues across the University by helping to support the objectives of the EC network. The volunteer would assist in the development of communication plans for energy and recycling, developing initiatives, organising events, developing and designing publicity literature.

It is not all glamour though and they have to muck in sometimes doing the boring stuff like preparing meetings or data entry, but they don’t get stuck doing anything boring for very long.

What we’re looking for
If you want to work with us to make the campus sustainable then you need to have an interest in it what we do. You should be studying towards a sustainability/environmental/marketing Degree or Masters and be able to show us that you are involved or interested in sustainable development and have a desire to create change.

For starters you’ll have read our webpage and various communications and you’ll have seen our blog and our twitter and have friended us on FB. You will probably also be part of our Green Student Network.

We are recruiting for interns for next year so please send a covering letter explaining why you want to be an intern and CV to hannah.munro@ncl.ac.uk

The next blog post will be written by our current Student Engagement Intern….

The challenge is competing with the ubiquitous junk messages to acheive meaningful engagement to change behaviour.

We use many different techniques and media to communicate to people and sometimes it comes down to the basic face to face persuasion and blatent bribary!

As part of the Recycling roll out 2008 and the Switch Off2010 campaign we have carried out clinics and workshops as a form of awareness raising and communications. However the problem we face is that we always attract the people who are already ‘on board’ and are already acting sustainably on campus.

A typical person who is onboard will recycle all they can and switch off all they can!

How do you attract those who are not interested? You incentivise them with goodies or trinkets- or a bribe if you like.

How do you ensure the transaction is meaningful and not just grab and go? The act of giving away something of value can create an opportunity for a bit of face to face rapport building. However, more often than not people snatch what they want and scarper – so any giveaway should be branded with a logo to act as a retrieval cue.

The give aways should be valueable and useful so that they are desired AND attract people AND get used in their normal working life.

Tat or “low quality useless cheap nasty product” is not good for anybody, so there will be no stress balls, yo yo’s or whistles at any of our workshops!

This type of promotional item are a waste of valuable resources and especially in these times of austerity they give out the wrong message on all counts.

Over the years I have tried lots of different incentives- from boring but useful key rings to some items that are quite useful. I once branded 10,000 veggie peelers in a home composting project. There are also a few ‘out there’ ideas which never made it to the purchase order – such as the whoopee cushion to publicise student green house gas emissions. (An idea i would still like to go ahead with but need some open minded partners to share costs! Get in touch please.)

The king of incentives is food. As part switch off 2010 we actually provide a free buffet lunch as part of the communications mix. The good thing about food is you can actually stand and engage properly. As people eat you can tell them all about your messages. And while you have a nibble they talk about their issues. Great two way rapport building.

The important thing about incentives is that they have to bring value to a person’s life. If they are poor quality or useless then they bring a negative association to your brand/campaign. And of course always specify for recycled content.

Lever arch file reuse is a great example of a waste minimisation initiative. We have been doing this activity for the last year or so on campus.

As we transfer and store more and more data into electronic format, lever arch files are slowly becoming more redundant in office life.

Every year we get 5000 students who need lever arch files for their course work. Times are hard, lever arch files are expensive (about £3-4 P), so as you can imagine there is a definitive opportunity to reduce waste in this scenario.

This is how we collect lever arch files

We distribute lever arch files from cages in a spare garage on campus. We did try it inside building foyers but it gets a bit messy, as people generally don’t put files back neatly.

Follow the trail….

Happy students say “We just saved £ 15!”

Neil Addison and Steven Hogg, from procurement were passing when I was taking photos. They were ecstatic that we were putting waste to good use and reducing waste spend.

Incidentally a full lever arch file costs about 4p to dispose of in general waste on our current waste contract- last week we had a garage full, which would have cost about £25 to dispose of..now it is empty. So file reuse saves the University money as well as students.