University of Sussex Students' Union
Register
Skip to Content
Environment > 'Seven Steps to Sustainable Living' at Sussex - info, advice and guidance > Step 1 - Cutting down waste  

Environment

The Students' Union is committed to protecting the environment and is involved a variety of projects and activities to raise awareness about environmental issues and support sustainable initiatives.

For the last to years we have been awarded a Gold ‘Green Impact’ NUS award for our efforts to reduce our ecological impact.

We have an elected part-time Environmental & Ethical Officer, supported by the full time Operations Officer. The role of the Ethical & Environmental Officer is to liase between students, societies, the Union and the University on all things ethical and environmental, and to push forward new policies and ideas for sustainability. We also have four Ethical & Environmental Reps

Contents

► Step 1 - Cutting down waste

Sustainable Living

Ideally, to live sustainably we need to avoid creating any waste. Cutting down waste can mean a number of things. It could be doing your shopping in charity shops and returning things to them when you're done with what you’ve got, or simply buying less!

Here we have a few places to check and tips to try...

WHY?

These mini-documentaries do a pretty good job of setting out the problems:

Did you know..?

  • On average, each disposable plastic bag is used for 12-20 minutes, and takes over to 1,000 years to break down! Even then, they will never disappear entirely..
  • Nearly 8 out of every 10 bottles end up in landfill, where they take over 400 years to decompose! If recycled, plastic bottles can be made into useful products such as clothing, carpeting, detergent bottles and outdoor decking.
  • Putting vegetable waste into landfill instead of compost heaps is one of the biggest causes of methane – a greenhouse gas that is 72% more powerful than carbon dioxide!
  • About 1/3 of food in the UK goes straight in the bin. Stopping this waste would have the equivalent CO2 reduction of taking 1 in 4 cars of the road, and would save the average family £680 a year!

 

HOW?

Here are a few easy places to start:

Reduce...

  • Avoid disposable items like plastic bags and bottled water – just carry reusable ones with you, then you won't get caught out without one.
  • Buy less stuff!

Reuse...

  • Use charity shops, freecycle, free-shops, swish-swaps.
  • Get creative by making new things from old things.
  • Fix and mend, instead of throwing things away!

Recycle...

  • Use your regular recycling collections for all your recyclable household waste
  • Take unwanted mobile phones, used ink cartridges and batteries to the collection points on campus
  • Make use of the University's end-of-year recycling scheme, which collects unwanted goods for charity

 

WHERE?

Reduce

Bags for life
The Union produces re-usable bags for all your bagging needs - pick one up at one of our outlets.

Refillable water bottles
We also stock refillable water bottles so you don’t need to buy a new plastic bottle every time you're thirsty, and soon we’ll have water fountains to help with this.

Recycle

Campus Recycling Service
There is a weekly recycling service on campus, with bins located in every halls of residence and dotted around the campus.

Recycling points for the following can be found in Porter’s Lodges and Falmer House Reception:

  • Mobile phones
  • Printer cartridges
  • Batteries
  • CDs

More campus recycling info including a map of recycling points (pdf file)

Brighton & Hove Recycling Service
There is a fortnightly curb-side recycling collection service across Brighton and Hove – to find out when your collection day is, or to order a free recycling bin for your house, check the Council's website

University End-of-Year Recycling Scheme
At the end of every year the University and Students’ Union run a recycling scheme in halls to collect unwanted items to be given away or sold for charity. Find out more in your Porter's office at the end of year.

Composting
On campus, compost bins can be found in:

  • Falmer House Common Room
  • Arts B Foyer
  • JMS Foyer
  • The allotment behind Brighthelm halls

Off campus, for tips, information and discounts on home composting visit www.brighton-hove.getcomposting.com

Re-use

Small ads
Gumtree is a useful online service for buying/selling unwanted items in the Brighton community

There's also a new small ads page on the Students’ Union website and another on the University's website

Charity shops
London Road (Brighton) and George Street (Hove) are full of charity shops great for tracking down a bargain, and there are plenty of others along Western Road and dotted around town.

Shabitat
Shabitat is a community-minded volunteer-run project created to supply affordable second-hand furniture (along with a few clothes and other bits) to people on low incomes.

Freecycle
Freecycle is an on-line forum, matching people who have things to get rid of, with people who want them, and best of all, its free.

Campus Free Shop
Keep an eye out for this monthly free shop in library square. Bring along things you no longer want and take away things you do want for free.

Swish-swap Society
Bring unwanted clothes and swap them for someone else's, or set up your own with friends/neighbours - www.sussexstudent.com/swishswap

>> Step 2 - Travelling Green