Sustainability - Get Involved

Allotments are featured outside the student accommodation at our Lampeter Campus which offers students the opportunity to grow herbs and vegetables from seed whilst actively reducing food miles and carbon footprint.

UWTSD students’ Union has a whole host of opportunities for you to get involved with from societies to volunteering!

There are Sustainability Officer Positions that you can be elected into (Swansea, Lampeter and Carmarthen), where you have a seat on Campus Councils and have the opportunity to run campaigns and work with the Students’ Union and University to ensure sustainable practice is at the forefront of what we all do!

Elections happen during Spring and Autumn, you can find out more here or email Election@uwtsd.ac.uk to find out more.

UWTSD offers the opportunity for staff across all departments to drive improvements in sustainability and recycling site wide. Acting as their departments environmental conscience and championing sustainable practices on campus.

There are sustainability societies that you can join, but if you want to start one up about a specific area, or there isn’t one for your campus you can make your own society to get other students involved! Check out more about societies here on the Students’ Union website or get in touch with your Student Opportunities Coordinator for your Campus.

Have you got an idea about how to make your student experience more sustainable? Why not submit a Big Idea?!

Any student can submit an idea, which will then go through to Campus Council and Union Council to be voted on as a policy! This can be to mandate your Elected Officers to lobby for change, or to run a campaign! If you have any questions about Big Ideas, you can check the website here or email the Student Voice Team at StudentVoice@uwtsd.ac.uk.

Do you want your dissertation to make a difference? NUS’ Dissertations for Good gives you the opportunity to complete a dissertation project in collaboration with a non-academic organisation, meaning your project could contribute to a cutting edge field of research!

Find out more and register at the NUS For Good website.

UWTSD have achieved Bee Friendly status which is part of pioneering co-ordinated national scheme to make Wales more pollinator-friendly. On our campus we have developed wildflower meadows, timber and sand habitat piles as well as reducing our pesticide usage by choosing hand weeding and strimming. 

Get involved with volunteer flower planting, taking a stroll through one of our campuses ‘Wellbeing Walks’ to see our pollinator habitats. Or try out gardening at one of the onsite allotments.

Did you know that hedgehogs have shown a major decline in population since the 1950s with an overall population decline of 97%? Since 2000 their population has declined by 50% in rural areas and 30% in urban areas. This highlights the importance of implementing plans to protect habitat and promote safe spaces for the hedgehogs in our rural and urban campuses.

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David enrolled in the Hedgehog Friendly Campus campaign in 2022 to help preserve the future of the UK’s most loved ground mammal. Over the last year we have:

• carried out hedgehog surveys which found hedgehogs on both the Lampeter and Carmarthen campuses
• performed litter picks
• organised hedgehog-safe training for the grounds team
• surveyed our hedgerow health
• installed hedgehog houses to provide safe hibernation and breeding sites.

The year 2022 was a historic one for hedgehogs as populations have stabilised for the first time in decades. This highlights how small-scale local actions taking place across the UK as part of the Hedgehog Friendly Campus Campaign and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society are creating real world change at a national level. If you would like to take part in the Hedgehog Friendly Campus Campaign at any of our campuses please email sustainability+hog@uwtsd.ac.uk.