Recycling@UCL

Green UCL

Hi everyone!
I am writing a new post because this morning I received an important email so, before carrying on with the most important discussion of this blog (“Recycling: yes or not?”), I decided to talk about the “Green UCL”. The subject of the email that I got is “Are you ready for the Christmas Switch Off?” and it clearly sounded like something to talk about.

Together with the “Green Champions” and the “Environmental Sustainability Team”, “Green UCL” works in order to create a more sustainable university, striving for a more and more green, clean and healthy world. Green UCL organizes frequent events and activities aimed to promote and make aware students (and people) about the sustainable issue.
The most important activity planned for December 2014 is exactly the “Christmas Switch Off” (figure 1), organized to save energy, hence carbon and money, during the Christmas holidays.



Figure 1: "The Christmas Switch Off" poster

The idea arises considering that, during the near winter break, lots of machines and devices will be left on. Therefore, the “Christmas Switch Off” represents an intuitive, simple but important tip aimed to prevent an unnecessary waste of energy. The same event was organized during the last Eastern Holidays and the result was awesome: the saved-energy would have been enough to make 2 million cups of tea! If you need a list with all the things that could and should be switched off have a look at the "checklist and resources" link.
There is also a sort of contest that runs together with the switch off event: anyone is invited to send photos while switching off lights, radiators, projectors or whatever and, for the most original one, there is a book voucher or a chocolate award.

Obviously, Green UCL also cares about the recycling within the university. On December 4th, for instance, the facebook page was updated with a post related to new UCL recycling signage and its meaning (figure 2).

  

Figure 2: facebook screenshot of Green UCL page

To get involved with Green UCL follow this link.
Twitter: @GreenUCL – facebook: facebook.com/greenucl

So, the next post will restart the “Recycling: yes or not?” discussion. Stay tuned to read about the incineration process and its links with the other disposal methods.

See you soon on RE-cycling!

Time Out: news and activities

America Recycles Day, Guardian Big Energy Debate & Manchester United

I decided to start the week with something that looks more relaxing compared to the lists of concepts highlighted in the previous posts. Hence, browsing the Internet, I found three nice bits related to the recycling process and, more generically, to the energy debate.

1. America Recycles Day
In 2012, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), US produced 251 million tons of Municipal Solid Waste. I think that this data is the right point to start talking about the "America Recycles Day", an initiative promoted by the non-profit Keep America Beautiful with the aim to encourage the communities increasing their recycling actions.
The official day is on November 15th of each year but it actually lasts longer than a single day. In the last few months 1053 events were planned throughout the US territory: “Plastic Bag Recycling & Household Hazardous Waste” (Hickory, North Carolina), “Recycle Cloths for the Planet” (Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey), “Stock the Pantry” (Steubenville, Ohio), “Recycled Art Contest” (Hogansville, Georgia) and many more.
Obviously, there is an online side of this initiative that runs on all social media and involves things like #RecyclingSelfie (see figures below).
Links: www.kab.org, www.americarecyclesday.org. Twitter: @kabtweet, @recyclesday

  

America Recycles Day: screenshots from my twitter account

2. Guardian Big Energy Debate
We are still on time to sign up for the “Guardian Big Energy Debate”, event scheduled for Wednesday 21st January 2015. Organized by the Guardian, the meeting represents the end of a 12-months project that has involved policy makers, industry and academics. The aim of the debate is an update on the energy situation in UK and understanding how to better address future approaches in terms of supply, costs and emissions.
Together with the Guardian’s energy editor Terry Macalister, there will be talks held by MPs as Tim Yeo and Caroline Flint.
Links: Guardian Big Energy Debate Twitter: @guardianeco (#bigenergydebate)

3. Manchester United
MNU is aware of the energy issues and realizes that its worldwide popularity could be a fundamental action to help tackling the environmental debate. The project seems to be still embryonic, but the idea would consist in spreading the environmental voice taking advantages of the huge amount of people linked with the media of the club: MUTV (Manchester United Television), Twitter (3.8 Mln followers), Facebook (62 Mln likes) and 70k people at “Old Trafford” each match-day. Another strategy would trace the basic element of the sport: competition. Promotion of green challenges, (already devised by “Fans Without Footprints”) like recycling contests, with a lists of awards.
Take 2 minutes to watch this funny video: "If we cared about the environment like we care about sports" shows perfectly the foundation of MNU project.
Source: Oliver Balch - The Guardian

Have a good week and see you soon on RE-cycling!