Our green credentials

Since August 2008 the College has made significant strides forward and introduced the following sustainable working practices.

Bedford College Sustainability Group (BCSG) established, with 28 champions (staff and students), each with agreed targets. This amounts to about £150,000 pa investment in staff time.
Regular updates on the College intranet and in the Update magazine.
Sustainability training/briefings delivered to students, managers, teams and individuals.
Learner engagement through BCSG representation, competitions, events, projects, courses.
Numerous curriculum initiatives.
Climate Change Exhibition organised with local partners.
A ‘lift offered / lift wanted’ scheme initiated.
Converting used vegetable oil into bio-diesel at the Vehicle Training Centre.
Regional initiatives to stimulate the renewable energy industry.
Numerous energy efficiency measures.
Substantially increased recycling.
Two recycling boxes in computer rooms, one for scrap paper, one for using the reverse side of used paper.
‘Stationery amnesty’ to identify and redistribute unused stock.

With cross-College representation on BCSG, sustainability has now become a key focus in all College departments. Bedford College is very proactive in establishing networks, developing projects and driving initiatives to achieve maximum benefit to the communities it serves, and since 2003, we have contributed to many FE sector developments. Although Bedford College has a reputation for its achievements in sustainability courses, curriculum initiatives have not been implemented in isolation and a great deal has also been achieved in implementing sustainability into many College operations and external partnerships, engaging all stakeholders in the process.