News

January Transport Updates

27 January 2022

Voi Expansion The University has extended our partnership with Voi, one of the government selected companies running electric scooter and bike hire schemes across the UK. In addition to the existing Voi locations on the estate, there will now be vehicles available at New Museum’s Site as well as Downing Place and Downing...

What are our top 10 single-use items and how can we reduce them?

Let’s ‘Single Out’ our top 10 single use items!

26 January 2022

Last year the University of Cambridge’s Sustainability Team launched our Single Out campaign , which sought to find out the top single-use items produced by the University. Since the launch of our campaign, this issue has only grown in importance, with the UK government even announcing a recent consultation on banning the...

Reducing waste in Caius

25 January 2022

Waste is a major problem in the UK but solutions may seem uninspiring. I am here to show how it can be made fun. Defra has found that in 2020/1 the recycling rate of English households dropped to its lowest level since 2011/12, at 43.8% of all household waste. The University of Cambridge’s aim is to achieve a 95% recycling...

The Greening of Caius in Michaelmas 2021

25 January 2022

With the recent Climate League of Cambridge and Oxford placing Gonville and Caius College 26th out of 31 Cambridge colleges, it might seem that there is a lot to be despondent about. Check the news and, with constant regularity, scientists and politicians discuss climatic points of no return. It is, therefore, difficult to...

Meet the two new members of our team!

24 January 2022

This month we are welcoming two new members of our team, Kat and Fiona. Read the interviews below to get to know them better. Katarina McCartney, Carbon Manager What does your position involve?   My focus is on reducing our scope 3 carbon emissions. I will be working with the team and stakeholders to consider the most...

Five tips for saving resources and cutting waste with WarpIt

25 November 2021

The University’s WarpIt portal has been the hub for re-use of items within the University since 2014, helping save £340,000 in that time! Usage of the portal has been steadily increasing over time, and re-use activity is quickly picking up post-lockdown, so to support you in making easy resource savings for you and your...

(Re!)-introducing Amanda Nolan, Transport Manager

24 November 2021

Long-time readers of Greenlines will know we like to profile new members of the Sustainability Team. However recently we welcomed Amanda Nolan back from maternity leave, and thought it would be a good opportunity to reintroduce her to our community! When did you join the Sustainability Team? January 2015 What is your (...

Local Authority Transport Update – get involved in our region

23 November 2021

Transport is a hot topic at the moment, with the recent COP 26 conference highlighting the impact on the environment of the ways we move people and goods around the world. Here in the Cambridge region, there are two consultations which aim to gather public opinion on how the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) and the...

Double Green Gown Award recognition for University of Cambridge

22 November 2021

At a virtual Awards Ceremony on 18 November, the University of Cambridge had a double success in the Green Gown Awards UK & Ireland! As well as being Highly Commended in the '2030 Climate Action' category, the University came away as Winner of the 'Reporting With Influence' category. Read on for details of the award...

Turning cow slurry into electricity at the University Farm

29 September 2021

The Sustainability Team have been working with the University Farm to install a slurry-fuelled Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant at the Farm. The plant is now up and running and, in the month of August, was the second most efficient system of its size in Europe! The AD plant was built to order by Belgium-based Biolectric and...