Jewel & Esk College’s £53 million e:volve Project has set a UK and Scottish first by being the first college to use redundant equipment to support schools and improve the lives of people in some of the world’s poorest areas.

The move follows a partnership with Green Standards which has pioneered the use of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to redefine waste. This has included the creation of its Waste to Wonder Initiative and School in a Box 1000 programmes that utilise workplace items to support schools and charities locally and overseas.

Around 65 tonnes of redundant items from the College will be recycled, re-used or repaired before being shipped in 40ft containers to improve the educational opportunities of thousands of children.

The items, ranging from chairs and tables to filling cabinets and IT equipment, have all come from the college’s Milton Road campus which is being completely refitted and a new building added to provide learning and teaching facilities. These will support students studying hospitality, multimedia, music, health & fitness, beauty & complementary therapies, catering and hairdressing.

Items removed from the Milton Road campus will be used to provide much needed resources for use in a developing country. Among the communities destined to benefit are the villages of Limbe and Batoke in Western Cameroon and an educational and medical centre in The Gambia.

To date the Green Standards program has sent ‘boxes’ to Morocco, Ghana, Liberia, South Africa, Kenya and The Philippines, with more planned this year for Cameroon, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Tamil Nadu (India), and Southern Sudan.

Steve Hudson, Director of Campus Redevelopment for the e:volve Project said: “The e:volve Project is committed to environmental best practice and equipment that would most likely have ended up in landfill is now being used in a highly positive and constructive way. Our surplus items will be used to enhance the lives of remote communities ensuring that it is not just people in Edinburgh and Lothians who benefit from the project but also those far further afield.

“A recent HMIe inspection told us that our teaching is superb and we have invested a great deal of time in planning and putting the best project team in place so that this standard is also reflected in every aspect of e:volve.

“We are now continuing discussions with Green Standards to explore the possibility of college lecturers becoming involved in teaching at these schools.”

Nigel Hutchings of Green Standards said: “JEC have embraced the Waste to Wonder initiative and School in a Box 1000 Programme with incredible enthusiasm, like us they understand both the environmental impact organisations can have on our environment and also how much support can be given to developing communities simply by redistributing items that the UK class as 'redundant'”

Email: Nicola.McGovern@bigpartnership.co.uk

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