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Accelerate Cheshire and Warrington set out their key targets to minimise their environmental, resource and energy impact. They have actively encouraged team members to use more sustainable methods of transport when travelling to and from work through the 'give it a go' action. 
Corporate Communications joined the programme last year and identified their main challenge of being a paper heavy department and set to work to reduce the amount of paper they use. This was a challenge that they have continued to work on during their second year of the programme.
 After joining the programme, Social and Political Science quickly got to work in completing actions in the workbook and ensured that the work they did was suitable for their department. The team sent out a questionnaire to staff within the department to find out more about the travel preferences and any issues they have. The results of this survey was used by the SPS Green Impact team to promote sustainable transport options that were suitable for the department.
Within the first few weeks of joining the Green Impact programme, Warrington Registry had already identified positive outcomes as a result of their work. Positive changes included using water refill stations rather than buying bottled water, purchasing reusable shopping bags for team members and switching to reusable tupperware.
Queen's Park GIFT are the team behind the Pop Up Patch Challenge and this year set up a new project - Wildlife at Work. They have worked with the Grounds & Gardens department and held a daffodil bulb planting session in October.
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Leighton LIS are based within a hospital and have a few restrictions in terms of the actions they can complete. However, the team didn’t let that stop them in achieving a silver award. Leighton LIS are a great example of how actions can be modified to best reflect the environment they work in. They have supported and taken part in a number of charity events; Julie took part in the Manchester 10km and Great South Run to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Charity. They have also donated gifts to the hospital’s ‘presents for patients’ Christmas appeal.
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Starting from the essential criteria, Geography and International Development quickly progressed to the gold level. Being an academic department, they have continuously promoted Green Chester opportunities throughout the year and encouraged students to take part in different events and campaigns, including their successful bake sale which raised enough money to twin not one, but two toilets!
Marriss House set themselves a challenge this year, to achieve their first Gold award! As a fairly small team with different work patterns, they have had to work exceptionally hard to tick off the actions in the gold criteria, as well as maintaining the work they have done in previous years. This year, the team were able to complete many actions listed in their SMART action plan such as updating signage to remind staff to turn off equipment.
Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions started the year with a Chilli Challenge to encourage more greenery in the office; they even had prizes for categories such as 'weirdest shaped chilli'! Keen to keep the department up to date with all of their work, they created a Spring newsletter.
 Student Futures Super Savers set up monthly themed food days, during which they would bring in food and have a sharing lunch. During Go Green Week 2020, the Student Futures team set up a bikeathon event to raise money for WWF in light of the devastating Australia Bushfires. They set themselves a goal to cycle to length of Kangaroo Island (92km), in one day!
One of the actions in the Grounds and Gardens' workbook is to communicate the work they do to students and staff at the University. To do this they set up accounts on Instagram (@uocgardens) and Twitter, which has quickly become one of our favourite accounts to follow! As well as brightening our newsfeed, they share their knowledge about plants and trees.
 There were some big changes for the Sutton LIS team this year. With the addition of new green impact team members, the team have changed to Sutton Building. Another change has been to their recycling and book swap corner. Rather than being restricted to a shelf, they now have a full bookcase of books, DVD's and audiobooks for students and staff to browse through.
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Foll owing the success of last year's caring cup campaign, Seaborne LIS brought it back for another year. This year, they have raised money for a local wildlife charity, Haven Watch, who rescue, rehabilitate and release injured birds. The team have also continued to offer support and advice to newer teams.
After achieving Gold for a number of years, Warrington Library challenged themselves to achieve the platinum award. One of their projects this year was in collaboration with Warrington Registry and they had planned to launch a walk a mile in may project. One of the many benefits of walking is the positive impact it can have on our wellbeing; Warrington Library and Warrington Registry wanted to encourage students and staff to use their lunch break to walk a mile route of Warrington Campus.
To encourage students and staff to make pledges on Do Nation, Riverside LIS set up a 'new year, new leaf' campaign. Students and staff could pick up a leaf, write down the peldge they had made on Do Nation and keep the leaf on their desk as a reminder. The team also worked with us and the graphics department to create an eco-advent calendar that they displayed on their noticeboard.
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 After achieving Platinum last year, the Estates and Facilities team wanted to challenge themselves and come up with their own Excellence project by organising the University of Chester Great British Bake On. One of their aims was to include departments from across the University as well as members of the local community. They raised over £300 for charity and residents of a nearby residential homes enjoyed having the opportunity to come onto campus and get involved.
Another team who created their own Excellence project is Catering who launched their 'Too Good Too Waste' project. As part of this long-term project, they offer free fruit every other Monday in catering outlets and the Students' Union. Another part of the project is working on reducing further food waste by offering meals at a discounted price at the end of service.
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Best Newcomer - Geography and International Development
After being away from the programme for a few years, the GID team came back to the programme with the aim of achieving the bronze award. This quickly changed and they worked through the essential, bronze, silver and gold level.
Innovation for Engagement - Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions
With nearly 60 staff in the department, it can be difficult to share all of the updates about the work that is being done to complete the actions in the green impact programme. To solve this, MRA created a Spring Newsletter to let the department know about their achievements, ongoing initiatives and share news from the Sustainability Unit.
Environmental Improvement - Seaborne LIS
Seaborne LIS created a Sustainability Hub by the large screen in Seaborne Library. The hub features the teams past awards and is the libraries recycling point. Having been part of the programme for many years, the team also offered their support to other libraries to set up their own recycling points.
Community Action - Estates and Facilities
In December 2019, Estates and Facilities began working with KidsBank Chester. As part of their work with the local charity, they set up lunchtime volunteering sessions and aimed to visit them at least once a month during their lunchtime to help them sort through donations and make up referral packs.
Environmental Hero - Alex Williams, Corporate Communications
"Alex has singlehandedly introduced Green Impact to the department over the two years and led by example...at a departmental level, she has introduced a green noticeboard, a crisp packet recycling point, office plants, multiple caring cups and kept us up to date with developments in the Sustainability Unit and how we can contribute at a personal and institutional level"
Staff Leadership
Highly Commended - Jess Jones, Marriss House
"As a small Green Impact team where Jess is the only full time member of staff, a lot of responsibility fell on to Jess to make sure we achieved not only as much of the Gold criteria as possible but to continue working on Silver as a contingency plan! Jess has really risen to the challenge of leading this team to Gold. She has encouraged our other team members to get more involved with Green Impact, reached out to other departments in Marriss House to spread the message and been the driving force in our development as a team."
Highly Commended - Elisa Dowey, Leighton LIS
"Elisa has kept Green Impact high on the library agenda and she has kept us going to finalise our workbook so that we are in a position to submit. This has been a real achievement under the circumstances, where many of our normal activities have fallen away to support the changed organisational need."
Winner - Gianna Molica Franco, Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions
"Gianna's skillset is rare, she combines formidable organisation skills with a genuine sense of fun, and as a result, our Green team is stronger than ever, with clear aims, regular events, a gorgeous and informative newsletter and above everything, a sense of energy and purpose."
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Events
- Digital Climate Cafe | Fortnightly Friday meetings | 1.30pm - 2.30pm | Email greenchester@chester.ac.uk for more information and to join the calls.
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Best wishes,
Heather, Tammy, Phil & Sam
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Have you got any news and events you want to share in the next Warble? Just send them over to Green Chester. |
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