Earth Day - Monday 22nd April
22 April 2024
Sustainability and ARU
Earth Day plays a vital part in raising awareness of environmental issues.
ARU has pledged to ingrain sustainability into every facet of our research, education, and operations, aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
How many of these sustainability initiatives within ARU are you aware of?
ARU Green
ARU Green is an online platform that promotes sustainability and rewards you with prizes and donations to charity.
Book Rescuers
The Book Rescuers take our withdrawn books and sell them with a percentage going to charity. Books that are not sold are donated to charity or recycled, with nothing going to landfill.
Our withdrawn books sold between 01/11/23 and 31/01/24 raised funds for new resources and contributed toward over £19,300 raised for charity.
Waste and recycling
We do not send any waste materials to landfill sites – all our waste is either reused, recycled, or used to create ‘refuse derived fuel’.
It costs us at least half as much to recycle. Please help us meet our target of recycling at least 60% of our waste by using the bins correctly.
Biodiversity Trails
Take a walk following our biodiversity trails in Cambridge and Chelmsford, and submit a wildlife sighting on ARUgreen if you spot something interesting:
Solar Panels
The library solar panels recently installed on the Chelmsford library roof are estimated to save £21,000 and 38,319 kg of CO2 per year.
ARU Green Society Fund
Societies that meet sustainability criteria can apply for additional funding provided by the ARU Sustainability team through the ARU Green Society Fund.
Fossil fuel free investments
ARU signed the Fossil Fuel Declaration in 2018, a partnership between the National Union of Students and People & Planet. By signing the declaration we declare that we have no investments in extractor fossil fuel companies and pledge to remain fossil free in the future.
Are there any sustainability related actions or improvements you would like to suggest we take?
Contact us and let us know.
Find out more about Earth Day