Go Green at BCU

10 easy ways to be more sustainable

• Switch off non-essential lights and equipment and remind your colleagues and students to do the same.

• If you hear or see any of the following issues, report them to the Estates Helpdesk: constant water running down a toilet pan, water running behind the walls, dripping taps, constantly refilling cisterns.

  You can also help to save water by being mindful about what you flush down toilets (sanitary products and anything other than toilet paper need to go in the bin) and pour down sinks (no fats or food, just water and liquids). This will help protect drains and ensure wastewater can be treated more easily. 

• Read materials online or use projector facilities instead of printing when you can. If you do need to print something, do it double-sided and/or two pages or more on one sheet and avoid printing in colour.

  Consider your email habitats – sending an email with attachments can have a carbon footprint of around 50g CO2 equivalent. Could you add a link to Sharepoint or Onedrive instead? 

• Reduce your consumption - ask yourself, do you really need to buy this? Could you fix your current item, borrow or rent something instead? Could you buy less of something or buy it from more sustainable or ethical sources?

  Buy energy-efficient equipment, shop local and independent and purchase Fairtrade or other fairly traded products. Consider whole life cycle costs, including disposal.

• Do you definitely need to make the journey? If you do, can you walk, cycle or use public transport? If these aren’t an option, could you car share and/or use an electric vehicle?

  Check out our travel web pages for more information, including sustainable travel guides.

• Reduce how much waste you create. Use a reusable cup when purchasing hot drinks – you can get 15p off drinks on campus when you use your own cup. 

  Bring a reusable bottle to campus and refill it throughout the day. Free drinking water points are provided at all campuses for staff, students and visitors. Locations are shown on our interactive map.

  What else could you reuse? For example, using non-confidential scrap paper for making notes.

• Knowing what to recycle can be a challenge as it's different everywhere. On BCU campuses, we have bins for: plastic bottles only, cans and tins only, food waste without packaging, paper (use the confidential waste bins), general waste. 

  Any other plastics, metals, food packaging, disposable coffee cups etc. should go in general waste. 

• One of the most significant actions we can take as individuals to minimise our environmental footprint is to eat a more plant-based diet. Could you eat more vegan or veggie meals? Or have one day a week with no meat. 

  Food waste is also a surprising contributor to emissions. By reducing your food waste, you'll be making a big difference for the environment. Try batch cooking and only buy as much veg as you need. 

• There are so many benefits to being outdoors and around biodiversity. Explore the outside spaces on campus and in and around Birmingham. Think about how you can help biodiversity where you live, for example, by planting wildflowers, putting up bird feeders or creating a pond. Join our Hedgehog Friendly Campus working group.

  When exploring outdoor spaces, take the opportunity to learn more about nature – there are some great apps and websites to help with this, including PlantSnap and iNaturalist. If you prefer hard copies, FSC guides are really useful.

• Get involved with environmental events and activities on campus and where you live. Help spread the word about the importance of living sustainably whenever and however you can!

  If you are a member of staff, could you embed sustainability into your teaching, join our Environmental Champions network, or join a Green Impact team?

  If you're a student, join the Sustainability Society and our Sustainable Students Teams group. Could you incorporate sustainability into a piece of work?