Trash Talk: Making Waste less Wasteful

SUSTAINABILITY

Trash Talk: Making Waste less Wasteful

Estates Directorate: Justine Oakes The timing couldn’t be better! As we celebrate our place in the top ten, People and Planet league table for Waste and Recycling, the Estates Directorate is gearing up to launch it’s Think Before you Print campaign, and more crucially the 2022 to 2027 Waste Management Plan. Our attainment of a 97% recycling rate is a significant achievement and something that we are justifiably proud of as recycling is an essential part of the waste management hierarchy, unlocking material flows into the UK economy. However, it represents the back end of what remains an essentially linear resource consumption approach within the wider context of an organisations operational process.

To really unpick why this matters, we need to understand how waste is truly wasteful, something our new Waste Management Plan seeks to address by embedding circular economy thinking into aspects of our existing procurement and resource consumption approaches. Linear consumption patterns follow the take – make – dispose pathway. A global legacy of disregard that now confronts us with major supply chain constraints as resource availability declines, costs rise, politics polarise and national/international legislative mechanisms strive to protect ecosystem breakdowns, pollution abatement, world labour and habitation rights.

Before an item reaches us, whatever we have procured has already weighed in quite heavily in terms of its impact in a variety of different ways. Here, paper here is the most obvious illustration to visualise; but what about our tables, chairs, computers; the buildings themselves? How do we secure University resource resilience and a reduced environmental impact as we implement the growth of the estate and the facilities and equipment available within it? Circular economy thinking challenges us. It asks us to re‑think how we use and consume products. Re‑define what is possible through re‑use and recycling. Re‑invest in the types of products we procure to ensure they can be disassembled and repaired. At the heart of our new Waste Management Plan is a drive to apply this scrutiny to our procurement and management approach, ensuring we keep components and materials at their highest utility and within the value chain for as long as possible ‑ where possible. Making our waste less wasteful.

ECOLAB

EcoLab — Addressing the housing needs of the future

Construction of the University’s ‘EcoLab’ at Adastral Park is due for completion in April. It’s a collaborative, research facility to demonstrate the regional capacity for the design, build and occupation of sustainable homes. Project partners include the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and BT.

Using latest construction methods the aim is to achieve zero carbon occupancy, and a reduction in embodied carbon of around 50% compared to a typical brick and block house. The EcoLab will also use smart systems to evaluate sustainable material performance, low carbon energy and water consumption, alongside critical consideration of the landscape through ecological design.

Benjamin Powell, lecturer in Architecture at the University, said, “The project brief addresses two of the most pressing concerns; climate change and the environmental impact of the construction industry; and the UK’s chronic shortage of affordable housing.”

Benjamin added “As well as environmental considerations, the EcoLab model is suitable to be built at scale, and achieve significant savings in construction costs. We believe this is a fundamental requirement to make a low energy future attainable for all. It will be used to test innovations in materials, smart technology, and biodiversity enhancement through partnerships with various organisations including BT.”

Our Architecture students took part in a virtual ‘EcoLab Architecture Hackathon’ working collaboratively to create concept designs. Associate Professor in Architecture, Dr Liana Psarologaki said “These events are at the heart of what we do here. We advocate Architecture as a tool for social and ecological innovation; an agent to improve how people live and make decisions about the built environment. Our students are trained to approach design and building with curiosity and a critical eye; vital skills for future built environment professionals”. Professor Darryl Newport, Professor in Energy and Sustainable Development and Director of the Suffolk Sustainability Institute, said, “The EcoLab embodies accessible sustainability for all, including researchers, innovators, public stakeholders and our students. It offers a vision for a sustainable lifestyle, creating a template for future domestic dwellings.”

Recognising the strength in working collaboratively, the University welcomes the support of the New Anglia LEP and BT in realising the EcoLabs ambitions.

Photographs: studiomanifest.co.uk