The ResiLife programme – developed by King’s Residences – aims to connect students with their local communities through volunteering opportunities and events.
This year ResiLife introduced Sustainable Living Communities (SLCs), a pioneering programme created with King’s Sustainability. Aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it brings together students living in King’s Residences so that they can explore similar interests.
Each month ResiLife’s Sustainable Living Communities set a new themed challenge, from tackling hunger (SDG 2) to responsible consumption (SDG 12). Inspired by SDG 6, ensuring access to water and sanitation for all, students and staff from across King’s collected and bagged litter from the River Thames in a community water clean-up project. The event was organised with recycling and waste management company Bywaters, which sends zero waste to landfill, and waste was then sorted at its Materials Recovery Facility in east London.
Katherine Horsham, one of almost 500 sustainability champions working to embed sustainable practices across faculties and directorates at King’s, visited Bywaters with the team. Describing how the project would influence her behaviour going forward, she said, ‘The visit highlighted the importance of taking steps to refuse, reduce and reuse. Our aim really ought to be to reduce our need for recycling centres.’
Each year, 8 million tonnes of plastic waste is added to our oceans. By removing plastics and other rubbish from the Thames, King’s students and staff hope to play their part in preventing more waste from ending up in the sea, while helping to keep one of London’s most popular community spaces sustainable for future visitors.