News and Events

Helping to make Greater Manchester a world-leading Green City Region is our priority. Our environment underpins all aspects of our daily lives. We face urgent and significant challenges presented by a changing climate that require us all to take action now if we are to achieve our goal of carbon-neutrality by 2038.

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Borro cups
Reducing Waste
savings
Published: 01/10/2024
News
Manchester, we need your help! Join the Borro Scheme and reduce waste

Every year, the UK uses around 3 billion takeaway cups, each serving a drink for just 15 minutes before being thrown away. This staggering waste amounts to over 200,000 miles of cups—enough to circle the earth eight times! But the good news is, this waste is avoidable.

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Repair Cafe Fixers
Reducing Waste
savings
Published: 01/10/2024
Blog
Local sustainability Champions: Moss Side Repair Café

We caught up with Emily Corner, Operations Manager at Sow the City who runs the Boiler House to find out how the R4GM Community Fund has helped to make a difference to their project…

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Local Nature Recovery Strategy
Published: 25/09/2024
Blog
Previewing the priorities of our plan for nature: urban green spaces and buildings

We’re previewing the draft priorities in our Local Nature Recovery Strategy, starting with urban green spaces and buildings.

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St Margaret Mary's Primary School and Mayor of GM
Reducing Waste
Education & Skills
Published: 18/09/2024
News
NEW Schools Wanted in Greater Manchester to Host Eco Refill Shops

Following the success of the School Eco Refill Shop pilot over the last 9 months, Greater Manchester Combined Authority are inviting more schools in the region to apply for funding to set-up their own small business, selling a range of environmentally friendly products.

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Nature recovery
Published: 16/09/2024
News
Local Nature Champions: Michelle Gondo, green community project coordinator

In our next Local Nature Champions interview, we speak to Green Spaces Fund project coordinator Michelle Gondo.

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Greater Manchester Youth Combined Authority group photo
Published: 11/09/2024
Blog
For Planet – Young people changing the world one action at a time

For Planet is an ambitious youth movement led by Youth Focus North West in partnership with the Environment Agency, that tackles the climate emergency and alleviates climate anxiety amongst young people through a mobile app…

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Events

See our upcoming events below.

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Take action…

To make a big change, we must all take small actions. Becoming greener and making an impact is easier than you might think. We have put together a range of blogs, articles, toolkits and checklists to help you make a start.

Explore resources

Although we set out with a simple mission to reduce plastic waste, we’ve quickly realised that it’s just one piece in the sustainability puzzle. One of the biggest, but most easily attainable actions we can achieve is to look at where our goods come from and reduce the carbon footprint needed to get a product from manufacturer to consumer. Many of the products we stock are made by local, independent manufactures, who provide us with a wide range of things from reusable face wipes, wax food wraps, face coverings, soap bars, plant pots, kitchen cloths/sponges and butty bags.

Carl from Lentils and Lather

Our aim is to start changing the habits of families in Greater Manchester by getting them to ‘borrow’ rather than ‘buy’ brand new toys. We’re making sure that toys can be reused again and again by children who need and want them – and they are not just sitting in a cupboard or under someone’s bed.

Kim from That Toy Thing

The best part of upcycling is that old furniture is often better made than the equivalent flat-packed furniture we get today and with a little bit of time, love and care, you can create a completely unique piece of furniture for your home that no one else will have. I also love that these pieces of furniture have a history of their own and through transforming and updating them we can breathe a new lease of life into them.

Hannah from Tread Softly

The Green Recovery Challenge Fund is providing a further boost to the ambitions of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership to create a thriving, inspirational and connected landscape. It supports the recovery of wildlife through habitat creation and improvement as well as community recovery through providing opportunities for local people to develop skills, knowledge and beneficial connections to their local natural environment.

Jo Kennedy, Coordinator of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership

The reason I signed up to the Green Homes Grant scheme was two-fold, selfishly the measures will add value to the properties and make them more valuable in the future. But more importantly it benefits the tenants, keeping them warmer and prevents problems like damp and condensation. Ultimately measures like external wall insulations should keep tenants happier and ensure they remain in the house for longer.

Neil, Rochdale property owner

We used to think we didn’t have enough time to shop on our local market because we were working; how wrong we were?  We discovered it is an amazing place to shop for plastic free. We swapped tea bags for tea leaves and coffee jars for beans which we buy from The Market Grounds on Ashton Market – well worth a visit as the homemade cakes are delicious. All the stall holders have been amazing, not one of them minds us taking our containers to be filled with meat from the butchers. We get our bread, cheese, fruit and veg from the market too.

Julie from Ashton-under-Lyne

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

The Business Growth Hub has given us focus and extra knowledge. They’ve helped us form the base to grow sustainably and work efficiently as a team while making us conscious of our environmental impact as a business.

 

Ollie Birchall, Founder of Nutri Bar

I’ve not really been a cyclist throughout my life, more of a runner to be honest. And certainly not commuted. But I just thought if I’m going to change, surely now is the moment to change. I’m feeling the personal benefits of doing it. You just feel better when you come into work. It clears your head. There are benefits of cutting congestion, cleaning up the air. Everyone benefits when people cycle.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester

We think our water fountain is INCREDIBLE, it’s the perfect place for people to ‘refill’ and help themselves to any of the free edibles we’ve got growing in Market Place. We’re so grateful to all the organisations that helped make this happen. Alongside the plastic free motion that was passed by council and helped us achieve our first Surfers Against Sewage objective and in turn our Plastic Free Community status, it shows real commitment in reducing plastic waste and supporting our community.

 

Pete Fillery, Plastic Free Rammy and Incredible Edible Ramsbottom

I guess I’ve always been what you would call a conscious consumer. I’ve always detested plastic bags, all of my skin care products at home are plastic-free, vegan, and sustainable. My toothbrush is made of bamboo, there’s no plastic anywhere in the house. Everything in the salon has to be vegan – that was the first rule for me. We started with one brand of haircare products that was vegan, organic, and Fairtrade, but the distributor in the UK was wrapping all of the deliveries in plastic, and it felt really needless, so we ditched them.

 

Rachael, Gronn eco-salon in Bury

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

 

Kat Mulhall, Victoria Baths Trust, Manchester

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