Green Gown award for student recycling project
GreenLancaster, part of Lancaster University Students’ Union (LUSU), has won the Green Gown Award for Student Initiatives and Campaigns for their Exodus project. The awards recognise exceptional initiatives carried out by universities and colleges across the UK to become more sustainable and were presented by the TV journalist Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
The Exodus project encouraged students to recycle their reusable waste at the end of the academic year and divert good quality goods from landfill. With the help of ten members of student staff, over 25 tonnes of reusable waste were collected, saving the University over two thousand pounds and a carbon equivalent saving of over 133 tonnes.
One of Green Lancaster’s charity partners, the St Vincent de Paul Society, distributed donated goods around a wide variety of other charities and people in need, ranging from the Lancaster District Homeless Action Service to Animal Care. They also work with families on low incomes, providing them with free household items.
The two thousand books and CDs collected have an Amazon-rated value of over twelve thousand pound and these will be sold online to help fund further Green Lancaster initiatives, enabling Exodus to be an enterprising, self-financing model for the future that is not reliant on University funding.
LUSU President George Gardiner said “GreenLancaster’s Exodus project has had a fantastic and successful year. Darren Axe and his brilliant team of students have worked tirelessly and deserve this recognition for their outstanding contribution to the Lancaster University community.”
The Exodus project was funded by Facilities and ran from June until September this year. It was also highly commended in the Red Rose Resource awards earlier this year.
To find out more about the work of GreenLancaster visit www.greenlancaster.org.uk
http://www.greengownawards.org.uk/