Thanks to its reduction in litter, waste and energy, the Institute of Technology Sligo (IT Sligo) has been awarded the prestigious Green Flag award as part of An Taisce’s Green-Campus programme to which IT Sligo formally signed up in spring 2019.
The Green Flag is an international symbol of environmental sustainability that encourages high environmental performance.
The IT Sligo’s success in the Green Campus initiative has been attributed to the hard work of both staff and students. The collective culminated in positive environmental management and impacts towards savings across waste and energy.
- 33% public sector energy reduction target reached in 2020
- Working towards a 50% energy reduction by 2030
- Segregated bins for general waste, recyclables and compost installed
- Green Campus section on the IT Sligo website
- Embedding sustainability topics throughout teaching programmes and student projects
- Working with partners to promote environmental best practice throughout our wider community
- ITS 1st Green Week hosted in tandem with national events by Green Campus Network
- Ongoing campus decarbonisation plan
- A student survey (Spring 2019 and 2020) showed that 92% of students thought it was either very important or important for IT Sligo to show leadership on environmental issues
Dr Michael John O’Mahony, the Director of An Taisce, congratulated IT Sligo on achieving the Green Flag.
“I want to congratulate IT Sligo on achieving the Green Flag. It has been quite a journey for you and you’ve only started the journey. I want to compliment you; the work that you’ve presented to us has been outstanding. Normally, we’d be with you at your Flag raising but unfortunately, we can’t under the current circumstances. We will, however, catch up soon”.
Fiona Britton, IT Sligo’s Sustainability officer, thanked everyone who participated in the project.
“It’s an honour to see the Green Flag flying, and I think there is no better signal to our purpose than to see the flag, because it not only represents what we achieved so far but also our strong ambition for the future. On behalf of the student committee, I want to thank everybody as this wouldn’t have happened without your support. Every door at IT Sligo was open, everybody listened, and everybody supported us”.
Dr Frances Lucy, the Head of Environmental Science Department, felt a great sense of pride over the Green Flag raising ceremony.
“I feel great pride seeing the Green Flag up there. The whole development of this campaign is about ecosystem engineering for our own ecosystem here in IT Sligo and for the planet. The huge amount of work that’s been done by everybody involved, led by Fiona Britton and Declan Feeney, is just outstanding. During Covid-19 we showed so much meitheal. I use this Irish term because it was about meitheal – everybody coming together and working towards us all having a better future”.
The Green-Campus award is overseen internationally by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).
IT Sligo’s journey to a more sustainable campus is available to follow online at the Green Campus.
