• Students at the University of Warwick raised £46,928 for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and helped cut waste on campus by donating unwanted clothes and personal items
• The money raised helps fund research into heart disease, stroke, vascular dementia and diabetes
• Warwick has been involved with the Pack for Good campaign since 2013 collecting at total of 422.2 tonnes of material, saving 4,297,218 kilos of CO₂ emissions and raising a total of £738,934 for BHF
• University of Warwick has a waste target to double the volume of all donations from campus by 2025 and to get to Net Zero carbon emissions (direct and indirect) by 2050

Students at the University of Warwick raised £46,928 for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and helped cut waste on campus by donating unwanted clothes and personal items last academic year.

The Pack for Good campaign run by the charity encourages students to leave unwanted items in designated clothes banks when they are packing. At the end of the summer term in 2021 students had given 3,352 bags, adding up to over 26.8 tonnes of material.

A report from the BHF on its Pack for Good Campaign shows the donations from Warwick students last academic year also saved 272,906 kg of CO₂ emissions by preventing the material from going to landfill.

Wendy Roberts, Director of Accommodation and Campus Cleaning Services at the University of Warwick said: “We are thrilled that student donations in 2021 amounted to over £46,000 for this very important cause. It’s a simple thing to do but it has so many benefits. Not only does it provide clothes for the British Heart Foundation to sell in charity shops, but it gives new life to items and saves tonnes of material from going to waste.”

Amanda Purkiss from the British Heart Foundation said: “Students at the University of Warwick have been so generous with their donations when they leave campus. Our clothes banks on campus are well used and allow us to fill our shops over the summer, at a time when we normally see a dip in donations.”

Warwick has been involved with the Pack for Good campaign since 2013 and in that time the BHF reports that students have donated 422.2 tonnes of material, saving 4,297,218 kilos of CO₂ emissions and raising a total of £738,934 for the charity. The money raised helps fund research into heart disease, stroke, vascular dementia and diabetes.

Professor Christine Ennew, Provost at the University of Warwick said: “This BHF initiative and these positive results demonstrate that students on campus can make a huge collective impact on reducing waste and carbon emissions by taking individual action.

“At Warwick we have a waste target to double the volume of donations from campus by 2025 and to get to Net Zero carbon emissions (direct and indirect) by 2050. In order to get there, we recognise that behavioural change needs to happen if we’re all to make a positive impact. Warwick’s focus is on developing more sustainable operations, and using simple but innovative ways to inspire, enable and encourage our staff, students, visitors and our wider communities to embrace the changes needed to tackle climate change.”

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Notes for editors:

Image caption: Clothes collection for the British Heart Foundation (L to R: Student Lowri Hughes, cleaning assistant Jacqui Wilson and cleaning supervisor, Tina Watt at the University of Warwick)

The Way to Sustainable at Warwick

The University of Warwick is playing its part in tackling the climate emergency. Building on existing research and education programmes and connections to industry and society, Warwick is focusing on The Way to Sustainable – the real-life implications of creating a sustainable future and the practical challenges of getting there.

Other examples of waste reduction initiatives at the University of Warwick:

The Warwick Cup project: A reusable cups scheme, where students, staff and the wider community can borrow a Warwick Cup for free at one of the participating cafes, use it, and return it to a collection point. Warwick Cups is an enterprise managed by students with the support of the University.

Cut the Flow competition: Using gamification to reduce water and energy consumption on campus. Students compete between accommodation blocks.

RAWKUS: A project which saves food surplus and other items from kitchens across campus when students leave halls at the end of each term. Since it began, RAWKUS has saved more than 40 tonnes of food waste and other items through donations to local charities and food banks.

Pay As You Feel Market: For the past three years, University of Warwick has worked with Emmaus, the charity which helps people out of homelessness, to run a Pay As You Feel market during arrivals for students to purchase second hand items, helping them save money and carbon.

31 January 2022

For further information please contact:

Andrea Cullis

Media relations manager

University of Warwick

Email: a.cullis@warwick.ac.uk

Mb: 07825 314874