To celebrate a year of significant progress towards delivering on a new Environmental and Sustainability Strategy, Colchester Institute held a whole College Marketplace event at the end of term showcasing over 50 individual sustainability project initiatives that had been developed during the academic year.
From new College gardens and recycling projects to rewilding, research and waste reduction, the event showcased a wide range of sustainability projects and was a major success. It also celebrated the College’s Environmental Group and its continual work to support carbon reduction and nature recovery.
College Governors also held a stall on the day demonstrating the progress they had made on delivering on their sustainability objectives.
Rich Yates, CEO of Essex Wildlife Trust said on behalf of the independent judging panel, ‘We were blown away by the quality of the staff projects, not just the ideas themselves but the knowledge and enthusiasm shown. Colchester Institute is becoming a leader for Sustainability in Essex, setting a great example as an education provider.’
Although every project impressed the judging panel, the Foundation and Supported Learning Department were crowned the winners due to the outstanding level of student participation in their Beehive Curriculum and Habitat Mapping Project.
Steven Eagell Toyota sent representatives to the event providing staff with the opportunity to test drive their latest EV range. This supports the College’s drive to increase its fleet of EV vehicles and encourage sustainable travel.
Gary Horne MBE, Deputy Chief Executive and Chair of the Environmental Group said, ‘Once again, I feel very proud of Colchester Institute. As well as our work in taking action to reduce our own environmental impact alongside our various awareness campaigns inside the College and within our communities, this event demonstrated the breadth of impact of localised projects across every department, a massive effort that was rightly celebrated.’
Alison Andreas, Principal and Chief Executive said, ‘We recognise our duty as educators to raise awareness about the climate and nature crisis, and we have a stated ambition to become one of the most sustainable colleges in England. With what has been achieved this year, we feel we are well on the way to achieving that ambition.”
