As a Students’ Union, we recognise that all of our activities, services and products have an impact on our environment. As part of our commitment to sustainability, we believe that managing the environmental and ethical implications of our activities should be an integral part of good management practice and responsible corporate governance.
Reducing Single-Use Plastic
Plastic Straws
Plastic straws are banned from venues. Straws can cause a lot of damage to marine life. Straws suck!
Sustainable VK
VK bottles are currently plastic instead of glass for safety reasons. The SU is working with Global Brands (who supply VK) to be more sustainable. This includes the possibility of trialling VK cans in the future.
Instead of cutting down and buying a real Christmas tree, this year we also created a sustainable VK Christmas tree with used VK bottles from our club nights!
Free water bottles and coffee cups
The SU has given out free reusable water bottles and coffee cups multiple times throughout the year to decrease the usage of non-reusable cups
Young’s Kitchen and Thursday market
Young’s Kitchen and Vendors at the Thursday Market are switching to more eco-friendly packaging and utensils for their takeaways!
11 water stations
The SU lobbied the University to provide 11 new water stations on campus in a bid to encourage the use of reusable water bottles and reduce the amount of shop-bought single-use water bottles. The stations were installed in March 2020.
Community Hub
Our On-Campus Second-Hand Shop
Your Community Hub is here to support you with the cost of living. Stocking items from homeware to clothing, food to electronics, if you are in need of anything it is worth coming down and looking around.
Free food can be picked up most Thursdays and Fridays from 17:30 during term time, as well as a large selection of pick & mix sweets!
Almost everything is just £1.00 (or whatever you feel you can pay). So the Hub should be your first stop when you’re in need of something. We’ve had donations of everything from bikes to printers, so who knows what you may find! All of stock is made up of donations from across campus to our collection points or from your campus services outlets.
If you would like to donate to the Hub please look out for the trollies dotted across campus or just come by the Hub and speak to one our supervisors!
All surplus money from the Hub is donated to the Union’s RAG fund
Engaging Students
Sustainability Forum
The Student Sustainability Forum allows any student to hear about the University’s progress and plans, share their opinion on sustainability at Surrey, provide feedback on sustainability initiatives and have their questions answered by the University’s management team.
Sustainable Surrey
‘Sustainable Surrey’ is an ongoing campaign led by the Community Zone. Our initiatives include: creating more litter picks, sustainable volunteering opportunities and workshops, encouraging clubs and societies to do sustainable activities, advertising, fundraising and campaigning opportunities and a communications approach which sets out how and where students can be more sustainable, including contributions from student volunteers.
Biodiversity On Campus
Bird boxes / Bus stops / Hedgehogs
The SU has been working to improve wildlife levels/habitats on campus, hence they have introduced a series of bird boxes! Furthermore, the SU is in talks to establish green spaces on top of the bus stops on campus. The University is now a bronze-accredited Hedgehog Friendly Campus due to the hard work of students and staff of the University!
Get Involved
- Come to the Sustainability Forum
- Join in on the Community Garden, located on the Stag Hill campus
- Adopt positive environmental lifestyle habits, for example, switching off electrical appliances and lights if not in use. Some more tips for living a more sustainable lifestyle include being more considerate with your water usage, reducing and recycling your waste in addition to supporting Fairtrade and sustainable products along with eating more local, seasonal food where possible.
- For more information don’t hesitate to get in touch with ussu.information@surrey.ac.uk
University Contacts
If you’re looking to speak to someone at the University about sustainability, you can find out more about their work or get in touch below:
