Get Involved
Would you like to have a direct influence on improving USW’s sustainability performance or are you looking to shape climate education?
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Do you have sustainability ideas you would like to share with us or want to get involved in making your residences more sustainable?
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Become a Sustainability Champion
Are you interested in volunteering in the local community or getting involved in campaigns and events?
We are proud of the progress we have made so far and are committed to making USW a greener and healthier university and you can join our efforts and make a real difference.
At USW you can get involved in activities that benefit the environment, the University community and your own employability.
Getting Involved at USW
There are a range of ways that students, staff and visitors can get involved to make small changes that have a positive impact on the local environment. From basic actions you can take, to projects to further embed sustainability across the University, together our USW family can make a real difference. Below we've provided some simple advice for changing how you study, live or work on our campuses to help to reduce your environmental impact.
Turn USW Green is USW’s innovative way of rewarding you for taking actions that improve sustainability and wellbeing – both on and off campus. It is also a fun way of getting involved with the chance to win prizes.
Once you are signed up, you can log your sustainable actions through the web platform or app and earn ‘Green Points’. Each month, the four individuals that earn the most Green Points will win a £20 voucher!
There are over 30 different actions you can earn Green Points for, including saving energy, reducing water use, staying active, avoiding single use plastics, reducing your meat consumption, preventing food waste, and learning more about the University’s Sustainability Agenda, with new activities and opportunities to earn points and prizes.
There is lots of fresh content, campaigns, and events that you can get involved with throughout the year and you can also submit ideas for activities and photos of your actions - both of which earn you points.
Join the community of members already signed up and see if you can reach the top of the leaderboard!
To sign up, you can register on the phone app here for Android, and here for Apple phones. Alternatively, you can use the web platform: https://turnuswgreen.org/
USW has a growing network of enthusiastic and motivated members who work to make our campuses more sustainable.
They focus on enhancing and improving the day-to-day operations and activities of USW that they are involved in whilst seeking opportunities to reduce our environmental impact.
The network is designed to provide staff with a voice to empower them to make positive and sustainable changes to their work environments, while providing development opportunities and wellbeing benefits.
If you are interested in signing up to the Sustainability Champions network, please contact us at [email protected].
Do you have a passion for one specific area of sustainability, or do you have knowledge and experience that you wish to share to shape our sustainability action plans?
As part of our Net Zero Strategy 2040, we have created focus groups that create a platform for raising awareness, sharing knowledge, and collaborating with colleagues to progress sustainability across the University. They have been developed on the key impacts associated with the activities and operations of our estate – with a focus on driving improvements and identifying solutions to some of the challenges we face.
Our Sustainability Focus groups provide you with an opportunity to make positive contributions in an informal setting that can help shape our longer-term sustainability action plans.
We currently have 5 groups you can join as follows:
- Catering and Biodiversity
- Energy and Buildings
- Sustainable Procurement and Supply Chain
- Learning, teaching and research
- Travel and Waste
The groups meet quarterly for about an hour, do not require significant time commitments but really help drive our key objectives. They also provide you with an opportunity to engage in the projects and initiatives that you are involved with.
We welcome new members to all groups who can bring fresh eyes and ideas and if you would like to register your interest, please contact us.
We want as many of our staff and students as possible to have the opportunity to get involved with sustainability campaigns and events that are hosted at USW. To this end, we are no longer going to focus on a single ‘Green Week’ of activities but will provide a programme of initiatives and events over the year to raise awareness of current issues that increases the chance for both staff and students to get involved. These include Dr Bike Maintenance sessions (a free bike MOT), litter picks, tree planting, pop up shops, local community gardening and more.
Sustainability Events summary 2023-24
If you are interested in running a sustainability themed event, talk or activity any point during the year, please contact us at [email protected]
Did you know that USW staff get up to three days of paid leave for volunteering activities?
We have developed a one stop shop for discovering volunteering opportunities and building connections with people and organisations that are driving positive change in our local, national, and international communities.
From one-off events to regular volunteering opportunities, there's something for everyone. We all have busy lives so the opportunities provide flexibility around your day-to-day activities with no long-term commitments, that you can dip in and out when you can. Whether you are passionate about the environment, education or wellbeing, the programme of volunteering opportunities will provide you with a list of activities so you can find the right one for you.
Volunteering also offers valuable insight and experience into how organisations and community programmes operate and can provide you with skills that you can share with others including employers, on applications or on your CV.
More information on local sustainability volunteering opportunities is available here.
Lastly, if you carry out regular volunteering, you can record this on the Turn USW Green app to earn points that may result in prizes!
The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice.
The purpose of the SDG Accord is to inspire, celebrate and advance the critical role that education has in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the value it brings to governments, business, and wider society.
Individual students, researchers, academics, and operational staff can sign the SDG Accord to make a personal and professional commitment to playing their part.
An individual can contribute to Sustainable Development Goals in various ways such as by wasting less food, helping people around you, reducing water use, avoiding products that are harmful to the environment (e.g. plastics), recycling, and buying energy-efficient appliances.
If you wish to sign up, you can do so here: https://www.sdgaccord.org/
We all have a role to play in reducing our carbon emissions.
Carbon Literacy training offers the chance to develop your understanding, with the knowledge to cut your carbon footprint and the confidence to talk to others about the vital issues that matter to you. Any member of staff can take part in USW’s Carbon Literacy training programme to develop the knowledge and confidence to make positive change for yourself and the planet.
The course is offered online and in person periodically throughout the year. For more details, visit UN PRME Climate.
We are keen to support students with their studies through the provision of placements or project/research support where possible. We have projects and sustainability challenges that can provide valuable ‘real world’ opportunities for students to integrate into their studies and also to work alongside the University’s Estates and Sustainability teams. Please speak to your tutor or contact the Sustainability Team for more information.
We are exploring the feasibility for introducing a dedicated Sustainability projects fund to support staff and student-led projects to enhance sustainability across our campuses.
More information will follow in due course with the aim of having this up and running in the 2023-24 academic year.
We are constantly exploring ways that we can be more sustainable on campus and are keen to support new, innovative sustainability projects that can make a real difference, so if you have an idea that you would like to share, please contact the Sustainability Team.
The University encourages Student Say. This is demonstrated in a number of ways including student representation on University committees and among our Sustainability Champions.
We currently have student representation on the Board of Governors, our ultimate governing authority. The Governing Body has planning and strategic responsibility and will receive and approve many significant estates and finance decisions. The Board also has a HR Committee with a student member, and our Academic Board includes two students. Therefore students are involved and engaged in key decision making across the University, which has a direct impact on our movement to a sustainable future.
We also actively engage with students through the Students' Union change week where there are opportunities to get involved.
Simple actions = Big Difference
- Switch off all lights when you don't need them, especially when you leave your room or office.
- Please don't leave electrical appliances on standby. Switch off your television, laptop, PC, and monitor, especially overnight or if you are away on weekends.
- Turn off your monitor when away from your desk for more than 5 minutes
- Making the most of daylight - open blinds and keep window ledges clear of clutter
- Turn off lighting when not required eg on bright sunny days
- Keeping doors and windows closed when the heating is on to prevent heat from escaping and cold air entering the space.
- If you are too warm, turn off the radiator thermostat to reduce the heat output into the room.
- Report heating, cooling and lighting faults via the Estates and Facilities team
- Consider the energy efficiency rating of electrical appliances when purchasing new equipment
- Only boil as much water as you need and put any surplus in a flask to use later on in the day.
The University aims to heat its buildings to between 19‐21°C. Achieving this temperature at all times during the day can be challenging. And even if this temperature is reached, each person is comfortable at a different temperature, so not everyone will be happy.
If you’re feeling cold, are your colleagues also feeling cold? If not, consider altering the number of layers of clothing you wear to maximise your own personal comfort. Dress appropriately for the season – a sleeveless top in January won’t keep you warm.
- Close curtains / blinds at dusk to stop heat escaping overnight.
- Avoid the use of portable electric heating devices – if your space feels cool, contact the Estates helpdesk.
- Report heating defects or issues to the Estates Helpdesk.
Our campuses are served by a range of rail and bus services.
If possible, ride a bike instead of taking a bus or car. Good for the environment, good for your health and good for your pocket. You can cycle to all USW campuses on the Sustrans National Cycle Network and each campus provides secure bike storage, lockers and showers.
A free shuttle bus service is provided between the Treforest and Glyntaff campuses and the Treforest and Sport Park campuses.
Dr Bike sessions, where you can get a free bike service, are run at our campuses throughout the year. Keep an eye on our Sustainability Events Programme to find out dates and times.
Challenge yourself to keep your shower to just 4 minutes. (Spending 1 minute less in the shower could save around 40 glasses of water or 10 litres). Earn points for shorter showers on Turn USW Green!
- In hotter weather, consider keeping a refillable jug or bottle of cool water in the fridge so that you do not need to run water down the sink to have a cold drink.
- When washing dishes, fill a bowl with hot water and use this instead of constantly running the tap. On average, this simple measure could help save up to 50% of domestic kitchen water.
- Don’t let water run down the drain whilst waiting for it to get hot – collect it and use to water plants.
- Bring a reusable water bottle to our catering units to decrease the amount of cups that need to be washed.
- Wash only full loads of laundry or combine with a roommate or friend.
- If the toilet has a dual-flush (a split flush button which gives the user the choice how much water to use), use the short flush if appropriate to save water.
- Report any water leaks to the Estates helpdesk.
Use reusable water bottles and reusable coffee cups. At USW there is a 30p levy on the use of single use coffee cups and we have introduced a deposit return scheme called ‘Huskee Cup’ to reduce the use of single use coffee cups.
Check what is and is not recyclable before placing your waste in the campus bins – we have bins for paper and card, plastic and tins, glass and general waste. Check out the waste and recycling guide here.
Make sure your recycling is clean to avoid contamination: give food containers a good clean before putting them in the recycling. Packaging that has become greasy – like pizza boxes - is not recyclable.
Free Drinking Water Refill stations - make use of the refill stations across our campuses and reduce plastic waste.