Bradford College

EcoVersity Website Launched to Protect the Environment

Bradford College has joined forces with the University of Bradford to divert tonnes of waste from landfill sites in a bid to help the environment.  The joint collaboration between the two forward thinking institutions will offer students and staff the opportunity to browse the EcoVersity website for recycled office furniture that would otherwise go to landfill. 

As a forward thinking institution, Bradford College was also highly commended at the ‘Green Gown Awards’ in 2010 – an accolade that was established to find the UK’s most sustainable universities and colleges.

Speaking about this latest eco friendly initiative, Bradford College, Building Services Manager Ian Brown said: “Rather than furniture ending up in a skip, we’re recycling it.  We’re hoping that colleagues from across both campuses will buy into the new initiative.  Rather than purchase new furniture, take a look on the EcoVersity website first, to see what’s available free of charge.”

Elaborating further, Ian continued: “You can now browse the website from the comfort of your own desk and see if there is something you require. The items we can’t re-use are also managed and sent to different recycling streams rather than landfill. The website is maintained by our College staff with new recruit Steve Ruddy keeping a watchful eye on requests”

According to government research we generate about 100 million tonnes of waste from households, commerce and industry each year. The majority of this waste ends up in landfill, contributing to climate change. 

There is now growing demand for companies to improve their carbon footprint by recycling more, as climate change is considered the biggest environmental issue that is challenging the world today.

Thousands of tonnes of commercial waste have been diverted from landfill sites in the past 5 years with the introduction of string of environmentally friendly initiatives under the watchful eye of Ian Brown. Building Services Manager Ian Brown is the man behind Bradford College’s ‘Green Solutions’ - a unique business with a fresh approach to helping local businesses meet their recycling needs.

Ian Brown concluded: "The Ecoversity website encourages students and staff to actively get involved in waste reduction, by raising awareness of recycling services and ways to reuse items that would previously be considered redundant."

To visit the EcoVersity website click here:  http://reuse.scim.brad.ac.uk/db