Engaging the University Community
PolyU is committed to connecting the University Community and bringing together their efforts to serve the society. Over the years, considerable resources have been invested to arrange a variety of sustainability education activities. PolyU aims to enhance environmental awareness and a sense of social responsibility among students and staff.
Pooling Resources for Charity
PolyU actively promotes the practice of sharing resources to augment sustainable development of our community. Every year, a series of recycling initiatives for donation are implemented on campus to engage the University community to show their care and concern for the environment and society. Highlighted events during the reporting year are shown below.
Donating resources to the needy
On 21 June 2018, the Campus Sustainability Office set up a dedicated collection counter on campus to invite staff and students to donate unwanted and reusable items. Items collected including water bottles, towels, blankets and clothes, were first processed by a local social organization ImpactHK before distributed to those in need, particularly homeless people. In addition to addressing the community’s needs, the collection activity also promoted responsible and sustainable consumption.
PolyU staff members and students also pitched in enthusiastically to support the University's waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling initiatives. Echoing the call and appeal of the World Environment Day, the WEEE-CYCLING activity was staged on campus and collected unwanted electrical appliances from employees and students, which were then refurbished and donated to underprivileged families.
To encourage sustainable festive celebrations, PolyU rolled out Food Drive during the Lunar New Year. Food collection boxes were set up for staff members and students to donate surplus food items that were fit for consumption. Over 30 kg of surplus food items were collected and re-distributed to those in need through FOOD-CO, a platform that solicits resources for poverty alleviation and promotes the culture of save and share.
On-campus Engagement Activities
By organizing regular campus events and activities, PolyU continues to engage with staff, students and alumni, while dedicating efforts to foster environmental and community care across the campus. Some of the educational events during the reporting year are highlighted below.
University Social Responsibility (USR) Month 2018
The USR Month 2018 commenced on 19 October. Fair-trade coffee workshops and a showcase of USR student engagement projects were held to promote the idea of social responsibility in the context of higher educational institutions. The exhibited projects included the selected ones from the Global Youth Leadership and the Service-Learning Institute, Project Uganda (the USRN first student-led project), the Good Seed projects, and the Vision of Love Mobile Eye Care project.
Sharing session on decluttering lifestyle
Over 200 staff and students participated in a sharing session on how decluttering could help to live a more sustainable lifestyle, minimize waste, save resources, money and time. Practical guidance, examples, and real-life experience on home decluttering were shared at the event.
Promoting sustainable event decoration in Design for Social Impact Challenge 2019
Good Seed, a social innovation training programme jointly developed by Institute for Entrepreneurship and Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation shared how to apply reusable wooden backdrops for different occasions, encouraging the participants to be mindful about event decorations.
Sharing sessions and workshops on plastic recycling and re-engineering
The School of Design and the Material Resource Centre supported a series of programmes on plastics recycling and repurposing. Participants learned to build machines to convert plastics into useful items.