The UEL Sustainability Team occasionally employs student interns through the UEL Funded Internship Scheme when there is a project that would be a good fit for a student to help with or lead on.

Our most recent intern, Meriam Touati, worked with the Sustainability Team for a period of four months from March to June 2018. In this time she developed a writing instrument recycling program on campus, where old pens, markers, highlighters, mechanical pencils, erasers pens, felt tips and correction tape can be dropped off at one of the designated recycling points on all three UEL campuses. Meriam researched the best places to put collection boxes on campus, using our existing battery recycling program as a starting point. She was then in charge of designing informative and aesthetically pleasing labels for the boxes, as well as purchasing and distributing collection boxes. She created maps of the collection points on each campus, as well as communications materials to announce and market the new recycling program. As an advertising major, Meriam found this part of the project to be very fun and helpful in developing her skills that could benefit her in her other coursework.

The UEL writing instrument recycling scheme is linked up to the wider Terracycle recycling program. UEL has partnered with local secondary school The Warren School, in order to participate. All writing instruments at both of our educational institutions are recycled through Terracycle, and any money generated goes back into the Warren School. This partnership serves to further UEL’s mission of engaging and giving back to our local community.

We aim to give our interns meaningful projects that will benefit our team and UEL as a whole, as well as ensure that they have something they can take ownership of and be proud to put on their CV. We want them to come away with a more thorough understanding of sustainability, as well as skills that will help them in their own coursework and life beyond the classroom.