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Students’ union snaps silver for going greener

Full-Time Elected Officer for Community Alice Peck is now going for gold

Full-Time Elected Officer for Community Alice Peck is now going for gold

18 March 2013

The University of Bristol Students’ Union (UBU) has been awarded ‘Silver’ in the Green Impact awards, an environmental accreditation programme designed specifically for students’ unions.

The University of Bristol Students’ Union (UBU) has been awarded ‘Silver’ in the Green Impact awards, an environmental accreditation programme designed specifically for students’ unions.

Set up in 2006 by the National Union of Students (NUS), Green Impact Students’ Unions aims to encourage unions to become greener by taking practical and simple actions across a range of areas from energy saving and waste reduction, to ethical purchasing and community engagement.

With more than 200 criteria the scheme has grown over the years and now involves more than 100 students' unions. Last year UBU achieved a bronze award and Full-Time Elected Officer for Community Alice Peck aimed to beat that this year.

Alice said: ‘I am really pleased that we achieved silver. It was not easy due to the huge building redevelopment and a somewhat draughty building. We set up a UBU Green Team and great initiatives, such as giving out soil and bulbs in a competition to grow the best plant. There is still a lot to do to make UBU fully sustainable, but I am excited by the improvement to silver and by future green opportunities that the new building will allow.’

The scheme required that a workbook was used to document the actions the students’ union took to meet the criteria. To achieve awards, teams had to complete a range of tasks covering areas such as procurement, water, biodiversity, heating, transport, waste and electricity.

UBU completed many of the objectives by actively engaging with the University’s Sustainability team who provide many of the environmental services for the union.

Further improvements to the silver rating will be continued through the refurbishment of the Richmond Building: Home of the Students’ Union which aims to achieve a high level of environmental design, including the BREEAM Excellent award.  For more details see www.ubu.org.uk/build.

 

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