Working towards a sustainable future

It’s JMSU's Sustainability Week, with the JMSU Sustainability Fair taking place on Wednesday 5 February. LJMU is supporting this week of awareness-raising and you can find examples of the university's commitment to sustainability below:

Carbon management

The university target for carbon reduction was to reduce our emissions by 43% by 2020 from a 2005/6 baseline. This requires us to reduce to 8,500 tonnes of co2 during this year. In 2019, our emissions were 7,200 tonnes of co2. We want to do more. All staff and students can help with this through turning off lights and equipment when not in use.

Renewable energy

100% of the university electricity supply comes from renewable sources. Additionally a solar panel on the roof of the James Parsons Building makes a small contribution to our overall supply.

Electric vehicles

The university transport fleet now has four hybrid and three electric vehicles reducing our carbon emissions. We have three electric charging points in Byrom Street, Egerton Court and IM Marsh. We are looking to expand the numbers of charging points in the future

Recycling

The university recycles 70% of its waste. The other 30% is used to create energy. None of the university waste goes to landfill. We want to improve our separation of waste on site. We are working with the Students’ Union on standardising our recycling and general waste bins across the university.

Reuse and recycle

We aim to reuse and recycle wherever possible. Bulky Bobs, a social enterprise, collects all of our unwanted furniture and white goods which they reuse and recycle in the community. The university will be working with Bulky Bobs and JMSU to collect unwanted items for reuse and recycling in student residences before the end of the academic year.

Cycling

To promote cycling, we are a launching a map showing the location of shower, changing facilities and cycle stands across the university. We are reviewing our provision for cycling and want to make further enhancements wherever possible.

Sustainable catering

We have introduced compostable catering utensils across the majority of our catering outlets. Every coffee cup on campus is made of recycled or reclaimed materials and they are designed to be commercially compostable with food waste. We also donate food that we cannot use in our catering outlets to The Whitechapel Centre on weekly basis.

Recycled computer equipment

Local foodbanks and schools are among the organisations benefiting from recycled computer equipment donated by LJMU. So far, we have donated 250 PCs that were no longer needed by the university, following investment in new equipment. The PCs are securely wiped and refurbished before being sold at low cost to charities and schools through a partnership with FRC Group.

The initiative is being led by Mark Nevitt, Head of Business and Stakeholder Services in the Estate and Facilities Management service, with support from IT Services and reflects our commitment to working with our communities in the city.

One of the organisations that has received recycled PCs from LJMU is St Andrew's Community Network, which coordinates North Liverpool Foodbank. Kevin Peacock from the network said:

"As a charity, it's really difficult to justify spending on office equipment such as computers. The partnership between LJMU and FRC Group helped reduce these costs significantly. Our IT system is now up to a modern standard, we are working much more efficiently as a result and our team of staff and volunteers can't quite believe the difference it has made!"