The University of Bristol has won two major sustainability awards – for its policies on ethical trade and eradicating waste - in the space of a week.
The university, which has 20,300 students and nearly 8,000 staff, aims to be carbon neutral by 2030. It is one of just four higher educational institutions to this year achieve Fairtrade status.
The award is given to organisations that have embedded ethical and sustainable practices into their catering, supply chains and curriculum.
It also won a three-star Zero Waste award for slashing waste across the campus, a move that further reduces the University’s environmental impact.
Both awards represent several years of hard work by the university’s catering and sustainability teams and were received a week after Bristol became the first university to get Green Labs Certification for its laboratories – all 990 of them.
The university’s pro vice-chancellor for global engagement, Erik Lithander, said: “The last few weeks have been outstanding for the university’s sustainability mission.
“Given our ambitious pledge of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, these awards represent very welcome validation of our direction of travel.
“But sustainability means much more than just carbon, and our overarching goal is to embed environmental and sustainable thinking into every decision we make.
“These two awards – not to mention our Green Labs Certification – are a huge vote of confidence from third parties that our sector-leading work is working.”
To achieve its Fairtrade University and College Award, the university had to ensure its catering and goods for sale were ethically procured, that it championed Fairtrade values publicly, promoted Fairtrade events and educated new staff on Fairtrade values.
Students were recruited and trained as volunteer auditors for the scheme.
Joanna Milis, education campaigns manager from the Fairtrade Foundation, which stages the award with the National Union of Students and Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK), said: “Completing the Fairtrade University and College Award in 2021 has been a remarkable achievement. 
“All aspects of university life have been significantly impacted by the global pandemic. Institutions have had to manage frequently changing requirements for staff and student attendance on campus and adapt to very different teaching to a normal year.”
The Zero Waste Awards scheme, which was set up in 2010, has more than 500 members and is the premier recognition scheme for organisations committed to reducing, reusing and recycling their waste.
