Green Gown Awards 2020 - The University of Edinburgh - Winner

WINNER: Our future is in our hands  

In 2017 we started our journey to change the way we operated sport and exercise within the University of Edinburgh. 

Our initial change was in the form of our cleaning products.  Moving from traditional cleaning products to environmentally friendly alternatives from InnuScience. This was our “light bulb” moment and sparked us into action on what we could change within our operations that was more socially responsible and sustainable.   

We have since extended our partnership with clothing brand Player Layer and chose to utilise their eco layer range clothing products to reduce the use of plastics within the manufacturing process. We have removed our drinks vending machine and replaced with a Yanga drinks station and partnered with Sigg water bottles to remove the use of single use plastic for drinks and encourage people to utilise re-useable bottles.   

Top 3 learnings:

1. Decide what you want to change and do it – small changes make big differences. 
2. Trail the products or changes, get feedback, and implement ASAP.  
3. Social Responsibility & Sustainability Departments are amazing!