As a stage 4 Environmental Science student, with a keen interest on how we can improve sustainability and reduce environmental impacts in our day to day lives, I would bring an informed, forward thinking, strong approach to the role of Sustainability and Environmental officer.
Students have such power to facilitate changes in social attitudes, and I believe if managed correctly, I could help implement schemes to spread real environmental awareness and help everyone make there lives a little bit kinder to our planet. I would be start by to tackling plastic waste around the university. The Students Union bar still uses plastic cups on clubs nights, which creates a huge quantity of waste! I say we should look for a sustainable alternative for when glass cannot be used, such as giving students reusable cups, which would cost a small fee of around £1 on the first drink bought, that they keep hold of and use for subsequent drinks that night and many more, a scheme that was worked successfully in many festivals. Composting projects could also be put in place, I understand Plymouth council does not have a food waste collection scheme, so this could be a good way to reduce food waste and cross contamination of wastes on campus. Forgoing plastic is one of the biggest battles in global sustainability currently, and I would love for Plymouth to take the lead in this, we could even go so far as making the SU store plastic free over time, selling snacks from dispensers where students can bring there own pots or buy a reusable one for the store. These kinds of establishments are on the rise, and are I believe the future of stores; therefore the sooner we can push to meet ideals like this the better.