Green Gown Awards 2015 – Continuous Improvement - North Warwickshire and Hinckley College - Finalist

An all-round approach to sustainability

Sustainability is about making changes and inspiring a new approach to the way we live in the world, use its resources and interact with the rest of the ecosystem. Sustainability is a philosophy of life, to which we need to educate the future generation.

Since 2010 North Warwickshire and Hinckley College has implemented numerous actions and initiatives aimed to spread this philosophy, with the ultimate purpose of educating its community to the principles of sustainable living and reducing the organization’s impact on the environment.

Sustainability improvement measures have been implemented in each of the following areas:

• Sustainability Awareness for staff, students and the local community
• Sustainability Policies and Procedures
• Education for Sustainable Development
• Reduction in resource consumption
• Waste minimization, reuse and recycling
• Promotion of sustainable transport

These actions have brought tangible results and remarkable changes in the College community's lifestyle.

Top 3 learnings

1 Everybody in the organisation needs to be involved and contribute to reducing the carbon footprint, including students, staff, executive members, governors, contractors and visitors

2 It helps to have a plan in place to allocate roles and responsibilities and set targets

3 Focus on projects that guarantee immediate savings, have a quick return on investment, are easy to implement and are visible to the College community. A project must be good for the environment, good for the College finances and give tangible and visible benefits to the community.