IN CLASS

Take notes on your laptop (they’re much harder to lose and you won’t have as much to carry!). If you need to buy notebooks, look for school supplies made from recycled materials. 100% post-consumer content for paper is best.

PRO-TIP

You can take notes electronically for class or on PDFs of lecture slides with programs and applications like Microsoft OneNote, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Notion, Evernote, Roam Research, Bear, Apple Notes, Google Keep, Standard Notes, Slite, Ulysses and many others!

Clubs at IE

If you’re interested in playing an active role in promoting sustainability at IE, then you can choose from a variety of student-related groups on campus.
Here’s a list of just some of the groups that you can join to help generate awareness, think innovatively, and volunteer for this important cause. Find the one that’s right for you and make a difference!
For more information on ways to get involved at IE, go to: https://campuslife.ie.edu/

ECO CLUB SEGOVIA CHAPTER

Mission: We firmly believe that through education people can change their behaviors, therefore our ultimate goal is to inform students about existing alternatives and help them become more conscious of the actions they take.
Vision: Our vision is not limited to the walls of IE Campus, we want people who attend our events to implement what they have learned in their homes both in Spain and abroad. Our goal is to inspire smarter and environmentally friendly choices and to shed light on the reality of the current climate emergency – from a positive an optimistic perspective.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS CLUB

Mission: To bring awareness to topics regarding economic development in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development agenda while fundraising to bring real impact abroad through projects related to economic development.
Vision: We will strive to foster economic development via the UN’s 17 goals while bringing awareness about global development issues to the IE Community.

ROTARACT CLUB SEGOVIA

Mission: Rotaract IE Segovia is part of Rotary District 2201, the largest in Spain. The group helps students build pre-professional skills through networking and conferences hosted by the Rotary Club. As part of Rotary’s primary mission, students create and develop their own service projects in their communities as well.
The Rotaract club aims to serve the people, environment and animals of the local community in Segovia by working with NGOs. This is done through fundraising and active volunteering, in addition to growing a network of like-minded people.
Vision: We are focused on improving the lives of the people of Segovia, creating a more sustainable environment, and fostering partnerships between the university and service-oriented NGOs.

ECO CLUB MADRID CHAPTER

Mission: To encourage students to live a more sustainable lifestyle through environmentally friendly solutions.
Vision: Make the IE campus community aware of more sustainable choices. Topics will be decided based on the most pressing issues: recycling, waste management, efficient use of resources, food, transportation, etc.

CAMPUS89 CHAPTER

Mission: This is an initiative of UNICEF Spain aimed at university students. It is made up of groups of young people convinced that the well-being of children is everyone’s responsibility, and that they, from their own environments and circumstances, are capable of contributing to making children’s rights a reality. The Campus 89 Club hopes to inspire students by highlighting the work done by UNICEF, offering possible actions for change, tackling the SDG goals related to children and empowering our community to take an active stance towards a better future.
Vision: The Campus 89 Club is focused on children and base their events on dates that UNICEF celebrates with the goal of raising awareness of children’s rights and the limits they currently face.

NET IMPACT CLUB

Mission: The IE Net Impact Club is a member of the broader, international Net Impact organization that seeks to empower students and professionals to drive positive change in the workplace and the world. For the academic years 2012-2013 and 2018-2019, IE Net Impact Club achieved Gold standing among Net Impact Chapters.
Vision: We endeavor to increase awareness, inspire, and equip the IE community to bring environmental and social impact through business.

CHARITY CLUB

Mission: To organize and promote activities to raise funds to donate to local charities that help communities and people at risk of social or economic exclusion. To promote volunteer opportunities available in Madrid as well as all over the globe.
Vision: To inspire and encourage the IE community to build a better society, feel meaningful, benefit from cross-border opportunities, and meet people with the same purpose in life.

What else can you do?

Strive to make informed choices before you buy. Each purchase you make effectively says you support the practices of a brand. By doing a little research into a company’s responsible values, you can begin to ensure that your chosen store reflects your personal beliefs. For example, if you want to know where your clothing comes from, then you need to choose a brand that is transparent about their supply chain: the source of the raw materials, the safety and fairness of working conditions, and environmental awareness and sustainability practices.

THIRST PROJECT CLUB

Mission: Thirst Project is a nonprofit organization that works with the support of young people to END the global water crisis by building freshwater wells in developing communities that need safe, clean drinking water. Why Water? Health and Sanitation: waterborne diseases kill more children every single year than HIV, Malaria, and all world violence combined. Small children typically do not have strong enough immune systems to fight diseases like cholera, dysentery, or schistosomiasis.
Vision: Reducing child mortality rates by raising water crisis awareness within our community, spreading the word on the importance of local employment in all countries where IE has a presence.

EATING FOR SUSTAINABILITY

• Cook at home more often and use reusable dishes and utensils.
• Only purchase or prepare as much food as you can eat. Wasting food wastes the energy and water used in producing and transporting it.

Check out this website for more about how to cut down on food waste at home.

• Shop at farmers’ markets. Shopping locally supports community growers and small business economies.

Planting seeds of change

Try growing some of your own food. What could be more local? You don’t need a lot of space, just a small space on a balcony or a window box is enough space to grow herbs, fruits, and vegetables. Gratifying, less packaging and fewer food miles!

GO GREEN DIGITALY

• Set energy-saving features on your computer.
• Turn your computer off at night or when you are out of town. Also, do not turn your computer on until you are ready to use it.
• Remember:  the best screen saver is no screen saver at all.
• Don’t plug in your printer until you’re ready to print. Printers consume energy even while they’re idling. Also, try to print in “economy” mode; this saves ink and is usually just as legible as the more wasteful ink settings.

Did you Know?

The small surge in power to boot up a computer is significantly less than the energy needed to keep it running all night. Turning it off won’t damage the computer, and in fact, it does some good by resetting the system and clearing out caches.

BUY LESS, WASTE LESS

The planet isn’t big enough to hold all of our stuff if we keep consuming the way we do. Let’s do our best to try to minimize our consumption and waste using these tips:

Reduce

• Buy only what you need and use all of what you buy.
• Select products with minimal (or no) packaging.
• Choose products in packaging that can be easily recycled and, even better, is made from recycled material.
• Buy non-perishable food in bulk (i.e. beans, grains, flour, etc.). You will save money and reduce packaging waste!
• Take your reusable bag to the store.

Reuse

When you put something in a regular trash can, it goes into a landfill, end of story. Ask yourself first, can it be repaired, recycled, re-gifted, repurposed or composted? If the answer is yes, do that instead!

• When you replace something, donate the old one (if in good condition) to a local charity.
• When you need to buy something, check resale stores and charitable organizations first.

How about bamboo?

Plastic toothbrushes take over 400 years to decompose. You heard us right, over 400 years! That’s why bamboo toothbrushes are a good alternative: They are biodegradable and antimicrobial–which means they don’t harbor bacteria. You can also buy them in compostable packaging!

A trash can (or dumpster?) with your name on it.

We already know that everything we throw into the regular trash goes into a landfill. As a way to try to reduce your contribution to this dumpsite, try to visualize a receptacle with your name on it that includes every single thing you have ever or will ever throw into the (non-recycling, non-organic) trash…What do you see? How big do you want your container to be?

Shop smarter (and more sustainably!):

Consider an item’s life expectancy before you buy it. How long can the item be used? Will it have more than one use? When you’re done with it, will it end up in the trash? Start investing in reusable products for the items you most often throw away.

REDUCE YOUR WATER USE

Only 3% of water on Earth is fresh water, and only 0.5% is available for drinking. Sustainable water consumption means using our limited water supply wisely and caring for it properly.

• Don’t leave faucets running when brushing your teeth, shaving, or washing your hands or hair
• Limit showers to under 5 minutes. When you shorten your shower by a minute or two per day, you’ll save almost 600 liters of water per month. You’ll also conserve the energy used to heat the water.
• Only wash full loads of laundry and use cold water. This will consume 90% less energy than washing in hot and will also help your clothes maintain their color!
• Eat lower on the food chain. Producing one kilo of meat takes between 5 and 10 times the amount of water it does to produce one kilo of wheat.
• When handwashing dishes, use cold to lukewarm water rather than hot water. Also, don’t let the water run while scrubbing.

It´s all connected

Disposing of items such as oils in our sinks and non-biodegradable solids in our toilets creates solid masses that cause immense blockages in the sewers. This can lead to waste water flooding into streets and properties as well as the contamination of drinking water thereby causing a health hazard to wildlife and the local environment, not to mention the exorbitant energy consumption and expense required to remove them.

Where there’s smoke…

If you smoke, when you go outside, consider moving a couple of meters away from automatic doors. This way, they won’t continually open and close which wastes energy – both from the motion of the door as well as by making the heating or cooling system work extra hard to maintain the temperature inside.

SAVE ENERGY

• Unplug all electrical appliances when not in use and turn off lights when you leave the room.
• Take advantage of natural daylight when possible. Open the blinds and turn off your lights!
• Dress appropriately for the season. For example, wear layers of clothing during the winter months so you don’t have to turn up the thermostat.
• Keep thermostats set at 20ºC during the cold months and 24ºC during warm seasons Remember to close doors and windows when the heating or cooling systems are on.
• During the winter, open blinds, drapes, and curtains to allow sunlight in for solar heat gain. In the evenings, close blinds, drapes, and curtains to reduce thermal heat loss.
• Avoid the use of portable electric space heaters.
• Use LEDs (light-emitting diode bulbs) or CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) to save energy.
• Cut down on printing by reading e-mails and reviewing documents on the computer screen.
• When typing documents, format your document to as few pages as possible by using a smaller font, decreasing line spacing, and using double-sided printing.
• Always buy and use recycled-content paper. Look for paper with 50-100% post-consumer waste that is non-chlorine bleached.
• If possible, buy vegetable or non-petroleum-based inks. They’re made from renewable resources, require fewer hazardous solvents, and, in many cases, produce brighter, cleaner colors.
• Recycle your print cartridges.

HOW TO RECYCLE IN MADRID

It is important to know that when recycling it’s necessary to separate the packaging from the organic waste as much as possible, so that each material can be reused for something specific.  That means that you should fully empty and rinse containers before depositing them in a container.

By separating our trash, we’re all working together so that the most harmful waste to the environment can be eliminated in a controlled way.

Did you Know?

Used napkins and paper towels, cardboard that is dirty from oil or food scraps, wine corks, matches and sawdust can all be included in the compost container?

In Madrid, there are five types of containers:

Pro Tip

Appliance stores are obligated to take your used appliance when you buy a new one. They will then dispose of it properly.

PUNTO LIMPIO

There are other items that, due to their characteristics, must be recycled at the “puntos limpios”:

Cleaning supplies, medications, used oils, disinfectants, and other products with toxic materials should not be thrown down the sink or into the garbage can. In addition to the punto limpio, medicines and medication packaging can also be recycled in pharmacies.

Electrical and electronic devices must be discarded at the punto limpio or in the sales establishments for these devices.

X-rays include silver that can be recovered from them.

Metallic objects that contain brass, lead, copper or tin like large bed frames, screws, or door knobs can be recycled at the punto limpio.

Batteries can be discarded at the punto limpio, but there are also battery recycling containers, which are usually located at bus stops.

In the Community of Madrid there are both punto limpio stations and punto limpio trucks that will pick up items street side at your home. Call 010 to schedule a pick-up. You can find the list of punto limpio stations on this page or by calling 91 438 29 36.

HOW TO RECYCLE IN SEGOVIA

By separating our trash, we are all working together so that the most harmful waste to the environment can be eliminated in a controlled way.

In Segovia, there are seven types of containers:

Did you Know?

Window glass or broken glasses or plates should not be deposited in the green “vidrio” container because of their high lead content. These materials can be thrown away at a “Punto Limpio” (see next section).

Pro Tip

Appliance stores are obligated to take your used appliance when you buy a new one. They will then dispose of it properly.

PUNTO LIMPIO

There are other items that, due to their characteristics, must be recycled at the “punto limpio”:

Cleaning supplies, X-rays, thermometers, medications, disinfectants, and other products with toxic materials should not be thrown down the sink or into the garbage can. In addition to the punto limpio, medicines and medication packaging can be recycled in pharmacies.

Electrical and electronic devices, toner and ink cartridges, light bulbs and tubes must be discarded at the punto limpio.

Flat glass and crystal such as glasses, plates, cups, windows and doors, furniture, household fixtures and pruning and garden detritus all go to the punto limpio.

Metallic objects that contain brass, lead, copper or tin like large bed frames, screws, or door knobs can be recycled at the punto limpio.

In Segovia there are both punto limpio stations and punto limpio trucks that will pick up items at different places around Segovia all month long. See here for the schedule and locations.  You can check the list of the “punto limpio” stations on this page or call 921 412 700.