New Year's Resolution: create a greener UCL in 2008

Happy New Year to all UCL staff and students. This year, one of UCL's New Year's Resolutions will be to work towards a greener, more sustainable UCL, together with all members of the UCL community.

An Environmental Sustainability steering group, led by Professor Ray Harris (Dean, UCL Social & Historical Sciences) and made up of UCL representatives from the Students Union, UCL People and Planet, UCL Estates & Facilities staff, Unison, academic staff and UCL Development & Communications, is now meeting regularly to discuss the progress of UCL environmental sustainability initiatives.

These initiatives include a strategic implementation plan to reduce UCL's carbon emissions, which will be completed in February 2008, and further expansion of the existing waste management strategy, which is reducing the proportion of UCL's waste going into landfills, and increasing re-use and recycling. A UCL Environment Institute Town Meeting on 14th January will introduce policy and research issues in environmental research, and UCL students will represent the university at London Green Week, starting on 18th February.

Across the university, many environmental initiatives are underway. 25 per cent of total waste at UCL is already directed away from landfill to recycling, or other treatments.

During 2007, UCL supported sustainable transport through the introduction of a bicycle loan scheme, mounted a waste and recycling exhibition in the Cloisters, and launched a new website, You Have the Power, aimed at energy saving for staff and students. The goal for the coming year is to produce concrete guidelines and practices, for use both by UCL Estates & Facilities, and by all staff and students.

Initiatives will be communicated regularly on the UCL website, starting with information about waste management and energy conservation at UCL, which you can read about over the course of this week.

Use the links at the top of the article to find out more.