GlasGowGreener June update

Welcome to this June update on GlasGowGreener – our sustainability campaign which aims to help us all play our part in supporting Glasgow Life’s climate actions.

As you know, GlasGowGreener focuses on a different theme every month and this time it’s all about the circular economy. That simply means being environmentally responsible by using resources wisely and minimising waste through sustainability’s ‘three Rs’: reusing, recycling and repurposing.  

Instead of just throwing things away that are no longer used, it’s important to try to give new life to items we don’t need now. Whenever we’re about to discard old or unwanted stuff, we need to stop and ask ourselves if we can find a new and perhaps completely different purpose for it. And if that’s not possible, we should make it available to anyone able to make use of it. 

Rather than immediately buying something new, it’s always worth taking time to check if what you need is being offered, either new or pre-used, by someone passing it on to others.

By rethinking what we do with the things we don’t need and how we get things we do, we can save resources, save money - and most importantly - help save the planet too.

Many of you will already be aware of online sites that enable and encourage people to pass on unwanted items within their local community. However, you may not know about a great recycling resource we can all take advantage of in our working environment. Used by Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council, and other public sector organisations, it’s called Warp It.

No messing around - don’t waste it and don’t buy it, just Warp It!

Warp It is a portal created to help redistribute surplus items and materials that would otherwise be sent to landfill or put into long-term storage. Through Warp It, teams can give, loan or claim a wide range of items such as desks and chairs, fixtures and fittings, electrical equipment, or office supplies including stationery and ink cartridges.

Listing items for others to use and claiming or ordering things you need is simple and straightforward. And there are lots of benefits of connecting item donors with potential recipients including - reducing procurement spend, minimising unnecessary purchasing of new equipment, cutting waste and waste disposal costs, and reducing our reliance on storage.

Our GlasGowGreener challenge this month is designed to get as many colleagues as possible using Warp It. We need your team to sign up now by creating an account at www.warp-it.co.uk/glasgowlife  

Once that’s done, your team representative should watch the ‘Getting Started on Warp It’ video and complete the following form to return it to sustainability@glasgowlife.org.uk by Friday 7 July. 

Our new intranet also has a dedicated page to help you understand our internal processes to help you get started using Warp It! Click here.

Thank you for supporting our GlasGowGreener campaign by taking part in this month’s challenge. Remember that the more you get involved in, the higher your chances are of winning a prize, as we’ll be celebrating the best contributions throughout the year at a special conference and awards ceremony next summer.