2019 Winners: SOAS Swap, SOAS Community Garden & Nue: Nude

2019 saw three societies split the Green Community Fund! The projects were given an initial round of funding before being put on hold due to Coronavirus in March 2020.

Nue: Nude: This project aimed to inspire students to re-imagine recycling and reusing and integrate a more sustainable approach more broadly in their day to day lives, through home-made skincare projects out of food waste. All of us use skincare products daily but unlike with food waste or one-way plastic, there is little widely known information about how to take personal responsibility to be less damaging to the environment. This project aimed to build a community of invested people through the workshops, who would be able to disseminate their knowledge to their circles.

SOAS Community Garden: The SOAS community garden brings people who are interested in gardening, crafting, and sustainable solutions to pressing environmental challenges together. This project aimed to invigorate this existing SOAS community hub by reconstructing and renewing its infrastructure and appearance, to help get prepared for the next growing season.

SOAS Swap: Good, functioning things do not belong into trash but deserve to get a second life. This project aimed to create a small space within SOAS where students can share and swap second-hand products and other goods for free. Everybody can contribute items no longer used that others in the community may have a need for. Instead of ending up in the garbage, these products make someone else happy.

2018 Winners: SOAS Cycle-Op

“We are a campus society that promotes sustainable transportation by repairing student bikes, advocating for bicycle infrastructure, and giving workshops on maintenance, repair, and safety. By helping the SOAS community purchase and maintain their bicycles, we hope to promote sustainable transport for London. Currently, more than 500 students and staff cycle to campus every day. We believe that by showing people how to repair their own bikes, and advocating for more parking, we can increase ‘ridership’ and make London a safer and more environmentally responsible place.”

Check out this blog post from May 2020 with an update from them on how things have been going!