Green Week at Salford City College: Championing a Sustainable Future

Securing the futures of our students is central to the work we do at Salford City College Group. Doing our part to ensure a green future is an increasingly important aspect of this commitment. Across each of our campuses, from the 17th –22nd March, we will be focusing on a number of key green themes to encourage staff and students to think consciously about their environmental impact and place sustainability at the forefront of their thinking for the week.   Since 2010, the College Group has been pursuing an ongoing mission to reduce our carbon footprint. As of 2022, we are proud to have seen a huge 64% reduction in our emissions.   Focusing on three key themes, 2025’s Green Week is a joint mission taken up by colleges across Greater Manchester. Salford City College will place its own unique stamp on the week, bringing the issues that resonate most profoundly with our staff and students into perspective.  

Three Focus Areas: Getting Everyone Involved  

Putting the spotlight on a range of issues that commonly arise in discussions of sustainability, Green Week at Salford City College will take a broad approach to the issues:  

Reducing Rubbish: Litter Picking, Recycling, & Waste Management  

The first theme of Green Week is focused on waste. Participation in this aspect of the week will include three main initiatives. A competitive, group-wide litter picking push across local areas and college sites will see students going head-to-head in a friendly tournament to see who can collect the most bags of waste.   We will also be focusing on communicating our waste figures and seeking to more clearly understand what happens to our waste. Huge proportions of our waste are now diverted from landfill to either recycling, or for energy recovery at Anaerobic Digestion facilities or waste-to-energy facilities. In November alone, in 2024, almost 18,000 tonnes of waste was recycled across the College Group.   Supporting this, the SWISH program will be relaunched and actively promoted among our students for the week. This promotion encourages students to donate, rather than discard, old clothes and other belongings.  

Restore & Regenerate: Trees & Plants  

The second theme of the week puts plants on the agenda. Participation will encourage staff to replace plastic plants with real ones, which not only is friendlier to the environment but much better for classroom and office air quality. A hanging basket competition will also take place across the College Group.   Looking forward, staff will collate ideas on how we can improve our natural environments and work with local organisations and authorities to plant trees.  

Saving Transport Miles: Cutting Down on Cars  

Finally, the third theme challenges each College on how many miles of car travel the site can save. Whether this is done by increasing use of public transport, carpooling, or even switching to cycling, a group-wide competition will put our staff to the test with creative ways to reduce our carbon emissions.  

Believing in a Better Future  

Rising to the challenge of climate change has never been more important than it is today. Impactful change is going to be a significant uphill battle—but that change begins with awareness. Through our Green Week initiatives, Salford City College Group will spearhead that awareness and prove to our learners and staff that a better, greener future is possible.