At Leeds Trinity University, through our Strategic Plan, we are committed to embedding sustainability into everything we do and take active responsibility for our environmental, social, cultural and economic impacts.

We are committed to working towards solving global challenges and are signatories to the SDG Accord, a global promise to play a key role in fighting local, national and global injustice, through contributing towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).

This means that we are committing to contribute towards these 17 global sustainability goals through all of our activities, such as embedding principles through our policies and processes, delivering through our teaching, research, operations and outreach, and share learning with others.

We want all of our staff and students to understand the role they can have in supporting the sustainability agenda, now and in the future. That’s why we have committed to embedding education for sustainable development into all of our degree courses and are well on our way to developing an integrated framework to do just that.

We will do so inclusively as part of Leeds Trinity’s values and mission, which promote social solidarity and the common good, through our commitment to social justice, enhancing opportunities, collaboration and adding value to the lives of our whole community and beyond.

Sustainability is a journey and we may not have all the answers right now. We also know we have a way to go to get to where we want to be. However, we commit to working together to keep asking questions and find solutions that add positive value to our communities.

Our sustainability team

Katie Clegg CMgr MCMI BSc (Hons), Director of Sustainability

Katie Clegg.

k.clegg@leedstrinity.ac.uk

Katie is Director of Sustainability at Leeds Trinity University. Reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer and as a member of the senior leadership team, Katie is responsible for leading, developing and embedding the institutional sustainability strategy, ensuring the University takes responsibility for our environmental, social and community impacts. Katie oversees and leads on the University’s commitment to aligning its work with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Katie works collaboratively across the leadership team and engages across our whole community to embed sustainability principles into policies and processes, ensure our community has the knowledge and capacity to contribute towards our sustainability goals and ensure we are developing graduates with sustainability values through our sustainable curriculum programme.

Katie works alongside the Director of Estates and their team to meet the challenges of decarbonisation to meet our Net Zero commitments and the environmental impact of our estate. Katie also leads on internal and external community strategies and our social impact agenda, with a focus on collaborating to ensure social justice, inclusion and widening participation as a part of the University’s strategic goals.

Prior to joining Leeds Trinity University, Katie was Deputy Director of Sustainability at the University of Leeds. At Leeds, Katie led and managed the University Sustainability Service, with a strategic focus around embedding sustainability across all activity, developing staff sustainability knowledge and capacity and collaborating with city partners and external stakeholders to be a positive partner to society. Katie was also responsible for Sustainability reporting for the Institution, including leading and coordinating the University submission to the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, where in 2020 the University of Leeds scored 3rd in the UK and 11th globally for contribution towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Prior to higher education, Katie’s career was focused within the private sustainability consulting sector, including as Director and Head of Energy and Sustainability at Capita Property and Infrastructure. At Capita, Katie led a national team to provide sustainability consultancy services for the built environment and embedding sustainability principles into businesses. Katie first came to Leeds when she worked for CO2Sense, as part of the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, where she led the completion of the £9m Resource Efficiency Yorkshire Programme, leading a team focused on boosting the low carbon economy for small businesses in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Earlier in her career, Katie also worked for a number of years at the Building Research Establishment (BRE) supporting the development of building sustainability assessment methods such as BREEAM and evaluating construction products for their environmental impact.

Bill Townend, Sustainability Manager

Bill Townend.

w.townend@leedstrinity.ac.uk

Bill is Sustainability Manager at Leeds Trinity University. Reporting directly to the Director of Estates & Facilities Officer, Bill is responsible for collaboration with departmental experts, and external consultants in developing a decarbonisation strategy which aligns to the Leeds Trinity University masterplan. Bill chairs the cross-sectional Sustainability Champions Network group and liaises with the departmental communication officer, to ensure that LTU’s successes regarding sustainability initiatives are recorded and communicated both internally with the university, and externally. Bill is also working towards improving and creating reports, policies, and procedures, relating to the various aspects of sustainability that apply to Leeds Trinity University.

Prior to joining Leeds Trinity University, Bill worked within the MMC construction industry at Ilke Homes. As Waste Stream & Environment Manager, Bill formed the organisation's strategic focus around waste and resource efficiency, promoting circular economy and sustainable practises throughout the business, and championing a culture of responsibility. Bill was also responsible for Sustainability reporting for the business and worked to implement the ISO14001:2015 and CHAS accreditations.

Before Ilke Homes, Bill's career was within the circular bioeconomy sector, as an Assistant Quality Manager at MBP Solutions. At MBP, Bill was responsible for coordination of the ISCC and RSB sustainability certifications.

Earlier in his career, Bill worked for a number of years within the NHS supporting the development of bespoke databases within Cardiology and Cardiothoracic departments before pursuing a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science at the University of York.

Improving the Sustainability Performance of the University  

The Sustainability Champions Network

The Sustainability Champions Network is the cross-sectional working group set up to support initiatives such as increasing net biodiversity, waste reduction initiatives, and support with behavioural campaigns to support wider scale projects. The environmental champions group meets via teams every 2 months to track progress on actions and assign new ones. Anyone is welcome and should contact Bill Townend Sustainability Manager w.townend@leedstrinity.ac.uk if they wish to join, via email. 

Upcoming meetings

  • 24th August 2023
  • 26th October 2023
  • 14th December 2023

Waste

Waste is separated:

  • dry mixed recycling in green bins is all sent for recycling and is increasing every year
  • general waste in black bins goes to a recycling and energy recovery facility
  • glass is sent to be processed for use in other glass products
  • food waste goes for biofuel and fertiliser
  • household items and clothes go to the British Heart Foundation's Pack for Good campaign, which is increasing each year from our accommodation blocks 
  • old furniture goes to a recycling company that refurbish and sell or repurpose items
  • crisp packets and oral care products are collected for return to Walkers and Colgate through Terracycle

None of our waste goes to landfill.

Water

Water fountains are available across campus. We also provide our students with reusable water bottles to help them keep hydrated and reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles on site.

Suppliers

Our suppliers are encouraged to support our sustainable aims.

Our catering provider now uses many environmentally friendly items such as paper straws and veggie ware takeaway boxes and cups, and they are moving from hard plastic four-pint bottles of milk to pouches which are 82% less plastic.

In October 2019 Leeds Trinity pledged to divest from Fossil fuel investments.

Student campaigns

We engage with our students through Love MyLTU week campaigns with an environment-focus, resulting in many pledges made by students to change their habits and help support a sustainable campus. We also support our Students' Union with their Go Green week.

Leeds Trinity University Students' Union is also part of the Green Impact accreditation scheme, achieving “Excellent” in 2020/21 and 2021/22. You can read more on the LTSU website. Leeds Trinity University supports the Students' Union with this student-led accreditation.

 

Printing

Print services use many recycled materials including 100% recycled material paper, and items such as pens, pencils, notebooks.

We are exploring ways of reducing all our printed materials and ensuring information is available online.

Sustainable Travel

As part of our Sustainable travel plan, Leeds Trinity University provides a free shuttle bus to support staff and students to reach our main campus, with regular services to and from Horsforth train station and services to local amenities, such as the supermarket and doctor's surgery. The bus is fully wheelchair accessible.

To encourage active sustainable travel, through Trinity Perks, we provide staff with the Cycle to Work scheme benefit. This is a salary sacrifice scheme to help with the upfront cost of purchasing a bike and accessories, with tax-efficient loans available of up to £2500 paid back over an 18-month period. We also have a range of cyclist facilities on site including secure cycle storage located across campus, and a bike maintenance station in the bike storage at All Saints Court. We also have showers and changing facilities for all staff and students in the sports centre.

Our Sustainable Curriculum

Developing students with embedded knowledge and sustainability values is a core commitment of our University strategic plan where we commit to embedding education for sustainable development into all of our degree courses. To achieve this, we are in the process of developing a Curriculum for Social Justice, which embeds sustainability values and themes throughout.

This Sustainable Curriculum framework is based upon an ethical imperative to do our best for all our students and will be instrumental in closing the awarding gap, improving the educational experiences that we deliver, creating the best possible outcomes for all our students, and producing socially responsible and sustainable citizens of the future.

This framework is being led by Fiona Shelton in our Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT). Each strand is being developed by key representatives of our academic community, staff, students, Office for Institutional Equity and Director of Sustainability. Key members of this group also sit on the Framework programme board, which reviews its progress and reports to the University Executive on a regular basis.

The programme provides a framework, guidance, training, resources and support to our wider academic community to enable them to embed education for sustainability development. It also supports academic staff to incorporate a number of interconnected themes, such as race equity and wellbeing, into their programmes. This has already begun and numerous workshops and sessions have been undertaken with staff to introduce the Curriculum for Social Justice Framework, such as the annual CELT Learning and Teaching Conference and localised staff briefings, to provide space for creative dialogue, collaboration and participation in education for sustainable development.

 

 

Estates department

Another area we are actively reducing our use of energy and carbon is in our Estates department, this includes:

  • the electricity supplied to the University is provided by sources which are 100% renewable
  • approximately 30% of lighting within the existing campus has been replaced with LED luminaires
  • all new build/refurbishment works have LED lighting incorporated such as automatic lighting control where practicable
  • approximately 40% of the lighting around campus has automatic control such as presence/absence detection
  • new boiler sets have improved efficiencies over the replaced items
  • installation of CHP (Combined Heating and Power) which ensures that, in addition to burning gas for heating and hot water, we also generate electricity
  • solar PV systems installed in Kirkstall Hall generate clean energy
  • power factor correction unit installed within AKLC extension, to ensure optimum efficiency
  • continual improvements to the Building Management System (BMS) system to ensure plant and equipment are working within efficiency parameters

Treeplanting

Our next project is to plant 40 trees on our lovely green site with a pathway and nature trail through to encourage everyone to get outside, relax and enjoy!

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