We have pledged to be single-use plastic-free by 2023, to achieve this ambitious target we need everyone’s support.
How can you help?Read what progress had been made at the two year point after announcing our bold plastic free ambition.
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Sign up to our newsletterIn 2018 the University of Leeds and Leeds University Union made a collaborative pledge to remove single-use plastic across all of its operations by 2023, #2023PlasticFree.
The hugely ambitious target was one of the first and boldest pledges of any Higher Education organisation, showing our leadership in researching, testing and implementing solutions to address global problems.
The Covid-19 pandemic made it necessary to increase the use of some single use plastic items to keep our staff and students safe, but a huge amount of progress was still made.
Our community made some amazing achievements during this challenging period, and in May 2022 the Big Plastic Count came to campus to help us understand the lasting impact of Covid-19 on plastic usage.
We remain committed to removing unnecessary single use plastics. This will require collaboration from all areas of the University, across 3 key areas:
Find out more about how you can help us to achieve this goal or get in touch.
Need some inspiration to get involved? Take a read of the amazing work that is already taking place and start planning how you can make a positive change as well.
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We use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to guide our activity. Our plastic pledge is linked to the following SDGs:
Find out more about our impact on the SDGs.