Our Plastic Free culture

Arts University Plymouth recognises sustainability as a core principle in everything it delivers and is committed to continually improving its environmental performance.

The University has a Sustainability & Procurement Officer who focuses on improving the everyday sustainability of all campuses. Achievements so far include:

• Working with suppliers to reduce plastics where possible
• Banning pallet wrap from site
• Only using biodegradable bags for waste and recycling 
• Reusing and recycling as much as possible within everyday activities
• Working with caterers Baxterstorey to reduce plastic waste. BaxterStorey is an associate member of the Foodservice Packaging Association, and works with a member of the Sustainability & Government Affairs Committee to ensure the packaging industry’s ongoing commitment to sustainability and reduced environmental impact. Baxterstorey has: 
  – Changed plastic cutlery to wood
  – Reduced wrapping and plastics from veg/fruit supplier
  – Stopped meat supplier packing produce in secondary bags
  – Single-use plastic now biodegradable or compostable
  – Coffee cups biodegradable
  – Implementation of Keep cups
  – Takeaway packaging/wrapping biodegradable
  – Egg served in shell, nature’s packaging
  – Plastic cups, straws and bottled water for hospitality are no longer used on site. Reusable bottles for water are used.

About our University

Arts University Plymouth is an independent, specialist arts university run by artists and designers for artists and designers.

The university is widely regarded as a catalyst for individual, societal and ecological transformation, delivering innovative and distinctive learning, teaching and research through its interdisciplinary ecosystem of materials, processes, technologies and knowledge exchange.

Its 13,000 square metres of studios and workshops across four city-centre sites are filled with professional workspaces, studios and state-of-the-art facilities. Currently home to more than 1,500 students but with ambitions to grow, this vibrant community is a thriving creative hub of collaboration and innovation, thinking and making.

Arts University Plymouth’s LABS provide open access to workshops for all students across the range of disciplines, breaking down barriers and providing unique opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange.

Awarded University title in 2022, it was voted Winner of the Whatuni 2022 Award for Best Small or Specialist University, and voted the Top Arts University in the UK for student satisfaction in the 2022 National Student Survey.

The Tavistock Place campus is also home to Fab Lab Plymouth, Plymouth Arts Cinema, and MIRROR, the public gallery for the visual arts that recently co-hosted British Art Show 9 in 2022.

It also hosts the University’s flagship research conference Making Futures, widely celebrated as an international community of practice concerned primarily with craft and material practices.