The Bean Fund
The Bean Fund is a new initiative from our Union coffee shop, Blends. Our goal is to neutralise the impact that our takeaway cups have on the environment. Regular Blends customers will know that grabbing your morning coffee in one of our takeaway cups will cost you 15p more than if you used a reusable cup. This pays for the materials of the cup itself, but we have a few pennies left over from each purchase that we want to put to good use!
These extra pennies will be put into a central pot of money that we are calling 'The Bean Fund'. Students and staff can submit their own ideas for sustainability projects that they would like to see funded either on-campus, or in the local community. Previous examples include wildflower meadows to encourage biodiversity, and hedgehog houses to protect wildlife.
Applications will open three times a year, and we will shortlist three projects that Blends customers can vote on! Our baristas will provide one voting token with every hot drink purchased in our Blends outlets, and these can be used to case your vote for one of the three project up for vote in a nearby voting box.
Tell us about a project you're passionate about!