Furniture4Reuse Store

The University of Manchester’s Furniture4Reuse store extends the life of surplus furniture by redistributing it across campus and to local charities and community groups. The initiative supports sustainability by reducing waste and carbon emissions, while helping projects like Biko Bikes, a student‑led initiative making sustainable travel more accessible. It also supports Essentials, the University’s student basic needs centre, alongside local organisations including schools and Hulme Community Garden Centre, ensuring valuable resources are reused where they are most needed and create a positive impact across the community. 

Check out this video for more information. 

100% Zero Landfill on Main Campus

The University of Manchester are 100% ‘Zero Landfill’ on Main Campus. Our general, clinical, and offensive waste is now fully diverted from landfill. Instead of landfill, our non-recyclable general waste now goes through a process known as Energy from Waste (EfW), a waste management method that converts non-recyclables into electricity and heat. Once waste is collected on campus, it is transported to a waste transfer station nearby, where it is ‘bulked up’ before being sent to an EfW facility. At the EfW facility, it is burned under safe and controlled conditions. The process of burning the waste generates heat, which is then used to power steam turbines and produce electricity, ensuring that every by-product (which includes ash and metals) is recovered and reused.

Infected Blood Inquiry Memorial 

The University of Manchester is the permanent home of the Infected Blood Inquiry Memorial, which honours the more than 30,000 people who were infected with HIV, Hepatitis and vCJD after receiving contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. Its presence at the University will support research, teaching and public engagement, particularly in areas relating to patient safety, ethical practice in healthcare, trust, and health inequalities. Through exhibitions, teaching programmes and public events the memorial will remain accessible to the public, helping to ensure that the experiences of those affected continue to be heard and understood.  

No Time to Waste

Our No Time to Waste sustainability platform makes it easy and rewarding for staff and students to build sustainable habits. Users are rewarded green points, that lead to monthly prizes, for logging sustainable activities. To further encourage sustainable habits our travel app CommuteUoM is designed to make low-carbon commuting easier by helping staff and students to carpool safely, plan public transport routes and more.

Food Made Good 3-star rating

The University catering services, including UniCafe outlets, Food In Residence, and HospitalityOnCampus, hold a three-star rating in the Food Made Good Standard, awarded by the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA). This certification recognises outstanding leadership in sustainable and ethical sourcing (procurement), community impact, and environmental responsibility across University food services, and is valid until December 2027. The Food Made Good assessment scored us:  

• 79% for Sourcing – due to our Fairtrade leadership, responsible and local procurement, and prioritisation of plant-forward menus with higher welfare animal products .
• 88% for Society – for treating colleagues fairly, promoting healthy menus, and operation of community fridges on campus . 
• 84% for Environment – reflecting our strong action of waste reduction, Net Zero commitments, and student engagement . 

Floreeda Partnership

The University of Manchester and Manchester School of Architecture are partnered with acrylic manufacturer Floreeda to repurpose plastic waste through REFLO, a circular recycling process that transforms student modelmaking offcuts into new acrylic sheets. Floreeda’s REFLO process converts end-of-life acrylic into granules, which are levelled, heated, and pressed into new sheets, enabling multiple reuses and supporting a closed-loop, circular economy. 

• Find out more on the University partnership 
• Find out more on REFLO

Sustainability Champions Programme

The Sustainability Champions Programme is an opportunity for passionate students to take on an additional role alongside their degree programme to help promote sustainable change. Student champions are organised into teams based upon their personal interests in environmental sustainability. These subject areas include nature, travel and transport, energy and carbon, sustainable food, reuse and recycling and our hedgehog champions. In teams, our champions plan and deliver events to promote sustainability, for instance events focused on reducing the environmental impact of Halloween as a celebration, demonstrating how the Champions programme is a vital mechanism in embedding sustainable thinking through community engagement and social practice. 

Find out more here. 

SEED Changemakers

SEED Change-makers is a student-led  initiative developed by the University’s School of Environment, Education and Development (SEED). It empowers undergraduate and postgraduate students to drive meaningful change. The programme provides a dynamic platform for students to transform their passions into impactful action through leading and collaborating on innovative social responsibility projects. For example, students launched the Give It, Don’t Bin It campaign to reduce waste left behind in student accommodation during move-out periods, and they have hosted thought-provoking lectures on active citizenship and rethinking sustainable community support.  

200 for 200: Bicentenary Recruitment Initiative

In 2024 were proud to create 200 meaningful employment opportunities for members of our local community. This initiative, led by the University in partnership with Aspire Recruitment, successfully reached and supported candidates from a wide range of underrepresented backgrounds. Of those engaged, 76.4% identified as BAME, 60.4% as female, 23.4% as LGBTQ+, and 12.4% declared a disability. 

EDI programmes for staff

We offer five EDI Leadership programmes, aimed at developing a diverse pool of leaders by equipping colleagues from groups that are statistically underrepresented in leadership. These programmes include: 

• Aurora: For colleagues who identify as women  

• Disability Leadership Training: For disabled academic, research and PS colleagues 

• LGBTQ+ Leadership Training: For LGBTQ+ academic, research and PS colleagues 

• Stellar HE: For Black, Asian, and ethnically diverse PS, academic and research colleagues  

• 100 Black Women Professors Now (BWPN): For colleagues who identify as women (+non-binary) from African / African Caribbean or mixed Black diaspora. This includes academic and research colleagues, and PhD students. 

University awarded Fairtrade University two-star status

The University of Manchester holds a Fairtrade University two-star status which recognises that we are: embedding Fairtrade into our strategy and operations; actively engaging students and staff in campaigns and education; supporting ethical procurement and supply chains; and collaborating with local and global partners to promote social justice.  

Concordant on Openness on Animal Research

The University of Manchester was one of the original signatures of the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research, a set of four commitments to help organisations which carry out animal research to communicate openly about their work and the reasons why they do it. The University of Manchester has also been awarded ‘Leader in Openness’ status by Understanding Animal Research, which recognises organisations who dedicate significant resources to embedding best practice throughout their organisation. 

Peer Support Awards

The Peer Support Awards offer an annual celebration of the incredible dedication and achievements of Peer Mentors, PASS Leaders, and Student Coordinators in the Peer Support community. The event recognises the pivotal role Peer Support plays in aiding first-year students though their transition into university life through guidance from student volunteers in higher years on the same course.

Sustainability Careers Fair

Every year we host a Sustainability Careers Fair at the University, helping students explore career paths that align with environmental sustainability. Alongside our own Careers Service and Environmental Sustainability Team, we welcome a fantastic range of exhibitors to offer advice and guidance. For example, in 2025, we invited Cushman & Wakefield, Kenny Waste Management, Manchester City Council, Net Zero Group | B Corp Certified, Windō, and the Environment Agency. 

British Heart Foundation’s Centre of Research Excellence

The University of Manchester has launched the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Manchester Centre of Research Excellence to support world-class cardiovascular disease research from the leading charity. The University matched BHF’s funding, bringing the total investment in cardiovascular disease research at Manchester to £8 million.

Travel plan

We have a Travel Plan which aims to lower our travel-related carbon footprint. This plan aligns with the Environmental Sustainability strategy and aims to reduce carbon emissions while ensuring fairness and affordability for all.

Sustainability Fair

Every year we host a Sustainability Fair to raise awareness about the ethical and sustainable choices available right here on our campus. For example, in 2025, the event was focussed on raising awareness and encouraging everyone to make informed choices about the food they consume.

Valuing Nature Action Plan

Our Valuing Nature Action Plan aims to transform the University’s estate into a thriving environment where people and wildlife coexist, addressing both the climate and ecological crises. The plan focuses on creating biodiverse green spaces across campus to support pollinators, birds, hedgehogs, and other wildlife. It also emphasizes fostering connections between nature and the wellbeing of our staff, students, and the surrounding community.

Medebridge solar farm

We have partnered with Enviromena to supply up to 65% of the University’s electricity demand through the Medebridge Solar Farm in Essex, advancing our commitment to a zero-carbon future. This initiative will reduce the University’s carbon emissions by 12,000 tonnes annually. Built entirely on brownfield land, the solar farm underscores our dedication to sustainable land use. The site’s central field will feature a dedicated biodiversity zone, with enhancements to hedgerows, native grasslands, and wildflower meadows. 

University’s Sustainable Development Goals annual report

Each year we launch a report which highlights how we are addressing key issues facing humanity as set-out by the United Nations.  As the UK’s first university to have social responsibility as a core goal, we’ve developed a strategy to tackle the SDGs in four inter-related ways: through our research, learning and students, public engagement and operations.   

Our latest SDG report shows that the University published over 22,000 pieces of research on the SDGs in the past five years, which is 4% of the UK’s entire share of publications. It details teaching and learning programmes that address the SDGs, such as our ‘Creating a Sustainable World’ interdisciplinary unit. 

Summer school for Women in Logic

The University’s School of Social Sciences hosts a four-day Summer School on Women in Logic every year. The programme is aimed at 16- to 18-year-old women and girls from widening participation backgrounds, with the goal of addressing the underrepresentation of women in logic and philosophy, while also encouraging more widening participation students to pursue philosophy as a field of study. 

Booth Street East: our first zero emissions building

The University has opened its first zero-emissions building. After a refurbishment, Booth Street East now has the infrastructure to support zero emissions, and a new Teaching and Learning Innovation Space has been introduced. It is our first non-residential campus building to be solely heated by air-source heat pumps.

The reusable Bee Cup

The University launched a reusable and sustainable cup scheme in collaboration with Manchester City Council and InOurNature. The reusable Bee Cup can be found in several hot drink locations across campus and on Oxford Road, encouraging our students and staff to sip sustainably wherever they go. The scheme aims to significantly reduce the number of single-use paper cups used at our campus café locations every year. 

Manchester 10/10

The Manchester 10/10 programme is a collaborative student-staff project designed to empower and build a sense of belonging for Black/Black-mixed undergraduate students through tailored events and opportunities. Designed in partnership with Black Heritage students, the events support students to build their peer, professional and academic networks and develop the confidence to engage with all that the Manchester student experience has to offer.  

PGCE Secondary Green Conference

The PGCE Secondary Green Conference initiative is an annual event for student teachers, where students from multiple secondary PGCE subjects convene to host a day during which they address climate justice issues. The aims of the day are to develop student teachers’ understanding and confidence in dealing with climate justice issues.