On 20 October our UPP self-catered residences (Lafrowda, Rowe House, St German’s, Birks Grange Village and Duryard) introduced a food waste recycling service which is to be utilised by all residents within these areas (not including studio flats). Any food waste including: meat, fish, tea bags, fruit and vegetables etc can be placed into the new green food caddies, situated within the communal kitchens. The content of these food caddies are to be taken to the residence bin stores and emptied into the main food waste bins. These are then emptied weekly (every Friday) by our contractor (UKWSL) and taken to a Biogas plant for treatment and recycling through the anaerobic digestion process. (Don’t worry, I had to use Google to find out what that meant too). A big thank you to Barbara Bodkin of UPP who has worked really hard to get this process in place. This is a great big green step forward for the University of Exeter and we couldn’t be more excited by the news.

I’m now going from throwing food away to eating plenty of it…do you fancy a break from cooking and washing all of those dirty dishes? Why not come on over to one of our catered hall dining rooms at either Exeter Halls, Birks Grange or Holland Hall and treat yourself to a meal where it’s all done for you! Check out the Catered Halls page to see current menus (warning – you will salivate upon reading) and a break down of prices. You are welcome to pop along by yourself and make some new friends or even bring your flatmates.  Our catering teams are on hand to offer a warm and friendly welcome alongside a wide selection of food to ensure you don’t leave feeling hungry! You are also welcome to join any of the themed catered events which take place throughout the year. If you have no idea where the catered halls are based, check out the campus map  and the catered halls are located at points 34, 62 and 66.

Are you currently living at Rowancroft but have lectures at the Streatham Campus? Did you know that there is a free shuttle bus  which runs Monday-Friday at 08:30, 09:15 and 10:00 during term time.

Do you live in Nash Grove? Are you concerned about energy consumption? The Students’ Green Unit are looking to recruit  a student lead to front a project based around the energy consumed within Nash Grove. The project is an education based campaign which aims to get students who are currently living within Nash Grove thinking about the energy they use and how it can be easily reduced. There is even the suggestion of arranging inter-flat competitions with weekly prizes (Ben & Jerry’s ice cream was even mentioned as a suggested prize!) – Oh if only I was a student! For further information please visit the website.

If you are a semester two student who will be joining us between January – June 2015, the applications will be open this Monday (10 November 2014) for students to stay in our James Owen Court residence. Please visit our website for further information.

I would like to say a massive thank you to those who were able to help at the Birks Grange Village clean up on Wednesday of last week. See the pictures below for those that helped and to see what was collected in only an hour and a half. From these pictures, we can see that litter has unfortunately become a bit of an unwelcome issue and we need to use the recylcing facilities provided to keep our campus looking lovely.

Remember, remember the fifth of November… well that’s today, so have a great night tonight everyone enjoying any firework displays that you’re going to. If you haven’t booked in to see one yet, then take a look at what’s happening in the local area.

Accommodation Catherine