Sustainability Day at Brighton Museum

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Last month we held a Sustainability Day for Royal Pavilion & Museums staff in Brighton Museum. The drop-in event was open to all staff to come along to find out about our commitment to make the organisation more sustainable.

During the event we had a recycling table to allow staff to discuss what can and can’t be recycled and ways to reduce single-use plastic. There was a display from our museum shops of items which could be used to be greener such as reusable water bottles, lunch holders and keep-cups for hot drinks.

The Brighton Dolphin Project had a stall sharing information about their work and their citizen science beach-clean projects – see Brighton Dolphin Project facebook for more information. https://www.facebook.com/brightondolphinproject/

During the event, staff heard talks from Mita Patel, Brighton & Hove City Council’s Sustainability Programme officer and Henry Christie, the council’s Energy & Water Project Officer. They told us about the work the council are doing around making the city more sustainable by reducing waste and saving energy.

Staff were interested in the recycling policy of the council and how the council are encouraging the use of more solar panels across the city.

Royal Pavilion & Museum staff have already made great changes to ensure the organisation is becoming more sustainable. A list of twenty-five changes we have achieved so far were displayed in the meeting ranging from reducing the use of bubble wrap, saving on heating and lighting when buildings are closed to setting up a costume hire store for events.  The retail team explained how they are attempting to create sustainable stores by ensuring the items stocked are environmentally sound and sourced from ethical and sustainable companies.

Staff were also asked to take on a challenge in their own behaviours to attempt to reduce waste or re-use whenever possible.

This was a great opportunity for staff to get involved in helping RPM become a more sustainable organisation. As an Arts Council England funded organisation, we are expected to report on our green measures and as part of BHCC we are committed to improve our carbon footprint as much as possible.  The newly-formed RPM EcoTeam has been set up to encourage more improvements to the service in the following year by working with museum teams across the five venues.

Caroline Sutton, Press Officer