– Each year final-year Dance students plan their own collaborative project and are encouraged to work with local charities to raise awareness/ funds through their planned performance event. Last year 19 students worked alongside the charity Buckinghamshire Mind and raised over £700 for the charity through their dance gala event ‘We Think Blue’. – The University’s Missenden Abbey conference centre supports the local and national charities by holding fundraising events throughout the year. Over the last 7 years it has supported charities including: Rennie Grove Cancer Support, Thames Valley Air Ambulance, Roald Dahl Children’s Charity, Thomas Ball Children’s Cancer Fund. We provide proceeds from the entrance fees and support in running the event by encouraging the staff to volunteer. This has raised over £10,000 in financial support to the charities. Our main support goes to the Missenden Walled Garden Charity which provides learning and social support to the people with learning disabilities.
SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. – In February 2020, Buckinghamshire New University pledged to go carbon net zero by 2030 - 20 years ahead of the Government’s target - as part of a Love Our Planet day across its campuses. The University had already exceeding the carbon footprint target for 2020, with a 64% reduction since 2011.The Love Our Planet day was celebrated with environmentally-friendly activities, including Fashion and Textiles students unveiling a ‘tree hug’ piece created from recycled materials which was displayed on a tree in the High Wycombe campus.Staff and students shared their pledges on how to be more sustainable by writing on sustainable bunting which was created from scrap material left over from students’ fashion and textile projects. – We manage and dispose of our waste responsibly and have achieved a 12% year-on-year reduction in the amount of waste produced across our three campuses: – Recycling facilities are available for paper, card, plastics, metal, electrical equipment, batteries and mattresses. Our recycling rates are currently at 49%, and increasing.
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– We are working on food recycling at our campuses and halls of residence, and coffee cup recycling for our cafes. Customers
using a reusable Bucks cup already receive discounts on hot drink purchases to discourage the use of paper cups. – Office furniture is reused and repaired until it is no longer economical to do so. – Waste that cannot be recycled is sent to a waste-to-energy plant where possible, and to landfill as a last resort. All hazardous waste is stored in suitable containers and disposed of by specialist contractors using best available techniques in 2016. This scheme collects donations of household items from students, such as crockery and bedding, and makes them available free of charge to new students. – Usable duvets left in our student accommodation are donated to the YMCA, and the remainder are donated to Stokenchurch Dogs’ Home. All donations are delivered using the University’s electric car, the post bus or are collected in person to minimise our environmental impact. – Our students engage in volunteering which supports environmental projects such as beach cleans, litter picking and recycling initiatives. – We have removed more than 5,000 plastic straws from our bars and cafes. – The Bucks New Usage upcycling scheme - which won a Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice - redistributes used and wanted items from student accommodation, such as crockery, kettles and kitchen equipment, to new students. This is both sustainable and helps our students to save money they would have had to spend to prepare for University life. – Bucks’ Students’ Union runs campaigns across campus to promote sustainability: aiming to lower our carbon footprint and encourage students and staff to do their bit for the environment. Students are given the opportunity to take the lead in running campaigns which tackle issues that matter to them most and are provided with the support and guidance to ensure that the campaigns have the desired impact, in collaboration with the University.
