Welcome to CityLibrary News. Keep up to date with all the latest about new resources and services from the library.
Following students’ feedback, we have worked with our colleagues in Property and Facilities to install two new water fountains in the Northampton Square Library.
You can now refill your water bottle from the following locations:
UN International Mother Earth Day (sometimes called World Earth Day) is on the 22nd April. This day celebrates planet earth and its many interdependent ecosystems. The day reminds us each that we have a collective responsibility to live in harmony with nature and achieve sustainable balance.
The UN have developed a series of Sustainable Development Goals. These range from ensuring there is no poverty and zero hunger to protecting the seas and supporting clean water and sanitation. Following these will mean that everyone can enjoy and prosper in the world.
You can support International Mother Earth Day by making a few simple changes or doing some good deeds.
1. ABC = Always be carrying, whether it’s a reusable water bottle, a keep cup for take away coffee, or an extra bag for those last minute shopping trips. Don’t use single use plastic. It will end up in the ocean even if you bin it after use.
2. Plan meals carefully to avoid food waste or reuse uneaten food the next day.
3. Walking a few minutes each day is good for your physical and mental wellbeing. It can also support sustainability.
4. Grow a plant at home. Plants are good for clearing the air and it could also produce food. A chilli plant is easy to grow from either seeds or seedlings.
5. Switch off lights or devices when not in use. This is an easy one that any one can do.
Head to the City website to read more about the variety of schemes which City organises to ensure sustainability at City and to promote sustainable development in the community.
This winter Library Services raised money to donate sanitary products to Hackney Foodbank.
Currently homeless shelters are not provided with money for tampons and towels. With limited or no access to sanitary products, homeless women are often forced to go without. Homeless Period believes that tampons and towels should be made available through homeless shelters, the same way the government provides condoms. This charity encourages individuals to donate sanitary products to local homeless charities or food shelters.
You can support this great initiative by visiting their website, signing their petition, or donating a tampon.
For homeless women, it really is that dreaded time of the month.
Staff from Library Services organised a series of events to raise money. They set up a festive bake off, a drop-in Christmas decorations making event, quizzes and donated money that would have been spent on Christmas cards across all four library locations. Over £100 was raised for sanitary products and other items which Hackney Foodbank needed.
Library Services are keen to support sustainability and the local environment and community. In the past year they have collected books and lent their expertise to growing a children’s school library, pledged to cut non-reusable plastics wherever possible and promoted recycling.
Help us improve the Library’s environmental impact.
In a recent waste audit of library spaces around 30% of our recycling bins were contaminated with items that could not be recycled. The main culprits were plastic bags, paper coffee cups and crisp packets. Contaminated recycling bins can mean that none of the goods in the bag get recycled.
What can get recycled at City
You can recycle of all these items in the dry recycle bins:
City recycles loads of stuff: everything from paper to old stationery and mobile phones. There are only a few things that you can’t recycle at City. General waste bins should only be used as a last resort and should include food-contaminated items, crisp packets, sweet wrappers, disposable coffee cups and expanded polystyrene.
The challenge
During exam season we will be encouraging you to recycle or reuse items to help improve the sustainability in the Library. Our colleagues in the Sustainability Team at City will help us test the contamination rate of recycling points across the Library. We hope that our contamination rate falls to 0 – 20%. Keep watching the table below to see how we do.
| Level 3 | Level 5 | Level 6 | |
| 24th April | 40% | 30% | 20% |
| 1st May | 35% | 30% | 30% |
| 8th May | 33% | 30% | 10% |
| 15th May | 33% | 25% | 12% |
| 22nd May | 30% | 25% | 15% |
| 29th May | 20% | 20% | 10% |
Recycling is good for the planet
According to Planet Now:
Library Services and the planet
Library Services work hard to improve sustainability. Over the last year we have organised stalls for water bottles and Fairtrade chocolates, contributed to the City bookshare and raised over £250 for charity. That is why we were named Green Team of the Year 2016-17.
Congratulations to the Library Team (from all four libraries) who were awarded today for being the most sustainable team this year at City pic.twitter.com/2LhrZBFDAW
— City Law School Lib (@CLSLibraries) December 12, 2016
Garbage. Dumpster. Trash can.
The humble dustbin comes in a variety of forms and synonyms, none more exciting than the dazzling array of new multi-purpose bins we have across all the Library sites. Simon B in particular is a big fan of our new bins and wanted to share with everyone just why he loves them so:
“The new bins are great… real snazzy and come in a fetching palette of soothing greys, black and green. You can put recyclable waste in the green bit and non-recyclable waste in black bit, and as long as food has been emptied from the containers you can recycle them… the new bins help support the University’s waste management policies and encourage sustainable processes.”
We hope that having more snazzy bins throughout Library spaces has made it much easier for users to dispose of plastic packets and cardboard containers, especially since the new policy on allowing cold snacks was introduced.
Thanks for sharing your love of bins Simon!