Reducing plastic on campus
Receiving more than 40% of votes from students and staff, a proposal to reduce plastic on campus won in the annual Shaping Sustainability at University of Birmingham competition.
Last year, it was the Living Pillars project that triumphed, leading to two vertical pillars being planted with insect-friendly plants and enhancing biodiversity on campus.
This year, the winning entry called for a ‘comprehensive review of all food and drink services on campus to see if it would be possible to phase out the sale and use of single-use plastics for food and drink…and create a lasting cultural shift on campus’.
Since 2022, we've made significant strides in reducing single-use plastics on campus, including:
- A 30.5% decrease in the sale of single-use plastic bottled water
- A reduction in packaging waste
- The introduction of a 25p charge at the Med School Cafe and Campus Infusion restaurants for meals in disposable packaging, encouraging customers to bring their own containers
Now sustainability teams will be working with the Food, Beverage and Retail department to see what further improvements can be made to reduce plastic.
We’ll keep you updated on the progress of this exciting new project—stay tuned!