The Sustainability Hub
The Maastricht Sustainability Hub is a unique initiative: a space dedicated to collaboration, experimentation, and knowledge exchange between different students and student organisations with an active interest in sustainability. The Hub is run by Sustainable UM2030 and the UM Green Office.
Everything started last year when the building was opened and it’s an ever-growing, ever-evolving project, actively looking for new people to get involved/become active in promoting sustainability.
But how does it work? The Hub/the Sus. Hub, as its inhabitants often call it, is a working space that has managed to bring together a diverse community of students whose aim is to promote sustainability in all its shapes and forms. Lectures, movie nights, workshops, repair evenings, and the occasional jam sessions can all be found here. Informal, fun, interactive, and informative is what we strive to be when interacting with other students.
The Hub is a young but mighty community housing many innovative projects, ideas, initiatives, and quite a few start-ups, touching different areas, from recycling, climate awareness, and housing to food waste. We asked some of the organisations dwelling within our building to share a highlight, or achievement from the past year.
“Thanks to the infrastructure and support received by the Sustainability Hub and its proactive community, the KAN party was able to work on several student matters in the last year, with one of our biggest achievements being the initiative SOS Maastricht. SOS Maastricht was awarded the UM Student Award 2022 for its immediate response to the distressed student housing environment, by not only providing short-term housing relief through establishing a couch-surfing platform but also by lobbying for mid- and long-term housing solutions on a municipality level.” - Moritz, KAN Party
“Eatly is a student startup dedicated to reducing food waste and contribute to a sustainable future. Together with local farmers, we collect these misshaped fruits and veggies and sell them to individuals and restaurants to give these greens a second chance! Since its foundations, Eatly has saved 6.700kg of fruits and veggies, recently hired new amazing team members and is still in the process of ongoing recruitments!” - Emma, Eatly
“Sustainable Students Maastricht, a student-led nonprofit focusing on motivating students to become imperfect environmentalists all doing our part by making incremental change. Some of the highlights from our activities are our promotion of local second-hand businesses and sustainable shopping habits at the Vintage Day in June. But also the facilitation of incremental change by our accessory swap party, “ReSUSSYtate” and our climate change inspired haunted house, “The Hub of Eco-horrors” - Bo, Sustainable Students Maastricht
But where exactly is the Sustainability Hub? A question often asked by students, the Sustainability Hub is housed in the Tapijn A building of the Tapijn complex, the watch tower building as its often described. The building has not yet been renovated so facilities tend to be limited and low-tech. But this is exactly what makes the historical building a perfect place for experimentation and innovation, what gives us the necessary freedom to facilitate change.
The Sustainability Hub has its own page on the UM sustainability website. Soon you'll find more news on events and other activities about the Hub here, so keep checking it out.
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