The Green Impact blog is being handed over to the ACS and UNICUS teams this week! This post is by Andrew Woffindin, Contracts and Environmental Co-ordinator. If you or your team would like to contribute to the blog, email greenimpact@sheffield.ac.uk.
4 years ago, recycling schemes didn’t exist up here at the residences for students to donate their unwanted clothing , crockery , books , DVDs, duvets etc but all that changed under a scheme initially called Bring It Don’t Bin It ( BIDBI).
Students and staff buy in / behaviour change can be a challenge to say the least and how do we communicate with them to inform them of what the scheme was about? After all, we’re not just asking for help making a poster with a catchy slogan, we are trying to change behaviours, opinions and habits. Something not everyone has the motivation or interest to do.
Obviously this would need a new approach. I couldn’t do it all, I needed help, but how?
By actively engaging with the Directorate, and senior management, in one move I could quickly increase both student and awareness, raise the profile of the scheme, and empower others to dedicate time to the campaign. This was further helped by the introduction of the ‘Champion Role’, to justify staff and students dedicating time to the scheme with marketing literature, talking to team members in other departments within ACS and act as a three-way communication between the staff in the department, students and the two main charities we now work with British Heart Foundation (BHF) and S6 Food bank.
Over the last 4 years the scheme has been developed, expanded and even changed its name to Donate Don’t Waste (DDW) beyond all recognition and the figures shown below, from what was collected in the period May 2016 – December 2016, reflect this.
British Heart Foundation:
5205 bags of donations collected, equating to £72960 value that BHF can see for their charity shops across the city.
S6 Foodbank:
Household items → 110 single duvets with pillows, 8 double duvets with pillows, 90 pan sets, 46 cutlery sets, 2 boxes of cleaning products, 73 other items (including electric),
Food → 1048kg of food, equating to 2495 meals
Has the perseverance paid off? That’s a big YES – Donate Don’t Waste now reaches all staff and students now just across campus but far reaching across the city which goes to show one small step in the right direct does pay massive dividends.
Will 2017 be even bigger and better than 2016? …of course it will … watch this space.