May 3, 2022, by sustainablenottingham

Reducing furniture waste with a new member of the team

We recently welcomed UoN student Emilia into the sustainability team on a six month placement. In this blog, she introduces herself and explains how she will be working to reduce furniture waste on campus. 

Hi, my name is Emilia and I have just recently joined the sustainability team at the university!

Following the long-term impacts of COVID-19, I took a year off from studying Politics and American Studies at Nottingham to focus on myself, and I fortunately had the opportunity to join the team as a Sustainability Project Assistant. I believe that having a student perspective on how the university can improve and adapt to climate change issues is vital to moving forward and doing what’s best for both students and our surrounding ecosystem.

As a student, I am happy to see the amount of research and resources the university is implementing to complete our shared goal of a more sustainable future. Working with the sustainability team has only cemented my belief that the university does take sustainability seriously and wants to do everything it can to further the cause.

I’ve always been passionate about sustainability, especially as the effects of climate change will be in full motion when my generation and future generations grow up. Through my work, I want to contribute to protecting the environment and planet we owe so much to, and to also spread the word on how students like myself can change their habits to make the world a better and a more sustainable place.

WARPit

My main role during these six months will be to relaunch WARPit – an online website that helps re-circulate excess furniture and office consumables to reduce waste, spending, and supply chain environmental impacts. On the platforms, staff can easily list unwanted campus furniture for other staff members to use instead.

Approximately 1.2 million office desks and 1.8 million office chairs ends up in UK landfill each year – Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

A report conducted by My Tool Shed suggests the average piece of newly made furniture generates around 47 kg of CO₂e, roughly the same amount of greenhouse gas produced by burning 5.3 gallons of petrol.

By using WARPit, the University of Nottingham has already saved around 192,646 kg of CO₂ emissions, which is the equivalent to taking 83 cars off the road, or saving 283 trees! WARPit is key to reducing landfill waste and reducing the carbon emissions associated with purchasing new equipment. If you are a staff member at the university, it’s free to sign up to WARPit. Take a look at the furniture available. If there are no items you wish to claim, you can add items to your wishlist. You will then receive a notification if anybody lists that item.

Follow the link to do your part in helping reduce waste around the university: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sustainability/waste/warpit.aspx

I look forward to being part of the Sustainability team, and to expanding the WARPit website!

Emilia Freeman

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Google+
• Share on LinkedIn