Trinity College is committed to becoming carbon neutral, to create a sustainable environment for students and staff now and into the future.
At Trinity College, we recognise our responsibility to create a better world by minimising our environmental impact. We have a sustainability strategy in place to help us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and water usage, and improve our waste management practices and strive for total carbon neutrality. The three core themes of our sustainability strategy are:
- To take responsibility for a sustainable college
- To educate and inspire our community to lead
- To partner with others
Our goal
Our aim is simple: to become a completely carbon neutral organisation by 2023.
Trinity College has undertaken a number of initiatives to help us achieve carbon neutrality
Some of our major initiatives to date include:
- Installing a system of underground water tanks beneath the Bulpadock (our central lawn) with an 800 000-litre capacity. These tanks harvest rainwater off the major buildings at our Parkville campus and the water is used to irrigate the gardens and grounds, and in some cases, is used to flush toilets.
- Incorporating a range of ESD (environmentally sustainable design) features into our new buildings and during the renovation of existing buildings. The new Residential College building in the north-east precinct of our main campus possesses sustainable features such as: geothermal heating, photovoltaic cells on the roof and double glazing throughout.
- Purchasing 100% recycled academic gowns from carbon-neutral company Churchill Gowns (each gown is made from 28 PET bottles)
- Resurfacing the Bulpadock lawn, the new Theological School lawn, and the Vatican and Summer House lawns with drought-tolerant grass.
- Introducing a GAIA food waste processing system to manage all food waste from the kitchen. The machine, powered by natural gas, rapidly produces compost from our waste (as well as that from a neighbouring college), which we then use on the gardens, and reduces the amount of waste we send to landfill.
- Introducing Green Practice rebates, which are a contribution towards travel costs for staff who travel to work by public transport, cycling or walking.
- Introducing Green Practice grants for sustainability projects relevant to Trinity College’s sustainability agenda.
- Ordering kitchen supplies in bulk to reduce our supply of cardboard (which we then recycle).
- Replacing individual seasoning sachets from our kitchen with salt and pepper shakers.
- Using biodegradable café take-away cups, plates and cutlery, and encouraging the use of keep cups to reduce waste even further.
- Introducing a PaperCut system, which reports on print volumes and paper usage, plus associated greenhouse gas emissions, so we can make more conscious decisions about how much we print as an organisation.
- Providing facilities to recycle batteries, toner cartridges and unused or end-of-life IT equipment.
- Providing clothes racks and paper recycling facilities in student rooms.
We independently audit our carbon footprint
The College has had its carbon emissions audited independently each year since 2014. The results of this audit are included in the results below.
Our 2018 sustainability results compared to 2017
We promote behavioural change
At Trinity College, we strongly believe that behaviour change is crucial to creating a more sustainable future. Therefore, we encourage students to get behind our sustainability initiatives, and residential students can elect to purchase carbon offsets to help reduce their environmental impact and emissions while living at Trinity College. As part of our commitment to both the local and global environment, our offset program is currently directed towards two projects: an Australian native reforestation project, and a wind-power renewable energy project in India.
We also encourage our staff to engage in sustainable practices. For instance, staff who park on campus are required to pay a fee to fund our Green Practice rebates and grants. The rebates are made available to staff who don’t drive to work and are used reimburse public transport costs, and can be put towards bicycles, bike repair kits and walking shoes for example. Our Green Practice grants then help fund initiatives proposed by staff and students that align to Trinity’s sustainability goals.
Our students are actively engaged in sustainability initiatives
In 2012, we introduced sustainability intern positions at Trinity College. These interns are residential students who act as environmental champions and lead the College's sustainability programs. They help develop student awareness, run educational initiatives and assist in policy development related to environmental matters.
We also have a student environment committee, and members help our interns share information about Trinity’s sustainability initiatives and encourage students to make more environmentally conscious choices during their time at Trinity and beyond, for instance by reducing water consumption in showers and laundries. Many students also participate in annual events such as Clean Up Australia Day, which is run as a collaboration between our Residential College and Foundation Studies students, and tree planting days in surrounding parks.
Trinity College Residential College sustainability committee, L–R: Evan Sinclair, Bethanie Chong, Lexie Sarstedt, Hieu Dong and Al Bates.
A number of students have developed their own initiatives too, such as Evan Sinclair, who co-founded Ecco Cuppa – a social enterprise built around the sale of reusable coffee cups, where 100% of the profits are used to plant trees in Brazil and Bolivia. Trinity College also proudly supports Who Gives a Crap, a company founded by a Trinity alumnus that develops forest-friendly toilet paper, paper towels and tissues and donates 50 per cent of profits to help build toilets for those in need.
One of the key values held by Trinitarians is the commitment to environmental sustainability, and I am incredibly grateful to have been able to help put this value into action. We feel a responsibility to ensure that we live in a way that allows us to thrive while inflicting as little harm as possible on the planet. In 2019, we participated in the annual Clean Up Australia Day and community planting day events (with a record number of attendees), as well as Earth Hour, an inter-building energy consumption reduction competition, a bread tag recycling campaign, and promotion of meaningful discussions through social media. More than 60 Trinitarians also attended the global climate strike, marching in solidarity with hundreds of thousands around the world.
Bethanie Chong and Evan Sinclair, Trinity College Sustainability Interns
Trinity College students holding the pots from 500 seedlings planted around Parkville
We partner with others to create a more sustainable future
Trinity College also gets behind plenty of sustainability events and participates in Earth Hour, among other things. Students from the Residential College also team up with our Foundation Studies students and students from neighbouring Ormond College to participate in Clean Up Australia Day. We've also partnered up with Greenfleet Australia – a leading not-for-profit environmental organisation that helps Trinity to invest in sustainable carbon offset programs.
Trinity also works with a range of educational and community organisations, such as the University of Melbourne, and the Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS).
If you’d like to support Trinity College’s sustainability efforts, please consider making a donation.
