EcoChallenge
The Colleges and Green Lancaster run a sustainability challenge to encourage students to ‘think green’ and find ways to make life on campus more sustainable. Each team is coached by an academic, who will work with them to develop their concept into a plausible proposal, before presenting it to a panel of judges. The successful team wins a cash prize and the chance to make their project a reality.
Furness was the 2018 winner of the challenge with their idea of introducing rooftop gardens and living walls across campus. Congratulated on their quality and depth of research by the judges, the team won on the feasibility of the idea and took home a cash prize.
In 2025, Furness won the challenge with 'Binnovation'. A community-based project focused on improving the attractiveness, safety, and knowledge of the campus bin stores and recycling. Judges praised all the entrants for their engaging pitches and were pleased to see some real-life problems addressed by actionable solutions. The team won a cash prize, as well as having the EcoChallenge trophy displayed in the college trophy cabinet. The team have the opportunity to further develop and actualise their projects through Work in Progress.