Reducing our carbon footprint at The Royal Ballet School

The School has recently trialled several measures to reduce our carbon footprint whilst maintaining the quality of products we use. These trials have proven successful and we have taken the decision to roll out these changes across the School.

We have begun using refillable soap dispensers and larger toilet tissue rolls. Like all residential institutions, we use large quantities of everyday items. These changes reduce baseline costs, transportation costs and packaging.

Another exciting change to the School is our new PPE recycling boxes from ReWorked. This brilliant company allows us to recycle items we use on a regular basis including disposable masks, other forms of PPE and lateral flow tests. ReWorked take the PPE and tests, quarantines them for 72 hours and then combines them with a mixture of polymers from ocean cleans, verge cleans, food and cosmetic waste to create a material which can be used to make furniture.

To raise awareness about reducing our carbon footprint, and to involve everyone in this endeavour, our Site Services Manager Emily Cordy has introduced the #SmallChangeCampaign as well as a Green Committee.

Site Services Manager, Emily Cordy said:

Often when faced with the devastation climate change has caused, we can feel powerless to prevent these environment crises from happening again and this is why I wanted to begin the #SmallChangeCampaign so that we can all feel part of the solution, not the problem. Small changes we can all make in our everyday lives can be significantly impactful together.

Our Green Committee is open to all staff members and we look forward to our excellent Student Council contributing ideas too. Young people have been at the forefront of the anti-climate change movement and we have been so inspired by their passion and efforts. It’s imperative the School listens and acts to reduce further harm to the environment.