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Sustainability Principles

The University of Salford Art Collection (UOSAC) works on a range of events and exhibitions, often in collaboration with artists and other organisations. Our programme regularly covers themes of environment, nature, sustainability and climate change, creating spaces where people can come together, connect with ideas and research around our natural world, and explore some of the most urgent issues of our time.

We are committed to putting sustainability into practice, remaining accountable and informed, and encouraging our collaborators to do the same. This includes making responsible choices in our personal lives. We recognise that individual and organisational commitments should be appropriate, scalable and achievable within time and resources; and should not impact accessibility, safe working, or archival standards of care and preservation.

Our actions and principles include:

Local art handling and installation company M&G unloading artwork for CATALYST.

Transport

  • Choosing public transport options wherever possible and practical, taking into consideration personal safety, accessibility needs, travel efficiency, and artwork/ equipment security. Where car use is required, consider more petrol-efficient route options, and car-sharing if applicable.
  • Reducing or combining vehicle use – e.g. using part-loads when transporting goods with couriers and selecting eco-options for mail couriers; which may mean factoring in longer lead-times.
  • Encouraging flexible working from home as long as business need are met; ensuring colleagues remain supported and connected whilst reducing carbon impacts of commuting.
  • Encouraging our visitors to choose public transport, providing information about local travel options e.g. on our ticket booking pages.
  • Minimising unnecessary UK or international travel, whilst ensuring professional relationships are maintained and professional development and research continues.
High quality Jiffy bags that we use for art transportation – we reuse these as many times as possible and rarely buy new ones.

Materials

  • Prioritising re-use over new purchases and challenging existing habits; for example avoiding excessive repainting of gallery walls, and sharing existing equipment rather than buying new.
  • Choosing lower impact materials for artwork / exhibition production and encouraging our artists and partners to do the same; e.g. using non-toxic inks for printing.
  • Investing in reusable packaging materials such as sturdy crates, blankets, padded artwork bags, waterproof sheets, canvas tying straps and paper-based tapes; minimising or eliminating single-use plastics.
  • Encouraging responsible recycling whenever reuse is not possible, including passing on materials for students and artists to reuse or ‘upcycle’.
  • Minimising waste through careful use of supplies; e.g. avoiding printing excessive flyers/handouts and replacing these with returnable copies (e.g. gallery guides) or digital copies (e.g. flyers).
Our gallery handouts for CATALYST were made with recycled paper, and used rice-based inks. These were also printed and made on site by our university’s RISO workshop.

Procurement

  • Prioritising local suppliers to save on transport miles, and those with good eco-credentials
  • Using recycled and/or FSC certified papers for all printing, and e.g. Katz board (wood-pulp based) display board instead of non-recyclable mountboards
  • Sourcing local, plant-based and plastic free options for catering and avoiding ‘buffet style’ serving where possible, which can leave excessive food waste if not planned carefully. Avoid offering lunch/food at day events and encourage ‘bringing your own’ or directing to local suppliers such as TOFS and SM&AG.
  • Eliminating single-use event materials such as name-tags, printed agendas, merchandise, and disposable cups or cutlery.
  • Challenging our suppliers where e.g. unneccessary wrapping is used; requesting items are sent out in alternative materials; and opting for recycled and recyclable materials.
Steph and Sam at the Green Impact Awards 2024 for our continued progression to be more sustainable in everything we do.

Everyday practises

  • Maintaining good digital practices by minimising large file storage and transfer; reviewing file storage regularly to ensure large amounts of data or duplicates are not held long term. Also avoiding unnecessary use of AI, which has a high carbon footprint.
  • Maximising efficient energy use – through careful purchasing and use of equipment; and where purchases are necessary choosing options with the best energy efficiency rating. Managing our venues / facilities carefully (with our Estates teams) including turning off devices and lighting when not in use. Opting for the stairs instead of the lift if possible and accessible.
  • Continuous improvement – remaining accountable and keeping up to date with best practices and available training, engaging with the Green Impact Awards, Carbon Literacy Training, and other sector networks; and working to support the University-wide Sustainability strategy
  • Sharing best practice – within our team as a standing item on our weekly agenda; and with our wider internal and external partners – feeling comfortable to ‘call out’ bad practices and work together towards positive solutions.
  • Embedding sustainability messages in all of our student and graduate engagement, for example sharing sustainable options in our live brief, internships and exhibition modules
  • Incorporating a sustainability commitment in all partner contracts/agreements
  • Prioritising good practices first over ‘carbon offsetting’ which can be of limited effectiveness. (Some of our artists choose to contribute to nature restoration through e.g. donating to the Woodland Trust when printing new artworks on paper).
  • Committing to an ongoing programme of exhibitions, events, residencies and collaborations with our academics, researchers and wider partners to bring issues of environment, nature, sustainability and climate change to broad public audiences.

Last reviewed: March 2025