► Ethical and Environmental

The Students' Association is committed to constantly improving it's impact on the environment, and being as ethically sound as possible.

Sound Environmental Impact Awards

The Paisley Campus building has entered into the Sound Environmental Impact Awards scheme, which aims to encourage Students' Unions to be environmentally friendly by rewarding those who strive to change their Unions to be ethical and environmentally friendly. There are four qualifications which Unions can achieve, these are; working towards accreditation; Bronze Standard, Silver Standard; and a Gold Award. Only the five highest scoring Unions will achieve the Gold Award.

Hopefully in time we will be able to enter the Ayr and Hamilton Unions into the Awards Scheme aswell, and until that time we shall all be sharing our best practice and tips to help all improve!

What does the Paisley Union do?

 The Paisley Union already does some of the criteria needed for the awards, and will be working constantly to achieve the rest. Examples of things which the Union already does, or has started doing as a result of the scheme include;

• Recycling the majority of our waste glass
• Recycling the majority of our paper and cardboard
• Buy and use A4 and A3 paper which is made from more than 75% recycled paper
• We serve fairtrade tea and coffee in our cafe
• We collect paper in the offices which has only been printed on one side, for reuse as scrap paper before going to recycling - this was done as a result of the sound environmental impact awards scheme.
  
• We collect used postage stamps in the fourth floor to donate to charity - this was done as a result of the sound environmental impact awards scheme.
• Recycle plastic bottles and metal cans from the bar and our students

Fairtrade

The Students' Association is very proud to support the Fairtrade Foundation.

The Fairtrade Mission Statement

The Foundation’s mission is to work with businesses, community groups and individuals to improve the trading position of producer organisations in the South and to deliver sustainable livelihoods for farmers, workers and their communities by –

• being a passionate and ambitious development organisation committed to tackling poverty and injustice through trade
• using certification and product labelling, through the FAIRTRADE Mark, as a tool for our development goals
• bringing together producers and consumers in a citizens’ movement for change
• being recognised as the UK’s leading authority on Fairtrade

What does the Union do to support Fairetrade?

The Paisley Union sells Fairetrade tea and coffee, as well as some chocolate. We also offer a fairtrade meal deal from our cafe!

Last year the Union held a Fairtrade football tournament in support of Fairtrade Fortnight, as well as a party to raise awareness of Fairtrade, and this looks set to continue for the 2010 event, so look out for how to get involved.

To visit the fairtrade Foundation website, click here.