After a three-month long competition involving thirty other Colleges across the UK, we were thrilled to be placed ninth in this year’s Planet Earth Games!
Held in partnership with AoC Sport and Pearson BTEC Sport & Physical Activity, the Planet Earth Games Trust created the Games to promote climate action and sustainable consumption. The Colleges taking part are challenged to deliver sustainable events and activities across seven sustainable themes:
- Carbon reduction
- Energy
- Travel
- Food
- Waste reduction
- Connecting to nature
- Conservation
Activities are led by climate champions and each entry is judged by an expert panel based on innovation, carbon reduction and student engagement.
Starting in January 2023, students and staff from our Foundation Education Department, in collaboration with the Sustainability Team have put huge effort into organising sustainable activities and events across the College, including:
Weekly litter picking
Students collected a phenomenal 182kg of rubbish from around the campus, including 226 plastic bottles, 265 aluminium cans and 62 vapes with lithium batteries during their weekly litter picks. They recorded all the items collected and shared with the Sustainability Team to help inform of the trends in littering and to support the College’s ongoing commitment to additional sustainability projects – such as increasing the number of communal recycling bins on site.
Creating a hedgehog friendly campus
Students attended a talk from “Students Organising for Sustainability UK” late last year to support the College’s objective of achieving Bronze Hedgehog Friendly Campus status. 12 students then used their weekly Thursday Construction carousel lesson (throughout January – February) to make hedgehog boxes. These have been placed within the campus to provide a safe place for hedgehogs.
A “Clothes Horse” preloved clothing sale
Foundation students have been out in the College’s communal areas weekly, taking turns to staff their preloved clothing stall, selling clothing donated by staff and students. The students sort, wash and iron the donated items before adding to their stand, saving them from being banished to the bin and providing a sustainable and inexpensive shopping alternative. Money raised is donated to the RSPCA,
A foodbank project
Food bank donation points have been set up at the Maidstone campus and UCM building and each week the students gather donations, sort them, record them on a spreadsheet and then the items are donated to Making a Difference in Maidstone (MADM).
Surplus items don’t go to waste! The students decide on a recipe and take turns to cook for their peers and Foundation staff members. Staff and students all eat together in the classroom and the students wash up afterwards.
An allotment
The College is lucky enough to have an allotment very near to our Medway Campus which has been maintained by Foundation students. As well as planting seeds, they remove leaves, water the plants and use the compost area. They recently harvested some rhubarb and made a rhubarb crumble for all Foundation students and staff to enjoy – a great farm to fork initiative!
Students have also been involved with transferring paper-based portfolios to OneNote to reduce paper use, caring tor saplings from the Woodland Trust as part of the Queen’s Canopy Jubilee project, restoring and upcycling furniture, planning a sustainable fashion show and supporting Enviromenstrual Week to help remove the stigma around sustainable period products.
Phew! We think everyone involved has done an amazing job and are incredibly proud of their achievement, especially considering this is the first time the College has entered the competition.
Aimi Woolsey, lecturer in Foundation Education at the College said, “The students worked very hard on all their projects, and we were absolutely delighted to be placed in the top ten! We are passionate about community engagement and cross-departmental collaboration and have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this competition. We feel strongly that there will be a legacy of ongoing sustainable projects and student led initiatives that will continue throughout the summer term and beyond.”
Emma Mernagh, Director of Safeguarding echoed those feelings and added, "I’d like to say a massive thank you to all the students and staff who took part for their creativity and inspiring ideas around this subject. We will be entering again next year and I look forward to showcasing the wider work that I know is already happening in all our curriculum areas. I am very proud of the result and our commitment to the sustainability agenda. Well done all.”
We can’t wait to see what’s next!
