Green Gown Awards 2014 - Continuous Improvement - Loughborough University - Finalist

Loughborough’s Environmental Decathlon - embedding environmental management through competitiveness

In the last 5 years, Environmental Management at Loughborough has come on in leaps and bounds and is now reaching new heights in waste and recycling. Recycling levels have risen from 9% in 2005/6 to 52% onsite and 77% overall, with only 5% of waste now going to landfill.

Loughborough’s Environmental Decathlon is a portfolio of activities which have been introduced to target a number of key areas of Environmental Management.

As the University sought to tackle areas such as waste and recycling, it was clear that one activity would not achieve the results required and that a decathlon of activities would be required. Activities such as the ‘Inter-hall Environment League’ use Loughborough’s sporting prowess and competitiveness to pit halls against each other in the desire to be the best.

It is this, and the range of activities undertaken, which Loughborough believes sets them apart from the rest.

Top 3 learnings

1 You can try and improve one thing by 100% or 100 things by 1%
2 Sometimes what you think will be hard are the easiest and the
easiest things will be the hardest!
3 If you think it will take 6 months – allow 12!

Videos

• Loughborough’s Environmental Decathlon - embedding environmental management through competitiveness (click to hide)