Sound Environmental Impact Awards

Sound Environmental Impact Awards is now in its third year and is proving more popular than ever with 81 students’ unions signed up this year!

Sound Impact is an environmental accreditation scheme with an awards element specifically designed for students' unions. The purpose of the scheme, which is run by NUS Services, the commercial arm of the NUS, is to encourage, nurture, reward and celebrate environmental best-practice in students' unions.

The main change to the scheme this year is the introduction of a new Silver Standard. In previous years the Silver Award has been solely based on score with the top eight scoring unions scooping either Gold or Silver. This year any union can get the Silver Standard if they meet a set number of Bronze and Silver essential criteria plus a minimum overall score.

To encourage best practice, the number of essential Bronze criteria increases by one each year and for this year’s Awards there are 22 essentials all based around easy-to-implement practical actions that will reduce a union's negative environmental impacts. In addition to the Bronze and Silver Standards and Gold Award there are three special Awards that Unions can enter irrespective of their overall score. These are The Ecologist Communications Challenge Award, The Co-operative Most Improved Union Award and the Office Depot Green Innovation Award.

Sign up for this year has now closed and participating unions are busily completing their workbooks. Many thanks to all EAUC members that have supported their unions through the Sound Impact process to date. One of the wider benefits of Sound Impact is that it helps create mutually beneficial relationships between individuals in the union and environmental staff in their institution – its never to late to contact your union and offer to help!

The Awards Ceremony will be taking place at NUS Annual Dinner at Convention on 07 April 2009, and the best practice celebration booklet will be published after that date.

If you would like to find out more information about Sound Impact please visit www.nus.org.uk/sound.