Sheffield Hallam University has once again scooped a first class award in an independent national ranking of the most green, ethical and sustainable universities.
The University finished 14th out of 143 UK universities in the 2013 People and Planet Green League, a jump of 5 places from its 19th place ranking in 2012.
The Green League assesses the environmental policies and processes of universities and ranks them according to their commitment to ethical procurement and fair-trade policy, staff and student engagement with environmental issues, waste reduction and recycling and a host of other criteria. Universities must then provide evidence to show how they meet each element.
Sheffield Hallam received its best marks in the rankings for its waste management processes, which sees almost three-quarters of its total waste being recycled.
The University scored well for operating externally audited environmental and energy management systems, which have helped to reduce the University's impact on the environment. This is evidenced by the University being the only institution to hold both ISO 14001 for environmental management and ISO50001 for energy management, across all of its operations.
And it also scored highly on water consumption, as a result of introducing water control devices in various facilities where automated systems control waste rather than relying on human behaviour.
Mark Swales, the University's Director of Estates and Facilities said: "We are particularly delighted to see our continued improvement in this league as People and Planet is a student-led organisation, which aims to empower people to make sustainable change.
"We have progressed from 27th in 2011 to 19th in 2012 and now 14th in 2013. And this directly reflects our commitment to sustainability across all areas of the University's business."