Sustainability

Wigan & Leigh College is committed to sustainable development and has a Sustainability Policy which is available to download. We aim to make the college as sustainable as possible in every area from energy management at each of our centres to embedding education for sustainable development in curriculum areas.

Energy
Wigan & Leigh College has signed up to the 10:10 campaign and pledged to cut carbon emissions by 10% by April 2011. To find out more about the 10:10 campaign and sign yourself up as an individual please visit www.1010global.org/uk

College has energy procedures which are available to download here

All staff and students are expected to comply with these procedures.

Sustainability Champions
Sustainability Champions are staff and students who voluntarily monitor energy usage in their areas and report any problems to environmental services.

If you would like to become a Sustainability Champion please contact Helen Cutts h.cutts@wigan-leigh.ac.uk or extension 1570.

Waste
Please see our waste procedures for details of how to dispose of the different types of waste that we have in college.

We are currently raising money to send 400 of our old exam desks to Sierra Leone with a charity called Green-Works. Our library books are collected by Better World Books, a social business that sells books online and then shares the proceeds with literacy charities.

Transport
Wigan & Leigh College has a green travel plan which is available here.

This outlines the measures that we will take as a college to encourage alternatives to single-occupancy car use e.g. car sharing, public transport, cycling.

Please see the How to Find Us pages for information about green travel options.

In summer Wigan & Leigh College staff participated in the Greater Manchester Workplace Cycle Challenge. We came in 2nd place in the 500+ size category with 3.6% of our staff cycling 1,572 miles between them. Congratulations!

Education for Sustainalbe Development
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is about learning to:

Respect, value and preserve the achievements of the past;
Appreciate the wonders and peoples of the Earth;
Live in a world where all people have sufficient food for a healthy and productive life;
Assess, care for and restore the state of our planet;
Create and enjoy a better, safer and more just world;
Be caring citizens who exercise their rights and responsibilities locally, nationally and globally.

Sustainability is already taught in some of our curriculum areas and we aim to embed it into 3 more curriculum areas this year. Eco Eddie and Baz the Bee are 2 energy saving characters that were designed by Foundation Studies students during the 2009/2010 academic year. They can be seen around college on various energy saving posters.

Eco Eddie Baz the Bee

Tutorial programmes also include ESD. These cover topics such as banking, buying a car and independent living.