Young people are more and more worried about their futures. We see this in our work: climate grief is real and it's here. The numerous youth strikes for climate from across the world show us how we all should be doing our best to work towards environmental practices becoming the norm rather than the exceptional in all practices.

As a youth organisation, our activities are run all across Bristol and South Gloucestershire in numerous venues. This is how we're working towards being more environmentally friendly, making manageable changes in how we run our buildings. 

Buying local

• We now buy recycled paper and stationery from local suppliers where possible and those suppliers with green credentials for more specific items. For example, we use The Green Office for our stationary needs. 
• We’ve switched to recycled toilet paper and have installed new toilet roll dispensers across site - it's already cut 40% of our current usage.
• We use cleaning products and chemicals from Avanti’s ‘Green Leaf’ range where possible. We’re also buying 5L containers of cleaning liquids that can then be decanted into recycled smaller bottles.
• We’ve changed our milk supplier to Milk and More who support local dairies and use re-usable glass bottles
• Electric Supply: All electric is supplied by Bristol Energy (owned by Bristol City Council) who use their investments to put money back into social and environmental challenges in the local area. The energy is 51% renewably sourced (compared to 29% on the National Grid) and they also support renewable generators so this percentage will grow in time.
• Gas - Our gas is supplied by Orsted who source 75% green energy from offshore windfarms and bioenergy, and aim to fully phase out coal by 2023 and to be carbon neutral by 2025.

Recycling and Waste Management

• We have upgraded our internal recycling facilities – this is still on-going so all spaces will have better, sturdier recycling facilities.
• We have battery recycling point at The Station, which is installed under the stairs on the Ground Floor in our new recycling area.
• An electrical recycling bin is now housed in the workshop corridor at The Station.
• There is now a food waste caddy in the reception office and larger food waste bin in yard.
• Our bar provider now uses biodegradable cups supplied by Vegware.
• Access codes now need to be entered on all printers when jobs are sent to print, no more accidental printing!

Wellbeing

• New plants purchased for office spaces and communal areas for better air quality

 

Future Ideas

• We'd like to have a solar powered phone charging station in our courtyard.
• A covered bike rack in the courtyard with additional spaces for bikes.
• Improving herb gardens in court yard, potentially a propagator in the chillout.

We also encourage these small personal actions….

• Reusable coffee cup and water bottle - we fill up water bottles at reception.
• Reusable plastic bags stored in the office for shopping.
• Printing on both sides of paper and not printing more than you need.
• Changing margin sizes in word documents to use less paper when printing if appropriate.
• Remembering to fully shut down computers and monitors when staff leave for the day to save energy. We are working on an automatic pop-up reminder!

Every year we're taking more steps towards running more environmentally friendly youth clubs. These are actions we've taken in just one of our teams and there are many more across the board: from artistic projects focused on raising awareness of climate change, to activities in youth centres which focus on encouraging healthy, environmentally focused life styles. Let us know in the comments below what you'd like to see more of from your youth hubs.