FootPrint - Issue 1

The Sustainability Newsletter for staff & students of Wakefield College

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Sustainability is a key objective for Wakefield College, and we all have a part to play. It’s important that we set a good example and positively influence the values and behaviour throughout the College and our community. It is important we have a whole college approach if sustainability is to be at the heart of our college.

Sustainability is a way to protect our natural environment, ecosystem and human health. But we also try our best to not put our way of living at risk. And additionally, sustainability drives innovation. New solutions should be found so humanity will be able to continue living on this planet.

What are our objectives for 2020-2025?

• Waste- Zero Landfill

• Reduce Single Use Plastics

• More Efficient Pool Cars, EV Chargers

• Use Renewable Energy

• Spread the Word

• Reuse or Recycle

• Encourage Active Travel

• Procurement

• Get People Talking About Sustainability

• Radcliffe PV Proposal

Where it began 2010-2015

The College’s first Carbon Management Plan (CMP) achieved over 37% percent reduction of carbon between 2010 and 2015 against the original footprint of the CMP. This was achieved by:

Utilisation: The review of operational hours and the introduction of challenging booking viability for both internal and external customers. Improving the centralised timetable database to allow appropriate use of spaces and challenge inefficiencies.

Environment: The creation and implementation of an environmental policy that identified the College operational boundaries for heating and ventilation. This is supported by room information and how to operate controls locally. The introduction of responding to wasteful or inefficient practices has significantly impacted on reducing previously wasted energy.

Harrison Building Refurbishment: 2011/12. The College invested £4.2m nett construction cost to refurbish and extend this tired building. We chose not to include fossil fuelled heating and ventilation in lieu of air source heat pumps supported by photo voltaic panels.

Salix Fund: 2012/13 – LED Lighting. £348,000 funding awarded to replace inefficient lighting with LED.

Photovoltaic Installation: 2012 – Castleford. The Coalfields Regeneration Trust supplied and installed free of charge PV panels to the Castleford Campus. The College benefits. from the energy generated and the CRT benefit from the Feed in Tariff.

Photovoltaic Installation: 2013 – Castleford. The CRT installed an additional 50kw of PV.

Wakefield City Campus

A & D Block Roofs: 2010/11.

The College invested £166kto replace and super insulate the roof of Radcliffe Building (block A) and repair the roof of Gissing building (block D).

Radcliffe Fenestration and Cladding: 2013/14. The College has invested £2.1M nett construction cost as part of the property strategy to refresh the external face of the building. The cladding and windows replaced the poor-quality materials fitted to the building that was constructed in 1965. The cladding included super insulation of the main structure and the installation of triple glazed windows that reflect thermal gain and retain internal heat. Since completion the gas consumption in this building has been reduced by 49%.

Procurement of College Fleet: 2013-2016. The College has leased highly energy efficient pool cars and is in the process of replacing the people carrier and the older van stock. With a further look towards replacing the 2 minibuses.

Radcliffe Local Water Heaters: 2015. Localised water heaters have been installed in this building at a cost of £15,400. This amount included the insulation for the Radcliffe Boiler House. The boiler at 100.42kW would have used 100,420 kW a year, about 18.5777 tonnes CO2/annum; the water heaters (worked for the same times, 4hrs, 5 days, 50 weeks) use 10.36 tonnes CO2/ annum, a saving of 8.2177 tonnes CO2/ annum 44.23%

So, what have we been doing recently?

Estates and Energy

We have worked closely with the Carbon Trust reviewing our needs to improve Energy Efficiency and reducing CO² emissions. We are current holders of the Carbon Trust Standard Certificate of Achievement. Plus we have been:

•Monitoring consumption by checking billing information and comparing against previous years.

•Regular visits to each campus monitoring energy efficiency.

•Buying energy through a consortium purchase. The Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO) is a framework for the purchase of gas and electricity. The framework is used by over 200 local authorities and public sector organisations. Additional benefits to this framework are advice on legislation and market initiatives, billing and tariff rates, proactive support and advice regarding energy and sustainability in the Public Sector.

•We have fitted water-less urinals and have timed lighting in some toilet areas.

•We have installed software to close down unused PCs.

•We procured energy efficient installations of all new builds and refurbishments

Between 2009/10 and 2016/17 the College has reduced its carbon emissions by 40%

Landfill Art

ESOL students put their artistic flair to good use and created a huge piece of artwork to mark Black History Month with over 200 individual slates creating a large mural of the African continent. The project reiterated the Colleges commitment to sustainability as the material used came from old slates that were initially destined for landfill alongside garden pebbles that were used for the border.

Students visit Sustainable Caddick Construction site

Our construction students paid a visit to Caddick Construction’s sustainable redevelopment site, SOYO in Leeds. SOYO, is the redevelopment of six acres of Leeds City Centre to bring a responsibly designed, sustainable and forward-thinking neighbourhood. Our students were given a tour of the site which highlighted how the site was generating its own electricity through the use of solar panels throughout the build, how the building would be

powered throughout it's lifecycle and all the different methods that were being utilised during the M&E fitout. Overall, the students left feeling positive about their future careers and keen to gain work experience on a live site.

Spread the Word

We provide regular updates via the staff and students intranets. We have a dedicated web page for sustainability www.wakefield.ac.uk/sustainability. There are Top Tips posters at each water fountain on what you can do at work and home to join the fight against climate change. As members of the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) we have been encouraging staff and students to become members of the EUAC. As the sustainability champion for universities and colleges in the UK, it’s run by members, for its members, to drive sustainability to the heart of further and higher education.

Efficient Travel

The College is a member of WYCA Travel Planning Network. The objective of this network is to reduce the use of private vehicles and create sustainable travel options for West Yorkshire. The Wakefield College Green Travel Plan includes the Wakefield College Lift share scheme, Cycle to Work Scheme, Cycle storage and changing room/shower facilities, efficient pool cars and discounted staff travel card schemes through Metro and Northern Rail.

Grow Your Own Hospitality and

Catering students have been working with the Horticulture department to try and grow as much of our own vegetable as possible. Level 3 Catering students have been busy planting onions and garlic using some of the equipment purchased and in March they will be building a Herb Garden at the back of Beaumont Building. The Hospitality and Catering department have also purchased a composter so they can use food waste for compost

Spanish COP Walkers visit

A group of climate activists walking from Spain to Glasgow for the CoP26 summit in October stopped over in Wakefield at a rally organised by Just Transition Wakefield, held on the Cathedral steps before visiting Wakefield College’s Gaskell’s Restaurant for lunch. Catering students from the College welcomed the walkers to Gaskell’s with an array of mouth-watering food.

Wakefield said, “It is clear from the support from the Council, the Cathedral, Wakefield College, from schools and the many people who have contacted us about the event, that this issue is hitting a chord with everyone.”

The group of walkers thanked the College’s students for their efforts and praised the quality of food prepared to meet all the different dietary requirements.

Green Champions

Our business students carried out a litter pick at Thornes Park and were crowned the College’s ‘Green Champions’.

Stuart Boothman from Just Transition

Reducing Single Use Plastics

At Freshers Week this year we had a sustainability stand where students could pick up their free eco-friendly reusable water bottle made from recycled plastic. Water fountain stations can be found around college. Our Marketing Team sourced recycled plastic pens to brand inhouse for T Levels promotional activity.

Sustainable Futures Programme

Sustainability within the Print Room

The College was successful in a bid to pilot a Sustainable Futures programme through the EAUC and in collaboration with Change Agents UK, a charity who promote public awareness and understanding of the principles of sustainability.

The ‘Sustainable Futures Programme’ is designed to address the issues faced by young people and build participants’ knowledge and awareness of sustainability. Our involvement was an opportunity to work with partners to provide our learners with sustainability education, awareness and the tools for the future.

The programme ran with 200 level 2 employability and enterprise students across a variety of curriculum areas.

To complete the 4-week project the students looked at sustainable jobs within their specific area of study, this was a real eye opener for some as they discovered even more opportunities within this diverse area and the passion and knowledge of the providers ensure the project was a great success.

Waste to Zero Landfill

Over the last 3 years the College has recycled 88.07kg of our waste, 23% of total waste. Although the recycling we do in College is mainly cardboard and paper, the waste we send to our contractor is separated and recycled as part of a zero to landfill scheme. Anything that can’t be recycled is incinerated. The company, Veolia, run several combined heat and power stations which run on waste that would otherwise go to landfill.

What can I do now?

Don’t forget - We are ALL responsible for our planet and environment. Even small changes in the way we live and work will make a difference now and for future generations.

Cultivation Street Week 7 - 13 March

Celebrate community gardening across the UK.

www.cultivationstreet.com

Compost Week UK 14-20 March

Compost Week UK celebrates the benefits of composting and encourages the UK to be rotters.

www.daviddomoney.com/compost

Email your

Global Recycling Day - March 18

Global Recycling Day is a Day for the world to come together and put the planet first.

Nominate your #RecyclingHeroes2022 before 8th March 2022.

www.globalrecyclingday.com

Walk to Work Day - April 1

Getting involved in National Walk to Work Day on April 1, 2022 could help put you on the right track to a healthier you. Not only this, but this annual event encourages you to be mindful of your carbon footprint.

The print room at Wakefield College signed up to the Woodland Trust’s Carbon Capture scheme with a new paper supplier, Premier Paper. The scheme mitigates the CO2 emissions generated by the production, storage and distribution of the paper purchased. An additional £8.50 is paid per tonne of paper bought (roughly two pallets), which is then passed on to the Woodland Trust to fund the planting of trees, which can absorb carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. All paper purchased within College (including College-wide copier paper) is included within the scheme, including the paper used for the printed copies of this newsletter.

As part of our commitment our full school leaver prospectus is also now only printed on request and has been replaced by a handy mini guide.

Educate yourself and others Sustainability and Environmental Education (Seed) have collated a large list of Climate change learning resources for kids and young people and for adults.

www.se-ed.co.uk

Take A Course

Future Learn offer several courses to learn more about Sustainability.

www.futurelearn.com

Open Learn also have free courses of varying length.

www.open.edu/openlearn

Trees Not Traffic

Adele Wright, Head of Curriculum for Hospitality and Catering, met Stuart from Just Transition through the Eco Educators Group which Stuart runs. Here he tells us about their Newton bar project: Why would a group of people tie ribbons to trees?

Just Transition Wakefield is a group of local citizens from around the district, all working together to tackle the climate emergency.

Sometimes this means working together with other groups to make proposals and suggestions, sometimes it means working with the council to improve their climate action plans.

Sometimes, this means telling the authorities and the public to do as Greta Thunberg says and “join the dots”. This means to make the connection between climate targets and the actual policies being followed – because the two don’t always support each other…

The plan to double the size of Newton Bar roundabout to speed traffic between the city centre and the M1 is a great example. If the world is to cut climate emissions by at least half by 2030, we cannot continue to increase emissions from traffic – it simply makes the task impossible and the target unachievable. Authorities need to understand the connections between their climate targets and their actual policies, and they need the public to tell them when they get it wrong!

What’s next?

Creating a plan to achieve decarbonisation of our heating plant by getting rid of end-of-life gas boilers in favour of the air or ground source heat pumps. The schemes are in the early development stage, and we are looking at grant support to complete the works.

We are working with the Council looking at the feasibility of a district heating system. Wakefield College is a key member of WMDC Sustainable Steering Group. The College is working with WMDC and others in projects including District Heating scheme feasibility and travel options for the district.

Increasing self-generated energy on site through roof top PV and PV farms (with curriculum), wind energy generation.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority fund quite a few so-called road improvement schemes. This one was originally planned about 8 years ago –long before COP26 came to Glasgow, long before local councils declared climate emergencies. The plan is to make a slip road from Leeds Road to the A650 dual carriageway by cutting down well over 100 mature trees. This will release carbon into the atmosphere from the trees, from the soil, and those trees will not be capturing carbon dioxide from the air. Any new trees planted will take decades before they pull as much CO2 from the air. But at the same time, emissions from the increasing traffic will also be increasing. This is the exact opposite of what is needed to slow down and stop climate change.

But, at the same time, the plans include much-needed pedestrian and cycle crossings through the junction. Our aim is to keep this part of the scheme without increasing emissions and without trashing ecosystems.

Read more at https:// justtransitionwakefield.org.uk/treesnot-traffic/

Stuart Boothman

Just Transition Wakefield

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Looking at transport planning for staff to promote the green travel plan and provide green solutions for all that include lift share, car charging points, increased use of public transport and alternative parking options for staff. This scheme could influence parking policy. Become fully de-compostable in Starbucks and refectories. Price increases at Starbucks after halfterm will be to cover the extra cost of decompostable cups but still allow for it to be cheaper than high street Starbucks!

Competitions

Cross-college student competition

We are running a cross-college student competition in order to raise awareness of sustainability amongst students. Your students can enter as a whole group or subgroup, and several groups within your department can enter.

Each group must demonstrate an awareness of sustainability linked to their vocational curriculum. It could be a research project, trying out something new or developing something new (e.g. a recycling or upcycling scheme)

All they need to do to evidence what they have done is provide a record of their activities (e.g., a short video) and some form of reflection/evaluation on what they have learnt as a result of taking part.

Evidence must be submitted by May 31st for judging to commence. Further details will follow on how to register your groups interest and submit final evidence.

For further details contact Adele Wright a.wright@wakefield.ac.uk

Cross college department challenge.

Can your team reduce the amount of paper it uses? Can you move to being a paperless office?

This challenge will see which team can reduce the amount of paper they use from Jan – June. This will obviously be easier for some teams than others, so we are going to calculate it on a percentage reduction basis rather than a ‘per sheet of paper’ basis to make it fair across the board.

For further details please contact Clare Hagerup. C.hagerup@wakefield.ac.uk

Individual staff competition.

Have you got the space to grow the tallest sunflower in the most unusual receptacle?

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Improved infrastructure for those that cycle, walk, or run to work.

Creating woodland classrooms and forestation at Castleford (Care and Early Years) to offset carbon.

Sustainable business travel including a fully electric vehicle fleet, e-bicycles and when legal, e-scooters.

Recycle your old pots, pans and kayaks as pots to grow sunflowers in! Entrants will need to provide photographic evidence of their sunflower.

The best time to plant them is April/ May and they should reach their best flowering point in August . Judging will take place in September when we return for the new academic year.

For further details please contact Clare Hagerup c.hagerup@wakefield.ac.uk