Falmouth and Exeter Students’ Union are using Students’ Green Fund to tackle carbon emissions and waste. Based around the two strands of energy efficiency and waste reduction, the Green Living Project enriches the student-led sustainability agenda on their Penryn and Falmouth campuses.
Students from Falmouth University and University of Exeter, Penryn Campus are being trained as energy champions, helping to promote pro-environmental behaviours in halls of residence, buildings on campus, and private accommodation. Blending the two approaches of behaviour change and technical solutions, this work will be supported by CEP who will shadow student audits of private homes, helping them to compile full reports and interventions to aid energy efficiency measures.
Within the waste strand of the project, a Making Waves project will make strides into examining the hidden consequences of plastic. Evaluating a range of data, students will identify effective target areas and take appropriate action, culminating in a national award.
Alongside this will be a rapid expansion of other anti-waste initiatives. Students will employ a model similar to NUS’ Student Switch Off campaign to encourage wider recycling, while infrastructure is put in place to make sure that less material goes to landfill – such as kitchen caddies, composters and wormeries.
Engaging over 2,000 students over both campuses (including 600 in private accommodation) the Greener Living Project does incredible work to decrease both energy usage and waste, saving over 48 tonnes of CO2 and reducing waste by 5%.