Download PDF - St. Catherine's College - University of Oxford

Going Green
in a Golden Year
It was with the chance of making a ‘special
contribution to the urgent national need for
more scientists’ that St Catherine’s College
was first contemplated. Arne Jacobsen
envisaged his creation as an architectural
whole, with the gardens and natural
environment as important to his vision as
the physical buildings. Five decades on, St
Catherine’s is still proud of that relationship
with the environment as it uses the
latest technology and supports innovative
recycling projects.
Re-cycle is a UK charity which aims to
provide cheap, sustainable transport in
Africa by collecting unwanted and discarded
bicycles and shipping them to the rural
areas in which they prove so useful. The
organisation insists that ‘simple, affordable
transport generates income opportunities
in developing countries, as well as saving
lots of time and back-breaking work.’ Since
1998, Re-cycle has been sent more than
40,000 bikes to Africa, and the College is
delighted to be participating for a second
year.
Meanwhile, a Traid (Textile Recycling for Aid
and International Development) bin is now
available for students to recycle unwanted
items of clothing. Traid aims to divert
discarded clothing away from the landfill, and
into its network of charity shops. The profits
raised from the sale of the recycled clothes
are then used to ‘support projects fighting
inequality and exploitation in the global
textile supply chain, and projects establishing
environmental sustainability in some of the
world’s poorest communities’.
Rebecca Elliot (2011, Biology), the JCR’s
Environment and Ethics Representative, said
that the schemes, and the eagerness of
participation in them, were a ‘real tribute
to the engagement of the student body in
environmental issues, and a great example of
a strong social conscience among the JCR’.
Across College, work is being done to increase
the environmental efficiency of our worldrenowned
buildings. Increased insulation to
the JCR and SCR roofs has reduced heat loss by
3%. New toilet facilities in the JCR have been
designed using water-saving technology, saving
approximately 350,000 litres of water per year.
A Building Management System, and improved
boiler facilities have produced a 5.9% saving
on CO2 emissions across the College. The
installation of a sedum blanket to the gym
roof uses green technology to secure up to
10% energy saving in heat loss and reduces
noise by up to 8 dB. n
ST CATHERINE’S COLLEGE 2012/11