Sustainability

We are committed to achieving ambitious targets outlined in our Sustainability Strategy. Frances Lloyd, our new Director of Sustainability, and Joe Bull, Fellow in Climate Change Biology, tell us how they will take these plans forward.

In October - December 2023 we reduced our energy use by 113,750 kWh (£6,825) compared with the same period in the previous year.

Some of our energy-saving measures are as follows:

• Eyesense, a smart distributed Energy Management System specifically designed to manage energy usage in student accommodation, has been rolled out across the main site following a trial in several staircases and offices. Wadham is leading the roll-out of this smart energy management system within Oxford with over 300 devices fitted. We use the eco-sync platform to ensure that rooms are not heated when not in use. We were pleased to be shortlisted, with EyeSense, for the UK Green Business Awards 2025 in the Green Heat category. These awards highlight some of the most inspiring and innovative projects and campaigns in the UK today.
• Gas for hot water accounts for half of the gas we use, so we are changing hot water gas boilers to electric sunamp cubes to remove the gas. We have installed sunamp cubes in Staircases 20 and 23.
• We have reduced our water usage. We installed flow monitors in Staircases 10, 11, and KA, which tells us how much water is used there. Dual flush toilets are replaced with single flush toilets with water-saving devices during staircase refurbishments. Water-saving devices are being fitted to showers as part of our maintenance programme.
• We no longer use electric heaters in our Library's reading rooms; instead, blankets are available for students who prefer to work in temperatures above 18⁰C.
• We use a lot of paint at the College, so we researched and engaged with Graphenstone, a company that makes natural and breathable paint. Their zero-carbon is made out of graphene and lime, which takes carbon out of the air as it dries.
• We are replacing our lighting with LED bulbs. These automatically dim when not in use.
• New energy-efficient appliances replace end-of-life equipment. For example, hot and cold counters in the refurbished Refectory are energy efficient.
• We have added secondary glazing to listed buildings where conservation approval allows. New building developments are double glazed.
• Sustainability was central to the construction of the William Doo Undergraduate and Dr Lee Shau Kee Buildings, which were completed in 2021. They were designed to maximise natural light and have solar panels on their roofs.

Our students are encouraged to get involved with the Student Switch Off. This is a not-for-profit campaign encouraging student action on climate change in university halls of residences.

We have taken the following measures to mitigate our environmental impact:

• Hundreds of parcels are delivered to the Lodge each week. We have engaged Pedal and Post for "final mile" parcel delivery by cargo bike. We encourage College members to change the address on every online order they make to have them routed through the Pedal and Post system. This will reduce our environmental impact in that last mile through our streets. Fewer couriers in the city centre will help to improve cyclist and pedestrian safety.
• We encourage sustainable travel. We have a cycle loan scheme, and a bus/train pass loan scheme for our staff. The College supports hybrid working where operationally feasible and agreed by relevant line managers. We encourage visitors to the College to consider sustainable ways to get here: https://www.wadham.ox.ac.uk/visit-us
• We use refillable glass bottles in meeting rooms and water filtration machines are available in communal areas. There are resuable cups in the bar. We sell Wadham keep cups and wedo not use plastic coffee pods in our machines.
• Our Catering team has reduced plastic packaging in deliveries from suppliers by around 90% in recent years.
• We use cardboard compactors to condense our rubbish, so we need fewer pick ups, thus reducing our carbon footprint. Oxford Direct Services (ODS), the College's waste contractor, has an electric lorry. ODS does not send any waste to landfill.

A Sustainable Food Working Group was set up in 2022 to monitor progress and introduce new initiatives, including the following:

• We source local and seasonal produce as much as possible. We have increased the produce we are buying through the Good Food Oxfordshire's OxFarmtoFork, a local food supply chain.
• We support more local businesses, including Mayfield Farm, Oxford Oils, and Aldens Oxford.
• We work closely with our suppliers to ensure that we are all following sustainable practices. An increasing number of our suppliers are using electric vehicles and moving towards plastic-free deliveries.
• Healthy options are offered at meal times. We have 'Mindful Mondays' across both student and staff dining, when College members are encouraged to try different, meat-free, options. We have reduced the amount of red meat in all our menus.
• We reuse and repurpose food into other dishes where possible to reduce waste. Minimal water is used in cooking.

We are committed to reducing our waste year-on-year, and undertaking waste audits to monitor progress. Wadham's first internal waste audit took place on 2 June 2025.

• We reduce food waste by asking staff and Fellows to book in advance for lunch and to choose one of two sittings so that we can cater accurately.
• We work with the Food Rescuers team of students from Wadham and other colleges. Each day, they collect surplus food from Wadham's kitchen, which they take to those experiencing homelessness in Oxford.
• Unused dry goods go to the Oxford Food Hub.
• Cooked food waste is collected by our partner organisation, Oxford Direct Services. It goes towards producing electricity and liquid fertiliser for Oxfordshire.
• Oil waste is recycled by Oxford Oils. Fats and oils are collected, filtered and cleaned to be used for producing low carbon energy.
• All offices, kitchens, communal spaces and student rooms on the main site have their own food waste caddy, as do the kitchens on the Merifield and Dorothy Wadham sites.
• Uncooked fruit and veg waste from the main kitchen is composted on site and used on the gardens.

Wadham’s first internal waste audit took place on Monday 2 June 2025 with fantastic support from the Housekeeping Team. The aim of the audit was to review our waste practices and understand whether any actions are needed. The audit provided valuable data. It is clear that more effort is needed to reduce our waste and improve our recycling.

This document provides a summary of the findings and recommendations. It is also designed to act as a resource to others thinking about undertaking a waste audit.

Some of our initiatives are as follows:

• Our students organise clothes swap sessions, with the option of getting garments mended.
• Our Head Housekeeper leads regular sessions to advise students about correct recycling. Scouts continue this during the course of their work in student accommodation.
• Student 'Staircase Champions' encourage their peers about to recycle responsibly.
• We use reusable cups in the student bar and refillable water bottles in all areas of the College.
• The College makes compost in a three-year cycle. The Gardens team use all the organic waste they can to produce it, including lawn mowings, prunings, and waste food from the kitchens.
• Our Works Department refurbishes and reuses materials where possible. When working on our programme of restoration work in the historic Front Quad, we reused as many of the old slate tiles as possible in the re-roofing project. Where the tiles could not be reused due to deterioration, our specialist project team explored sourcing good quality tiles that have been previously used on other buildings in the local area.
• We repurpose as much of our furniture as we can and refurbish old items when possible. When we need to replace furniture, we buy second-life items rather than new ones. Instead of going to landfill, end-of-life electrical items are collected by local suppliers and stripped for scrap metal and spare parts that can be reused.
• All the College doors with the exception of the one in the main entrance date back to the College's foundation. A restoration contractor has stripped and chemically cleaned them, removing all stains and in some cases paint, that has gathered over the years. From now on, the doors will need to be oiled only every three - five years to keep them in this condition.
• In Staircase 29, some of the window shutters that date back to the 1700s had been nailed shut for some years since curtains became popular. The team has opened them up again and had them restored. The shutters keep the sunlight out and the rooms cool during warm weather. They help to retain heat in the colder months, helping to keep our energy consumption down. The wooden shutters do this more efficiently than double glazing.
• Whenever possible, the Library team buys used books in good condition. They donate withdrawn books to a charity and they reuse boxes from the kitchen to pack withdrawn books. A new Sustainability collection has been established to highlight its importance to students and staff. College members donate used books to the Library's new fiction section.
• Where possible, food is delivered to our kitchens in reusable containers.
• The Housekeeping team uses reusable bottles for cleaning solutions instead of single-use plastic.
• We provide a British Heart Foundation donation box for unwanted items from College members. Lost property is retained for 60 days before being passed to the Heart Foundation or to Oxford Food Hub.

Our Gardens team works hard to keep our grounds looking beautiful, while reducing the environmental impact of maintaining them.

• Our Gardeners have reduced moving, hedgerow cutting, and the use of pesticides.
• We produce our own compost.
• Some areas in the Fellows’ private garden are left to their own devices to grow naturally and encourage insect and bird life. We host bird and bat boxes in different areas of the gardens, and there is a hedgehog house behind the chapel. We have installed two beehives.
• Our development of the Dorothy Wadham Building site on Iffley Road included planting 15 trees, including Rowan, Beech, Malus, flowering Cheering, as well as shrubs, climbers, and bulbs. We installed bat boxes and installed boundaries to allow wildlife, such as hedgehogs, to move freely through the site.

Fairtrade is about improving the lives of farmers and workers in developing countries. It aims to change the way that trade works through better prices to achieve a fair deal, decent working conditions, and empowerment. We are committed to Fairtrade, as an accredited member, as part of our commitment to sustainability.