Living Sustainably as a Student

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Studying at University brings with it a number of new experiences and responsibilities. Aside from your lectures and workload, you’re juggling your social life, your finances, finding somewhere to live, sorting your utilities, food shops, housemates and more.

With so much happening, it’s easy to forget about sustainability, instead turning to quick and easy conveniences. Cheeky takeaways, your daily latte or quick americano on the way to lectures, grabbing lunch, treating yourself to some new clothes, whacking the heating up, throwing all your waste in the bin…

We get it and we know that not everyone’s as sustainable as they could be, but there’s always someone you know who champions a more ecological way of doing things, and you’d be shocked to know just how unsustainable your lifestyle habits can quickly become.

So, to do your bit to reduce waste, pollution, microplastics and carbon emissions, to help tackle climate change and clean the oceans, here’s our 7 top tips to leading a more sustainable student life…

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1. Recycle what you can

The first and one of the most important tips is to not forget to recycle what you can.

It’s easy to get caught up in student living, eating on the go, grabbing a quick meal deal, coffee or takeaway. But, if you’re not mindful of what you’re doing, you’ll quickly find yourself contributing to landfills, greenhouse gases and microplastics in the oceans in no time.

Those plastic takeaway tubs for example, do you throw them in the bin, recycle them or use them for storage? What about pizza boxes, plastic bottles, glass, cans, paper? Every decision you make impacts how sustainable your student lifestyle is.

According to Recycle Now, simply recycling helps save between 10 and 15 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year! This is the equivalent of taking 3.5 million cars off the road! That’s got to be worth a quick sort of the cardboards, papers, plastics, cans, and glass.

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2. Don’t waste your food

Maybe not one you consider as you’re scraping your leftovers into the bin, or throwing away that old takeaway that’s clearly past its best before, but food waste has a major impact on climate change.

In the UK alone we’re throwing away an estimated 10.7million tonnes of food waste each year, with 60% of this from households, according to WRAP. This impacts the environment in two ways, first the energy and resources lost producing the food and secondly, the estimated 18 million tonnes of greenhouse gases it releases.

What does this mean for you and your housemates? Well, aside from the clear moral, ecological, sociological and humanitarian issues this raises, it means that your household could be wasting up to two-and-a-half days preparing food that ultimately ends up in the bin, which is up to eight meals per week.

With this in mind, do your best not to waste food. Plan your meals, freeze or chill your leftovers, and understand the difference between ‘best by’ and ‘use by’ dates. You can also look into what local food waste recycling options are available, as well as composting.

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3. Use your supermarket smarts

As you’re walking around the supermarkets with your basket in hand, it’s easy to look beyond the packaging, but here lies another opportunity to increase your ecological living. Just by remembering your reusable bags you’re already off to a good start, reducing single-use plastic bag consumption.

In the fruit and veg section, it’s commonplace to see bundles of fruit and veg wrapped in plastic bags and sometimes individually – a food waste and recycling issue. WRAP estimates that by selling just apples, bananas and potatoes loose, we’d save a staggering 60,000 tonnes of food waste, reduce plastic packaging by 8,800 tonnes, and save 80,000+ tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year. So, make sure you buy loose where you can, avoiding the plastic and over-portioning your meals.

Round the rest of the shop, try to limit the amount of plastic you pick up, while keeping an eye on food labels and recycling symbols. If you’re keen to make even more eco-friendly choices, try going meat free one day a week, use bars of soap and shampoo, get palm oil savvy and pick a more environmentally-friendly toothbrush.

Every decision helps.

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4. Remember your re-usable coffee cup

One minor investment you can make is a reusable coffee cup.

As easy as that and you’re immediately helping the environment. Not only that but in some cafés, independent coffee shops and high street chains, your bank balance too, with many offering discounts for filling your own reusable cup, rather than providing you with a disposable one.

If you’re wondering how your morning lattés, flat whites or Americanos impact the environment, you’re not alone. According to RecyclingBins.co.uk, we go through over 2.5 billion paper cups every year in the UK, just for coffee. Only approximately 6% of these get recycled, with the rest ending up in landfill, producing 152,000 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of 33,000 cars.

So, once you’ve browsed the various brands, colours and patterns and chosen your reusable cup, you’ll not only save some money and keep your drinks warmer for longer, but you’ll be doing your bit for the planet too.

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5. Remember your re-usable water bottle too

Another minor investment is a reusable water bottle.

Similarly to your reusable coffee cup, this is another simple swap, only this time you’ll not only be saving yourself from consuming hundreds of thousands of nanoplastics, but you’ll be helping to tackle the 14 billion plastic drinks bottles and nine billion drinks cans we go through in the UK each year, most of which ending up as litter or landfill.

The issue is, plastic waste doesn’t really decompose, it just slowly fragments into ever-smaller pieces, turning into microplastics and eventually nanoplastics. This is polluting soil, rivers, oceans and not only having drastic impacts on wildlife, but its infiltrating every part of human existence. From the deepest ocean trenches, the food we eat, it’s even been found in our organs, it’s everywhere!

How does that translate to you and your housemates? According to Refill.org.uk, the average UK household uses 480 plastic bottles a year, but only recycles 270, meaning that out of over 35 million bottles we go through nationally each day, almost 16 million aren’t recycled. It also states that a single one-litre bottle takes 162g of oil and seven litres of water to manufacture, releasing 100g of CO2. This is without even thinking about the 2.5 million tons of CO2 released annually bottling water.

So, make the eco-friendly choice by grabbing yourself a BPA-free reusable water bottle, maybe the one with that funky pattern you love? You’ll not only save yourself the hassle and money picking up a drink on the go, but you’ll also limit your contribution of plastic and CO2 to the environment.

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6. Be conscious of your energy consumption

One of the easiest changes is to be mindful of how you and your housemates are using energy in your student home.

In the UK alone, CO2 emissions from residential buildings is over 51 million tonnes a year. According to Heatable the average carbon footprint of each UK household is 8.1 tonnes of CO2 annually, which equates to 32,400 bottles of beer by CO2 Everything’s measures! We know, that’s a lot of... CO2.

How does this translate to the kilowatt hours (kWh) you and your housemates are using every day, charging devices, watching TV, washing your clothes, staying warm? Essentially, the more you use, the higher your CO2 consumption, the bigger your household’s carbon footprint.

So, what can you do? Try to switch devices off instead of leaving them on standby (not the fridge or freezer though, that’s too far!), turn lights off that don’t need to be on – try letting in as much natural light as possible, move furniture so that it’s not absorbing all the heat from your radiators, make sure you’re dressed appropriately for the season before heading for the thermostat, only boil enough water for the cups of tea your making, and try washing your clothes and dishes when you have a full load.

Just remember that even the smallest changes to your daily routines can lead to significantly more sustainable living, so be mindful and take a common-sense approach to your household’s energy.

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7. Let’s go thrift shopping

We know what it’s like trying to keep up with the latest fashion trends and fads at uni, treating yourself to a new top, or having to quickly buy an outfit or cobble together a random costume for the latest social. But another step to greener student living is to stop engaging in fast fashion and to buy second-hand.

If you’re not sure the type of impact buying second-hand can have, the apparel industry is responsible for 20% of the world’s water pollution, with fashion production actually comprising 10% of global carbon emissions. Did you know that the volume of water required to make a single cotton shirt is the equivalent of meeting just one person’s drinking needs for two-and-a-half years!

In the UK alone we’re spending over £60.5 billion a year on clothing, with approximately 300,000 tonnes burned or buried in landfill each year. According to Business Waste, that’s 7kg of fashion waste per person, with less than a fifth of used clothes being recycled. This is without considering the 9.4 trillion microplastic fibres released in the UK every week from washing our clothes.

How can you and your housemates help? It’s time to go thrift shopping. According to Vinted, for each second-hand item bought on its platform 1.25kg of CO2 emissions were avoided, increasing to 2.44kg per purchase of men's suits or blazers and 2kg per purchase of women's jeans. Oxfam report that if just half of us in the UK bought half our wardrobe second-hand, we’d prevent 12.5 billion kilograms of CO2, the same as flying around the world 17,000 times!

It’s time to take a sustainable approach to fashion and you and your housemates can save resources, reduce pollution, reduce CO2 emissions and much more by simply making second-hand your first choice!

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It’s up to you...

How sustainable you and your household are, is ultimately down to the daily choices you make. Of course, there's always going to be the cheeky late-night pizza, the coffee between lectures, or turning the heating up, but it's about making small adjustments, being mindful and eventually your small sustainable choices will become long-term eco-friendlier lifestyle changes.

At UniHomes, we can't help you with your fashion, weekly food shops, or make you the most sustainable student on campus, but we can at least take finding the perfect place to live and managing your utility bills off your plate. So, get your accommodation sorted or add our student bills package, and spend the rest of your time making small sustainable changes and having the best time university can offer.