What is Plastic Free July?
Plastic Free July (Plastic Free July – Be Part of the Plastic Pollution Solution) is a challenge for people to refuse single-use plastics for the month of July. The challenge began in 2011 and has gone on to have over 100 million participants in 190 countries.
What events do we have going on to celebrate it?
To celebrate Plastic Free July and make our contribution to reducing plastic on campus and in our local areas we have a schedule of events for staff and students to get involved with throughout the month of July. We are working in partnership for some of our events with Salford Rangers and the Mersey Rivers Trust, if you want to find out more about volunteering with them or in your local areas follow the links.
- 16th July, 12:00-13:00. Hedgehog Friendly Litter Pick. Meet at the Peel Park Ranger Base.
- 17th July, 12:00-14:00. Plastic Free Picnic (BYO) & drop-in Gardening Session in the Community Growing Space. Meet behind Clifford Whitworth Library.
- 20th July, 10:00-13:00. River Survey & Clean Up with the Mersey Rivers Trust, by the River Irwell alongside Peel Park.
- 24th July, Clothes Swap Shop ran by the EDI Team, event details TBC.
- 26th July, 13:00-14:30, Litter Pick at Salford Quays with the Mersey Rivers Trust. Meeting point the Alchemist opposite the number 50 bus stop.
- 30th July, 12:00-13:00. Hedgehog Friendly Litter Pick. Meet at the Peel Park Ranger Base.
We will be posting a full schedule of events on our social media, follow us on X, Facebook or Instagram to keep up to date.
Please register for the events you would like to attend during Plastic Free July here.
What are we doing across the university to reduce plastic?
Through our new in-house catering offering we have pledged to implement the following:
- Introduce a returnable and reusable coffee cup in partnership with the University of Manchester, known as the ‘Bee Cup’.
- Eliminate the sale of soft drinks in plastic bottles from our catering outlets.
- Provide additional drinking water fountains to encourage the use of re-usable water bottles, including some in our external areas.
- Provide all water in glass bottles for hospitality orders.
- Move to re-usable crockery initially for events at Media City and for the Vice Chancellors Office and then for our Chapman outlet once it’s refurbished.
What can you as an individual do to reduce plastic consumption?
- Buy fruit and veg loose as opposed to in plastic packaging.
- Use reusable water bottles and coffee cups.
- Use re-useable shopping bags instead of single use plastics.
One of the most important things we can do to reduce plastic pollution is to ensure that things are recycled appropriately. Take the quiz below to find out more about recycling at Salford: bit.ly/RecycleQSalford