For those students who need a slightly grander reason to do the recycling than just keeping the kitchen clean, a new project by LUSU’s Environmental Committee may just have the answer. The project, entitled Lancaster University Goes Green, will see ‘Green Comm’ keeping a record of which college recycles the most, with the greenest college winning a £200 donation to their elected charity.
Each college has been allocated its own endangered species, which the donation will go towards protecting. The winner of the competition will be announced early in the summer term, although the group hopes to announce interim results in January to indicate which college will be leading the race in the countdown to the final weeks.
The animals elected for each college are as follows: County are charged with looking after the Silver Backed Gorilla, Bowland the Spectacled Bear, Furness the Tasmanian Devil. Fylde have the Sumatran Tiger, Grizdale have Giraffes while Pendle have Giant Pandas. Lonsdale are looking after the Lemurs, Graduate College the White Rhino and finally Cartmel have Spider Monkeys.
The majority of colleges have the WWF (World Wildlife Foundation) as their nominated charity, however Furness and Fylde are paired with ‘Devils in Danger’ and ‘Tiger Trust’ respectively.
For most of these animals, the reason behind their dwindling numbers is human interference, with many animals suffering from deforestation, hunting, and the impact of civil warfare. Despite these problems though, there is still hope for many of the animals, and it is this hope that Lyndsey Michael, Lancaster’s Non-Saab Green Officer, is clinging to.
“I really hope this scheme is picked up by the students of the University,” she told us. “I think its results can only be positive because it works on so many levels, encompassing the idea of ‘reduce, re-use and recycle’ along with encouraging students to take an active role in helping endangered species.
“I’m hoping that the campaign will also go some way to raising awareness of our effect on the global environment without consumerist and disposable culture.”
The Facebook group set up to publicise the campaign (Lancaster University goes green) has over 220 members.
Last year saw a 20 percentage point increase in the amount of waste recycled on campus from the previous year. Overall met by a 7.8% decrease in the amount of non-recyclable generated within the University also. The increase in recycling was partly put down to student led recycling projects, and here’s to hoping the trend can be continued.
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