How to do your bit as a student in Edinburgh

1. Use Edinburgh’s Public Transport

If you don’t own your own a bike or haven’t brought yours to Edinburgh but still want to get around town by bike, you can use Just EatCycles. There are currently two places on campus that have multiple bikes and around 100 other places around Edinburgh. Get the app and hire bikes for a single trip, a 24-hour period or a whole year. Check out their website for a map of where other stops if you aren’t going back to the same one: Click here

2.Try Using Eco Shops

3. Use the Bottle Recycling Machines

Due to COVID-19, the water fountains will not be operational for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, the university has bottle recycling machines on campus (in the canteen, in the learning commons and in the student union.) 

These machines are an excellent way to be more sustainable and earn some money too! Any plastic bottle purchase on campus will have an extra barcode, which allows it to be recognised by the machines and recycled. In exchange, you can get a 10p voucher which can be used within any of the Hospitality Services outlets on campus or donated to a charity. This can help reduce your impact on the planet and what better time to make a change!

4. Buy Environmentally Friendly University Supplies

Though it might not be at the forefront of your mind when starting university, you can easily find a huge amount of stationary made using sustainable materials including rulers, scissors, and glue sticks along with the usual pencils, pens and paper.

• Sprout pencils grow a plant once you’ve used the full pencil or you can find pencils made from recycled paper
• Notebooks and printer paper made from post-consumer recycled paper are more eco friendly
• Bamboo pens can be found which are refillable with any standard ink cartridge which can also be found with soy ink
• Use paper clips instead of staples or use a waste free stapler which carefully folds the papers to keep them together meaning you never need to buy staples again

These are some websites where you can buy these products and more:

https://www.greenstat.co.ukhttps://www.thegreenoffice.co.uk/https://remarkable.co.uk

5. Recycle

Such an easy way to help save the planet! Take a look at what you can and can't recycle here.