SWM would like to congratulate three of our members for winning awards at the 2017 Green Gown Awards. The University of Birmingham’s UniGreenScheme won the Facilities and Services award as the scene collects surplus equipment, processes it for sale with the university getting a share of the profits. During the first year this scheme prevented 27 tonnes of equipment going to landfill saving a total of 88 tonnes of CO2. The overall net benefit to the University was £44,000, through sales of the equipment, salary savings and savings on disposal of the equipment. The University of Warwick student Indy Sira won the 2017 Student Award for her work on reducing food waste through ‘Food Intercept’, helping asylum seekers develop their employability skills through the project ‘The Gateway’, and providing access to and education about sanitary-ware for women in rural India through “Project Baala”. Aston University’s member of staff Anne Perkins has won the 2017 Staff Award for her enthusiasm for environment issues and worked hard to drive the sustainability agenda within the library. Anne and her team have successfully implemented a number of initiatives over the years including monthly recycling challenges, book swaps, stationary giveaways, pen recycling and energy efficiency improvements. Many of the initiatives that Anne has championed have been rolled out across the University due to their success within the library. On the 18 December 2017 we are holding a Midlands Sustainable Education Networks meeting which you can find out the work that we have recently been doing with regards to LEP benchmarking, WMCA sustainable activity, our updated roadmap and good practice examples from many of our members.
