What is Green Impact?
51Âþ» is taking part in an exciting project called Green Impact. Teams of staff will take part in the Green Impact environmental accreditation scheme, helping them to adopt greener habits in their workplace. Green Impact is run locally by 51Âþ» but managed across more than 50 universities by the National Union Students (NUS).
Who can take part?
The scheme is aimed at teams of employees. Staff can organise their own teams and it’s very flexible in terms of what a team is. For example, a team might be all staff in a building, groups of staff with the same role such as all admin staff, or a number of departments joining together.
How it works
This initiative sees teams given a list of sustainability activities to complete in the form of a web tool kit. Each activity is clear and simple to implement, and is scored depending on the amount of impact that exercise has on making your work more sustainable. At the end of the year, these points are tallied up and will result in your team receiving Bronze, Silver or Gold awards should you pass predetermined points thresholds.
The project also involves students from 51Âþ» by providing student volunteers with special sustainability auditing training. Once trained, students then visit Green Impact teams to ensure that the activities have been completed to the recommended standard. Involving students in this way provides both training and practical experience in environmental auditing. Teams can also be audited by staff from the Estates department as an alternative if they wish.
Resource Bank
For teams currently taking participanting in the Green Impact, make sure you check out the Green Impact Resource Bank, which contains numerous templates that can be utilised in your sustainability projects.