Recycling Your Creative Materials
An easy way for UAL Students to practice better sustainability and save money.
Anyone who works in creative art knows the materials are not cheap. For students, this is an especially hard truth. When the average price for a single tube of oil paint can cost around four to ten pounds, “you start to think of your project in terms of price and amount waste. It can really take away from what you are trying to create sometimes,” says University of the Arts London (UAL) fine art student, Maria Schnapp.
Starting in January, UAL took a small step to address the issue of supply cost and waste among their art students and create a more environmentally aware working environment.
UAL’s Student Communications claims UAL disposes of around 1,000 tons of waste which accounts for 23 tons of carbon emissions in an average year. In efforts to reduce this number (while also dealing with student income issues and a global housing crisis), UAL’s sustainability team created “Re-Use Units” to help students get the supplies they need to create.
The Units are located at three of the University campuses: London College of Communication, Chelsea College of Art and Design, and London College of Fashion at Lime Grove. Each unit allows for students to leave scrap materials from past projects for others to use when needed. Creating a sort of “take one leave one” library for art supplies that also acts as a way to help combat issues of academic struggle related to being able to afford quality materials.
The Unit has space for materials ranging from small paints and adhesives to larger more bulky items like irons, and fabrics. Designed with the idea that whatever you may need, you may have.
As an art student, it can be hard to find the line between trying to live and create in a sustainable way and producing art that is well-versed and well-made. Committing to making sustainable choices when dealing with waste and materials is sometimes overshadowed by affordability and convenience. “I have definitely been guilty of looking at nearly empty paint tubes, or leftover canvas paper that I have no use for and making the decision to just throw it away,” says Schnapp.
So, as springtime rolls in and the end of terms quickly come around, the recycling efforts put in place at UAL campuses are a way to act more sustainably both economically and environmentally.
