From the 11^th to the 22^nd March 2024, Loughborough University’s Sustainability Team, in collaboration with other departments and organisations, held Sustainability Fortnight. This was the first time we have held events over a two-week period, and we were really pleased to see so many staff and students getting out and engaging with all that we had to offer.

Sustainability Fortnight 2024: Week 1 Review

The events kicked off with a clothes swap event organised in collaboration with the LGBT+ association, which offered students an opportunity to give their clothes a second life.

On the second day, we unveiled the brand-new Sustainability Mural on the side of the Schofield Building, which was designed by the talented Jasia Pang. Sustainability colleagues came together with LU Arts colleagues, alongside Vice Chancellor Professor Nick Jennings and Visiting Member of the University Dr Jo Jennings, to celebrate this wonderful piece of artwork which will hopefully inspire students and staff to adopt more sustainable practices in years to come.

We also had a local bike repair company pay a visit to campus to offer out advice on taking care of your bike and help with small repairs. Thank you to Bike Buddies for coming along and we look forward to welcoming you back to campus in future.

Following on from this, we held our second ever Repair Café in Martin Hall, where staff and students could bring along any broken items such as textiles, to receive advice on how to keep these items going for longer rather than buying new or throwing them away! We are determined to be a part of the circular economy and encourage habits such as taking care of our items and repairing where we can. Stay tuned for information about future Repair Cafés on our campus and in the local area…

The Tuesday was finished off with the Sustainable Fashion Show, run by colleagues in the Students’ Union. After months of build-up and hard work from staff and students alike, this event was a huge success! The event saw around 170 attendees, with 36 different looks being showcased down the runway, 4 sustainable student business stalls, and 86 students involved in pulling it off. Congratulations to those involved!

Next up, we held our day-long Grime Scene Investigation! You may be wondering what on earth this is… basically, the Sustainability Assistant, along with colleagues from our waste contractor Enva, and student Sustainability Ambassadors, took part in a waste audit. We weighed bags of rubbish from student halls, and then sorted through these to find out how well each hall was segregating their waste into ‘general’ and ‘recycling’. It was interesting to find out about some of the recycling habits within halls, and the key areas we need to address with future messaging and engagement activities. Huge shout out to the Sustainability Ambassadors who got stuck in to helping on the day – we would not have been able to do this without you and I hope that you found the day interesting!

On Thursday 14^th, we held our Sustainability x Wellbeing fair, for University Mental Health Day in the Edward Herbert Atrium. This was a lovely day, packed full of fun, advice, inspiration on living more sustainably, and even live music! We invited various companies to take part in our Mini Sustainability Fair:

• Loughborough alumni, who owns Friends with Nature, selling skincare and wellbeing products,
• Local seller Dash Vegan, showcasing a wide range of vegan and eco-friendly products,
• Leicestershire County Council, who played the ‘How Bad Are Bananas?’ carbon footprint game,
• The countryside charity, CPRE, who promoted their campaigns and initiatives to protect our natural environment.

As if this wasn’t enough, the LGBT+ association held their second clothes swap of the fortnight, offering a space for people to experiment with clothing and different styles, and pick up some unique pieces they may not have found otherwise.

Overall, this was a brilliant day, and an excellent collaboration – it is so important to realise the many cross benefits of wellbeing and living sustainably. For example, the Mental Health Foundation has found that nature connectedness is associated with lower levels of poor mental health, including depression and anxiety. And, according to Mind, spending time in nature can help make you feel more relaxed, and improve confidence and self-esteem.

To round up week one of fun, we took a stroll around the orchards on campus, with Fruit Routes artist Mita Solanky, for the ‘Fruit Routes Spring Walk’. Students, staff, and members of the community came together to spend some time in nature and get to know the campus better! We saw lots of beautiful plants, trees, and blossom along the way, and shared stories and experiences over tea and cake back at the LAGS  garden.

This article is in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action. To read more click here.