DCU Green Campus
An Taisce Green Campus
DCU’s Green Committee is made up students and staff, and includes volunteer representatives from all campuses and multiple faculties. The committee is renewed every year and it meets every month.
Understanding the interconnectedness of our communities, present and future, our ways of living and our natural environment and the balance needed to provide for a sustainable and equitable future for everyone is the underpinning ethos and challenge of our Green Campus efforts.
Strongly linked to DCU Sustainability and the DCU Sustainable Living Society, the Green Committee collaborates with both, frequently working in tandem to co-operate with other organisations such as Dublin City Council or local Tidy Towns groups in Drumcondra and Phibsborough.
The Green Committee also works closely with DCU Students Union to communicate sustainability messages, and to organise and support events.
To Join this years committee - 2023/2024 please complete this google form.
The An Taisce Green Campus Green Week will run from 4th to 8th March. Across all Green Campuses events are being organised to promote and support green actions – details can be found here.
At DCU, with support from the DCU Green Committee and students from Environmental Science and Technology (EST) and the Global Challenges there are events to engage a broad audience from ‘Starter Stitches’ to ‘Carbon Food-prints’. You can even recycle your own mobile phone. Below is a list of activities happening during the week that you can get involved in.
There will also be lots of opportunity for you to have you say and feedback through a number of surveys including the annual DCU Smarter Travel Survey, a Citizen Science Plastic Challenge, Carbon Food-print survey and the Green Week Jam Board.
Running from 4th - 31st March you can still sign up for Marchathon, the step challenge that puts a spring in your step.
This Smarter Travel step challenge is a great way to connect with friends and colleagues and to make new friends. There are lots of prizes to be won, from Sustainability DCU and the National Transport Authority to be won throughout the challenge.
To participate all you need is a team of 3-6 friends/colleagues from within DCU (staff or students), select a team captain and team name and all sign up to Active Travel Logger website. There are instructions there if you are having any difficulties. If you have signed up from previous challenges then you can use the same login details.
You do NOT have to walk together in teams but you can! All steps can be counted using phone/pedometer/smart watch etc. from Monday to Sunday! Wheelchair users can use an odometer - see Marchathon website for more info including participant guide.
You must be able to verify your steps in case you are randomly selected by the NTA - you can do this with a screen shot of steps on your phone, step tracker etc. Note: you may not be able to receive prizes if you are unable to verify how many steps you've taken.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) run competitions each week with their own prizes on offer.
The details for the weekly internal DCU competitions are as follows:
Week 1 – Best active commuting action; the 4th - 8th March is also National Green Week so we are asking you to submit your best suggestions for promoting active commuting/reducing your travel/transport footprint on the DCU's Smarter Travel webpage feedback form - best suggestions will win a prize.
Week 2 – Best team name; get your thinking caps on when naming your team. The wittiest names typically win this prize!
Week 3 – Best themed team photo/collage; Get a group pic or make a picture collage of your team out stepping together and email it to sustainability@dcu.ie to be in with a chance of winning prizes for your team. Given that St. Patrick's Day falls in this week - GREEN might be a theme !!
Week 4 – Overall DCU winning team (most steps as per Active Travel Logger)
Need a Team or Team Members?
As there is a minimum requirement of three members per team; If you need more members for your team or would like to join a team please let us know by email (sustainability@dcu.ie) and we will try to match you up.
Health and Environmental benefits
Walking has many health benefits and commuting by foot is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint, just two more great reasons to get involved with this fun challenge!
Active commuter facilities at DCU
DCU has a host of active commuters facilities, such as showers and changing facilities, on all campuses. More information on these facilities, plus some useful resources to help plan your journey, can be found here.
The DCU Climate Ambassadors are hosting a workshop on Wednesday 6th March from 12.30 – 14.30 in the Hive in the U building on GLA with a light lunch but you must register here to attend.
The SFI funded Plastic Challenge winner, the Grain-4-Lab team are working to make more sustainable plastics, in particular lab plastics but are also looking at plastic usage in households and investigating if some of these can be replace with the G4L compostable plastic replacement.
To that end, you are invited to take part in a citizen science experiment. If you wanted to replace just one thing in the household with more sustainable plastics, what would it be?
Over the course of the week, we’d like you to count the plastics that you put in the bin. Click here to download you tally sheet that separates different kinds of plastics (e.g. plastic bottles vs. soft plastics films and bags). As you put something in the bin, mark it on the sheet. Then at the end of the week, put the numeric totals into the Google Form linked on the tally sheet.
This is to help us identify the best places to intervene to improve plastic sustainability.
DCU Climate & Biodiversity Emergency Jamboard - To have your say just click here to access the jamboard !
How much do you know about your carbon food print ? Below is some information developed as part of a student project, undertaken as part of the ‘Toward Zero Carbon Module’. Your feedback in this survey would be very much appreciated.
Click here to download pdf version
The Towards Zero Carbon Students have also created a set of Easy Low Carbon Recipes that you can download and try out !
Come along and learn how to do basic mends and repairs on your clothes - you will be provided with a small sewing kit that you can take away with you to practice your new skills. Tea/coffee provided but please register here.
- Workshop from 11:30am - 12:30pm
- Room: S212 (Stokes, 2nd floor, room 12)
- Aiming for 5-15 attendees
Have you seen all the great information available on the Commuting and Transport pages. Please complete the annual DCU Smarter Travel Survey to help us put the supports in place to enable you to commute more sustainably to and from DCU.
Monday 4th March 2024
Marchathon Step Challenge 4th to 31st March 2024
Email Sustainability@dcu.ie to get your highvis vests, lights and/or additional team members to complete your team !
Launch of Annual DCU Travel Survey
Participate in the annual DCU travel survey to help ensure appropriate supports in place for active/more sustainable commuting to DCU.
Tuesday 5th March 2024
Bike Clinic on GLA (12.30 – 15.00) with lights and high vis
Starter Stitcher, Repair and Resue Material in Santry Room w/ Tea/Coffee – please register here
DCU Green Committee Meeting (13.00 – 14.00)
CG35 Henry Grattan (light lunch)
Wednesday 6th March 2024
Bike Clinic on AHC (12.00 – 15.00) with lights and high vis
An Taisce Climate Ambassadors Meeting (12.30 – 14.00) The Hive
A workshop meeting of DCU Climate Ambassadors and others who are interested in identifying positive actions. (Light lunch provided) All Welcome but please register here to attend.
Thursday 7th March 2024
Swap Shop
Friday 8th March 2024
Be Green !
There are lots of opportunity for you to have you say and feedback through a number of surveys including
Annual DCU Smarter Travel Survey
Citizen Science Plastic Challenge
Please do get engaged and have your say and enjoy the week.
The Green Committee at Dublin City University, made up of volunteer staff and students, believes in a sustainable future that provides the fair and equitable balance that is needed to share the earth’s resources between all its inhabitants. It believes that as an educational institution DCU much tackle this existential challenge through our teaching and learning, research and innovation and by operationally working toward reducing our carbon emissions. It is an enormous task that we must all tackle together.
Our Green Committee is committed to
- embedding sustainable practices across our University
- informing and educating other within the DCU Community about importance of sustainability and why we need to create a more sustainable future
- informing and educating other within DCU on what they can do to have a positive impact both on and off campus
- informing and educating our wider community, including family and friends about importance of sustainability and why we need to create a more sustainable future
- informing and educating our wider community, including family and friends about what they can do to have a positive impact the sustainability of our planet.
Also see DCU's Sustainability Charter
Summary of Action Plans 2022/23 –> 23/24
The DCU Green Committee Action plan for 2023/24 is available to all members of the DCU Green Committee via our share drive - if you would like to joint the committee please email sustainability@dcu.ie. The summary actions outline below are inclusive of all cross campus actions to address the climate and biodiversity challenges.
Energy
- Maintain ISO 50001:2018 Energy & Water management Standard
- Develop and communicate an energy/carbon management plan including the Reduce Your Use Campaign
- Continue raising awareness of energy consumption by Students, Staff and Visitors
- Move to renewable energy supplier and install more renewable energy generation on campus.
Water
- Maintain ISO 50001:2018 Energy & Water management Standard
- Continue to communicate about Water consumption awareness
- Continue to identify and fix leaks
- Communicate water consumption data to all staff and students
- Treat as a valuable resource
- Continue to enhance and improve drinking water fountains on all campuses
Waste
- Continue efforts for the removal of single use catering materials on all campuses in line with Climate action mandate
- Fast-Fashion Action : Weekly Swap shop, with supporting upcycling/repairing workshops
- Communicate waste information to all staff and students
- Where feasible ensure consistent messaging on all bins
- Circulate the IUA developed Waste Game to support understand and effectiveness of waste segregation
- Work with procurement on waste prevention at source
- Continue 'Adopt a Street' campaign around all campuses
- Bin-less office pilot
- Assess all paper based process and digitise them where feasible in line with Climate Action Mandate
Biodiversity
- Work with and support the DCU Biodiversity Working Group
- DCU Community Garden – Programme of works and engagements
- Pollinator plan for DCU
- Increase awareness of the importance of biodiversity
- Increase biodiversity on campus through tree planting events
- Investigate that possibility of developing a conscious reciprocal relationship with non humans on campus.
Transport
- Continue to revise and update the DCU Mobility management plan
- Continue Smarter Travel Campus' Walking and Cycling Challenges
- Seek to Adopt recommendations received from the NTA through the Smarter Travel Mark in order to enhance the sustainable travel facilities and options on campus
- Enhance intercampus mobility
- Trial potential MaaS solution on living lab environment
- Increase communications regarding the availability, and benefits, of sustainable travel when commuting to DCU; a communications plan and new ‘Commuting to DCU’ webpages have been devised for this purpose
Communications
- Continue to work with DCU Comms to ensure a regular sustainability message is visible on the e-screens across campus
- Make the SLS Green Guide for DCU Students available on the DCU website
- Develop leadership/Advocacy and activism skills.
- Carbon guide for meals /Campaign to reduce impact in restaurants.
- Promoting awareness of Sustainable Development Goals (the Sustainability Living Society with support for several clubs/societies etc have launched a 17 week campaign to promote the UN SDG)
Here is a link to the DCU Green Campus/Sustainability Reports
When you leave the room switch off the lights
Natural gas is used for heating within buildings - to reduce consumption you can put on a jumper and lower the termostat
Take 10 seconds to read the directions on the bins !
The best way to reduce waste is not to buy it in the first instance - this can be very difficult but it has the biggest impact on reducing enviromental impact