Plastic use has become one of the biggest issues of this generation with bottles, bags, food packaging and straws littering our beaches and clogging up our oceans.
While we still have a long way to go to rectify this, there are many things that you can do to make sure that you help to preserve the planet. And one of those is holding your university to account and understanding what they are doing to consume materials responsibly.
The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings are a good place to start if you are looking to see which universities are dedicated to reducing plastic waste, are minimising the use of disposable items, are working to recycle more and have policies in place on the sourcing of ethical goods.
To put together this ranking we mapped how universities around the world are committing to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a global call to action to tackle poverty, climate change and inequality.
The SDGs look to tackle some of today’s biggest global issues and SDG 12 covers responsible consumption and production. More on the methodology of this SDG ranking can be found here.
1. UNSW Sydney
UNSW Sydney is dedicated to reducing water waste at the university and to ensuring that recycling is easily accessible for students and staff.
The university launched an environmental sustainability plan which includes a pledge for 100 per cent use of solar power, a rainwater capture system, a Return and Earn reverse vending machine, a reduction in water waste and expanding facilities for cyclists.
Many materials can be recycled right on campus including batteries and mobile phones, toner cartridges, plastic and many others.
There is a furniture reuse programme to ensure that no piece of furniture goes to waste.
Aalto University aims to integrate sustainability into all teaching courses as well as creating a number of master’s courses that focus directly on sustainability.
There are also a number of minors that touch on sustainability.
The Aalto Sustainability Hub was founded in 2018 and aims to “create a world-class research and learning environment focused on sustainability and circular economy”. There are more than 350 members and it manages a number of networks to cultivate sustainable practices at the institution.
The University of Manchester has produced a report outlining how it is committed to each individual SDG. In terms of SDG 12, the university is carrying out research in a number of relevant areas including improving chemical production, waste management issues and household sustainability.
The bluedot music festival, held by the university, is free of single-use plastic, recycles the majority of waste, initiates car-sharing schemes, provides coaches for festival-goers, collects all food waste for composting and provides free water refill stations. Festival goers also have the opportunity to offset their carbon footprint.
The university is also committed to using local suppliers and provides courses for students to learn more about responsible consumption.
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4. Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham Trent University works closely with waste management specialists to ensure that 99 per cent of waste is diverted from landfill.
The university has a number of recycling and reuse portals to ensure that materials are disposed of and reused in the correct way. Launched in 2018, the Warp It scheme has helped to redistribute unwanted furniture and equipment. It increases resource efficiency, reduces unnecessary procurement and waste disposal costs, and has helped to save costs in this area.
There are a number of courses at Western Sydney University where students can learn more about sustainability and responsible consumption.
A number of projects have also been undertaken at the university such as the Plastic Lid project: a large scale artwork constructed primarily from repurposed plastic bottle lids that depicted the issues with plastics in our oceans and their impact on marine life. More than 1,000 students over the eight campuses were involved in collecting the lids.
