Green Gown Awards 2017 - Durham University - Finalist

Green Move Out

Durham University’s Green Move Out scheme collects students’ unwanted belongings at the end of the academic year and donates the items to local charities. From a small one-college charity collection scheme, the Green Move Out has developed into a 4-strong community partnership between Durham University, Durham County Council, Durham Constabulary and County Durham Furniture Help Scheme.

The partnership operates a large-scale, comprehensive community initiative: it not only diverts tonnes of waste from the general waste route every year, but also contributes hundreds of pounds worth of resources to local charities, has significantly improved University-community relations, and has fostered a strong ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ ethos across the student community.

Residents and students can attend resale events, further benefiting the charity and promoting a circular economy by encouraging reuse rather than buying new. Termly meetings are held with residents through Residents Associations to give and receive feedback to make improvements.

Top 3 learnings:

1 Building cross-community partnerships enabled the project to develop and thrive.

2 Create opportunities for all affected and involved to give and receive feedback to continually improve the scheme.

3 Communicate effectively with all those involved at all levels of the project.

CO2t savings over the life cycle of the project:

Approximately 36,000 tonnes (Estimated over 11 years)

Videos

• Green Move Out (click to hide)