January 2015
Beds SU Environmental Statement 2015
Background
In the Beds SU Environmental Policy a commitment is made to considering the environmental and ethical implications of all Beds SU’s actions. Beds SU is the students union for the University of Bedfordshire with main offices in both Bedford and Luton.
In the Summer of 2013 Beds SU was awarded funding from the National Union of Students (NUS) Students’ Green Fund. This enabled the creation of the Bedfordshire Green Hub. Launched in October 2013 the Bedfordshire Green Hub is a broad and wide reaching sustainability project with the aim of empowering students to lead sustainability action within the University of Bedfordshire and beyond.
Figure 1 - Bedfordshire Green Hub Initiatives
What we have achieved in the last 12 months
Since the launch of the Bedfordshire Green Hub a lot has been achieved and positive change has been made. The Bedfordshire Green Hub has had a positive impact on students, Beds SU staff and the wider University community.
Some of our significant achievements are detailed below.
- Over 1700 students engaged
- Over 70 staff members engaged
- Over 70 on campus events run
- Over 360 students taking part in pro environmental actions
- Achieved Green Impact Bronze Award
- Calculated a total carbon saving of 84 tons CO2e
- We have made our environmental aspects, impacts and action plan publicly available as well as our environmental policy
- Bedfordshire Green Hub established as a brand, complete with website and social media
- Launched our very own, unique, Pop Up Pod.
- Harvested 15kg of produce from the Student Eats garden
- Employed paid student staff
- Presented at the World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities and had a paper accepted
The Bedfordshire Green Hub has facilitated various different events and initiatives, some of which are listed below.
- End of year clothes collection in halls
- Swap Shops
- Student Eats Garden
- Go Green Week
- Curriculum Focus Groups and Staff/Student Workshop
- Various in office recycling and pro environmental initiatives
- Student Led Projects
The above lists are just highlights of what has been achieved. Considerable behaviour change has been observed within the Beds SU offices where staff are now more environmentally aware. A first year survey for student also took place, providing data that will be compared in year 2.
What we want to achieve in the next 12 months
In the next 12 months we aim to increase all of our engagement figures and raise more awareness about our project. This includes holding more events, running campaigns and branching out into the community, supporting more student led projects and assisting more volunteering opportunities.
As for our own environmental impact, we are in the process of developing our own, basic Environmental Management System. As part of this we have identified specific environmental targets linked to our identified environmental aspects, impacts and action plan. Our environmental action plan is available on the website.
We are also setting our sights on a Green Impact Silver Award, moving on from our Bronze Award received last academic year.
Finding out more
To find out more head to the following:
Facebook –
Twitter - @BedsGreenHub
Website –