Campaign Month "Sustainable September"

Each year, enormous amounts of waste end up in the oceans. Millions of tons of plastic pollute the environment, with a majority of waste entering the oceans via rivers. Against this backdrop, the University of Bonn will be participating in this year’s RhineCleanUp event again and is inviting all of its members and their families to join in.

We will clean up the Rhine from head to mouth by removing trash from the riverbeds. The project aims to raise awareness that waste must not be thrown away carelessly or, even better, that it should be avoided in the first place.

Saturday, September 10

10:00 am to 2:00 pm 

Meeting point: “Beueler Bahnhöfchen” Restaurant, Rheinaustraße 116, 53225 Bonn-Beuel

We will be providing gloves and trash bags, but feel free to bring your own gloves or equipment.

To facilitate planning, please register in advance via email prorektorat.nachhaltigkeit@uni-bonn.de.

Anyone who’s dropping by spontaneously is just as welcome!

We can’t wait to see you!

To secure a future worth living in, the member states of the United Nations adopted the Agenda 2030. This global plan is based upon 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), some of which we will introduce during the Global Week to #ACT4SDGS.

Find out more about the Sustainable Development Goals, exciting projects at the University of Bonn and learn how each one of us can do their bit to create a more sustainable future.

We join the #ACT4SDGS campaign on University of Bonn social media channels September 17-28.

Like to send your old, worn-out jeans for recycling and make an active contribution to climate action in the process? No problem! From September 1 to 30, jeans and denim scraps containing at least 95% cotton can be placed in our collection bins. 

The denim used in jeans is very good for recycling. Making jeans consumes resources, particularly a lot of water. We are working together with the IGLU initiative, whose commitment and dedication has enabled no less than 7.19 tons (6,530 kg) of jeans to be collected up and sent for recycling since March 2020. This has saved over 11 million gallons (around 43 million liters) of water and 110 tons (100 metric tons) of CO2 emissions.

Join in!

You can find the bins in two places:

• University of Bonn Information Desk (Am Hof 1, 53113 Bonn)
• Foyer of the lecture hall center on the Poppelsdorf Campus (CP1)

You can find more information about the jeans recycling scheme here.

Germany produces over 12 million tons (around 11 million metric tons) of food waste every year. The week-long nationwide "Germany Saves Food" campaign is taking action against food waste.

On Friday, September 30, therefore, we are offering free potatoes, apples and other food that was saved from going to waste. 

You can find us at the Kartoffelschrank (potato cabinet) on the Wiesengut farm in Endenich: Auf dem Hügel 6, INRES Institute.

From 12 noon to 7 pm, you can pick up delicious organic potatoes grown at the Wiesengut, the University’s own organic research farm. Please bring your own bag.

The so-called Drillinge (triplets) are small potatoes that are sifted out during harvest because it would be too much effort to get them ready for sale. Being too good to go to waste, of course, these potatoes are usually fed to the Wiesengut’s own cows.

You can pick apples from our orchards from 12 noon to 5 pm. Instead of ending up on the ground, the apples might then make it on top of a delicious cake or as apple sauce accompanying the first dishes of the fall.

From 4 pm to 6 pm, we will be joined by a Foodsharing Fairteiler stand offering free food that was saved from going to waste. The stand is operated by our partner "NEiS: Nachhaltige Ernährung im Studienalltag" (sustainable everyday eating for students), an initiative of the Verbraucherzentrale NRW consumer association.

We can’t wait to see you!

“Too good to go to waste!” forms part of the National Strategy for Food Waste Reduction devised by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).

Talk and workshop on preserving fruit and vegetables in the fall. This event is organized by CampusAckerdemie, Biology Didactics and the NEiS project, an initiative of the Verbraucherzentrale NRW consumer association.

Fancy eating fruit you picked yourself come Christmas? Not a problem, provided you know how to preserve it. Curing, fermenting, drying—there are many things you can do in the fall with produce from your back garden at harvest time that will enable you to enjoy them a few months down the line.

The event is being held on September 21 (Wednesday) to coincide with the end of the CampusAckerdemie season and will be in three parts:

• Farm visit (4 pm to 5 pm): How can you grow your own fruit and vegetables? We’ll show you our very own CampusAcker farm, where trainee teachers learn to do exactly that so that they will be able to plant or look after their own school garden one day. (Participation optional—no need to register)

Meeting point: CampusAcker, behind the lecture hall center on the Poppelsdorf Campus

• Talk (5 pm to 6 pm): Michael Bonke will explain various techniques for preserving fruit and vegetables. (no need to register)

Meeting point: Botany lecture hall (Nussallee 4, 53115 Bonn)  

• Workshops: Following on from the talk, discover the art of fermentation.

Meeting point: Botany lecture hall (the workshops will be held in classroom 2 in the Nees Institute)

1. Workshop: 6 pm to 7 pm
2. Workshop: 7 pm to 8 pm (will only take place if there is high demand)

Registration

You will need to register in advance using this link.

+++ The deadline for registration is Monday, September 19, 12am +++

Please also bring along the following utensils to the workshop:

- Chopping board

- Largish, sharp vegetable knife

- Vegetable slicer or mandoline

- Large bowl (for kneading sauerkraut)

We look forward to seeing you on September 21!

• September 19: HumboldtN Summer School—poster exhibition entitled “Humboldtⁿ fokussiert: under pressure. Nachhaltigkeit und ihre Spannungsfelder” (“Humboldtⁿ in focus: under pressure. Sustainability and its tensions”) and get-together with researchers

• September 22: Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation Science Slam.

• September 30: CASSIS panel discussion entitled “Assessing Climate and Security Research in North Rhine-Westphalia” More information right here.

• September 30: scythe training at the INRES Institute—from 9 am onward, students will be learning how to tend a garden sustainably using scythes. Interested spectators are welcome. (Contact: Dr. Andreé Hamm)