Our Environmental statement

As a Union with a strong focus and awareness of our impact on the local, national, and global environment, we are particularly conscious of our responsibilities.

Our students, staff, and visitors all contribute to the University’s environmental impact, and we aim to bring environmental sustainability into all aspects of the University, including teaching, research, operational and international activities. The University is an integral part of the local community and we have the ability to have a strong influence on environmental issues.

We will achieve this by following the strategic recommendations of the NUS Green Impact Programme and thus renew our Green Impact Award.

We will deliver our commitment as follows:

Steering group

A Sustainable Development Staff Champions Group will implement this Statement, meeting every eight weeks and reporting quarterly to the Union’s Executive. The Union’s Student Officer (Sustainability) will be a key student member of the group.

In our venues

We make sure that the huge amount of plastic used within our bar is recycled along with any broken glass (we get through around 16,000 plastic cups, 12,000 milk bottles each year). In addition to this any cardboard boxes are also recycled. Our coffee cups are biodegradable (and we use around 100,000 of these each year!)

We are also proud that our tea, coffee, and hot chocolate are all Fairtrade and can be sourced back to the individual farms where they were produced.

As well as recycling cardboard and plastics in our bars; all of our waste oil from the kitchen is collected and removed responsibly.

In our shops

We have made the decision not to offer bags at any of our Union shops in order to reduce plastic waste. We understand that this can be inconvenient for our student so we try to make sure every student can get a free reusable Union tote bag at the beginning of the year.

In the shop we're also proud to sell a large range of Fairtrade products, both food and clothing, which is sourced from ethical companies.

Our Staff and Officer Trustees

Our staff always try to share car journeys where possible, and when we travel long distances we will always get to our destination by train or car-share, even when flying is cheaper!

Our staff know that they have a duty to turn off lights, unplug electrical items and shut down their computers where necessary.

Across the Union and University

You'll find lights which automatically turn off, recycling bins almost everywhere you go, places to recycle your old clothes or donate them to charity, places to swap your old books for someone else's, and even places to recycle your old batteries. If you need to find any of these things just pop over to one of our InfoPoints or email info@derbyunion.co.uk and we'll be more than happy to help.