Did You Know?

Waste Management & Recycling

Top Tips for a Greener Living

1. Recycle - Think of how many pieces of paper you go through in a year, it all adds up! So recycle this along with other items such as bottles, cans and cardboard boxes.
2. Buy second hand clothes – This is a great way of saving money, whilst helping the environment at the same time. By reusing clothes fewer resources are needed to make replacements.
3. Use reusable cups and plates – although using disposable plates and cups can save time, buying them constantly costs a lot of money and creates waste. Reusable cups, plates and cutlery can be bought cheaply. Even if your halls have no kitchen, you could wash them in your bathroom sink.
4. Take fewer napkins – As a student you’ll probably end up eating a lot of fast food! It’s easy to grab a handful of napkins, but most of them will probably get thrown away unused. So try to take only the amount you think you actually need.
5. Green shopping – Whenever you can try to buy products made from recycled material, eg. Paper. Also try to ensure that any cleaning products you buy are environmentally safe; this sort of information should be found on the label.
6. Walk, cycle, and reduce your use of a car – Public transport is available for when you want to head into town. Or even better, cycle; this not only cuts down your carbon footprint but also helps keep you fit! If you do have a car, ask yourself if you really need one or if you could manage without one. You could save yourself a huge amount of money on fuel, repairs and overpriced insurance. If you decide to keep your car, try to use it only when it is completely necessary. Or if you know someone else who is travelling to the same place, why not car share?
7. Use a water bottle – Think how many plastic bottles you use each year. Instead of buying a new one each time you want a drink, why not buy a refillable drinks bottle? It’ll save on waste and work out cheaper.
8. Save on printing - When you’re writing a draft of your work, save paper by printing on both sides of the page. Save pages that you’ve printed on and use them again by printing on the back. You could lower the print quality setting for things that don’t need to look quite as good; this will save you ink. It’s always a good idea to think before you print things out to make sure printing is really necessary. For example, if you only wanted a small amount of information you could simply write it down. Or if you were going to print a web page, why not save it to your favourites instead?
9. Buy compact fluorescent light bulbs – These bulbs may cost more to buy, but you will save money in the long run as they last longer. Why not get yourself a lamp for your room and one of these bulbs? Lamp light is much more energy efficient than overhead lighting. 
10. Use a lid – By placing a lid on your pan when cooking, less heat energy will escape and your food will cook quicker. This saves both energy and time!

Source
http://collegeuniversity.suite101.com/article.cfm/green_tips_for_college_students

5 a Day

1)      Buying fruit and vegetables loose can cost half the price compared to the same thing pre-packaged.

2)      Keep your eyes peeled for supermarket offers on fruit and vegetable such as buy one get one free.

3)      Local street or farmers markets often sell the cheapest fruit and vegetables. KUSU has a fruit and vegetable seller on the outside Concourse area every Tuesday during term time.

4)      An apple or banana costs about 20p from a supermarket, so why not snack on these instead of crisps and chocolate which cost twice as much? You’ll save money and be healthier too!

5)      If you have vegetables which are about to go out of date, don’t throw them away! You could use them in soups, stews and casseroles. You could then freeze these and eat them at another time when you can’t be bothered to cook!

6)      Canned fruit and vegetables count as part of your 5 A Day and won’t go off. It’s important to buy those that are canned without added sugar or salt. Supermarkets’ own brands are usually the cheapest. 

7)      Frozen and dried fruit and vegetables are great for your health and are often cheaper than fresh products.

8)      Instead of buying ready meals why not cook for yourself? This way you can include plenty of vegetable in stews, casseroles, bakes and curries which all count towards your 5 A Day. It’ll also work out cheaper.

For more information on how to eat healthily, visit the Food Standards Agency website: http://www.food.gov.uk/

Holiday and Business Travel

Air Travel may be speedy but it definitely won’t do anything for your green credentials and it is suggested that the climate impact of a tonne of carbon-dioxide produce by a plane could be 2.7 times more damaging than the same amount of carbon dioxide generated at ground level by a car.

If you want to explore the highlands, lowlands and isles of the United Kingdom, why not choose to do so by using ferries, trains and coaches.  All offer good value for money.

Modern ferries offer a welcome alternative for many airline-weary travellers, airport security rules, long queues and luggage restrictions and can take their toll in making air travel less than enjoyable. Modern ferries have restaurants, comfortable lounges, shops and entertainment areas.

Eurostar have commissioned research showing flying between London, Paris and Brussels generates 10 times more emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (C02) than travelling by rail and trains often offer the added advantage of depositing passengers to the centre of a town or city and not miles away at outlying airports.  For people who enjoy cycling holidays, combining the train and cycling can offer a wealth of places to discover as well as improving fitness levels.

Coaches are one of the cheapest way to get around.  Many coach companies  itineraries are centred around visiting popular tourist sites and coach holidays are no longer considered the exclusive domain of the elderly passenger.  Nowadays there are coach operators offering holiday journeys suitable for all ages. 

As the carbon-dioxide produced by a plane is deposited higher up in the atmosphere, business travel by car, even if you are travelling alone in a petrol guzzling vehicle still has a far less environmentally damaging effect than air travel. 

Business meetings can be so time-consuming if they are held many miles away.  Video conferencing between several business attendees is fast becoming a viable and cost effective way to interact.  Free internet videoconferencing programmes like Skype can prove the perfect tool for keeping in touch with friends and relatives throughout the country   

If you haven’t booked that plane ticket yet remember that any way to travel is better than air travel in preventing climate change.

These Boots are Made for Walking

Are you are aware of the benefits of walking on reducing the risk of coronary heart disease, high cholesterol, helping to lower blood pressure, reducing body fat, enhancing well being, helping osteoarthriitis and helping with flexibility and co-ordination. The Keele Estate has some wonderful walks to take advantage of. Click on the link below to find out more:

http://www.keele.ac.uk/university/arboretum/misc/leaflet.htm

Did you know that a 15 second ride in the KUSU passenger lift consumes as much energy as a 60w bulb uses in an hour? Why not use the stairs instead of the lift to improve your fitness and wellbeing.

Read International

READ International began life in 2003/4 as a small project based at Nottingham University, founded by a group of socially entrepreneurial students following a gap year teaching in Tanzania. Now there are over 1,000 student volunteers involved, operating from a network of over 50 university sites across the UK.

We collect any books from anyone, anywhere throughout the UK. Traditionally we have focused our efforts on collecting textbooks and children’s literature from secondary schools; but now we want to collect any book from anyone! We sort the books and send the most relevant, up-to- date, and high quality books to schools in Tanzania and Uganda. Any books collected which are not relevant or appropriate to send are sold online or recycled to generate funding.

Tanzania and Uganda follow a secondary school syllabus almost identical to the UK, but teachers often lack the resources needed to teach. In the UK newer editions of books inevitably replace the old (very often only a couple of years old though), which makes for good quality, but technically ‘out of date’ textbooks filling up school store rooms or ending up in landfill. We send them to where they are really needed, improving access to education for thousands of children in East Africa.

READ has grown rapidly since we launched on the national stage in the House of Commons in 2007. Since our first shipment of books in 2005, we have shipped a total of 850,000 books to East Africa and are supporting the renovation of dozens of school libraries so that access to books is also improved.

We have also sent several tonnes of sports kits, science equipment, and school stationery. In Tanzania and Uganda we work closely with the Ministry of Education to ensure that our books go to where they are most needed. Our work in UK schools has also developed. We deliver a workshop programme to secondary schools throughout the UK to raise awareness of global citizenship, recycling and student volunteering to UK school children.

We have successfully established some exciting partnerships to keep our costs low and efficiency high: Big Yellow Self Storage provide free storage for all of the books we collect at any of their sites across the UK; British Airways provide us with free or heavily discounted flights for all of our volunteers; Latham and Watkins, a city law firm, provide pro bono legal support; KPMG provide us with free office space in Dar es Salaam and Kampala; DHL provide free and discounted logistics support; Staples work with us to collect disused stationery from thousands of UK schools and students at all of their UK stores; Waterstone’s collect books for us in their stores across the West Midlands; and the British Library have developed an electronic book sorting database for us to more accurately sort through all the books we collect.

Since registering as a charity we have had our work recognised in a number of ways. READ International was winner of Best New Charity in the Charity Times Awards 2007, and Best International Aid and Development Charity in the Charity Awards 2010 and Best Corporate Partnership in the Institute of Fundraising Awards 2010. We were shortlisted for Guardian Charity of the Year 2009 and a Charity Times Award 2009. Our founder and director Rob Wilson has been winner of Unltd awards, Social Enterprise Day Award 2006, and Enterprising Young Brit Award in 2010.

It never costs READ more than 50 pence to move one book from a UK classroom into the hands of a Tanzanian/Ugandan school child or teacher. We are an innovative model with income streams from book sales and student fundraising drives. Please find out how you can support us by visiting our website at www.readinternational.org.uk.

Get Involved

Your Carbon Footprint

Recycling on Campus