The sustainability club of Tecnun, awarded for its good environmental practices.

The sustainability club of Tecnun, the School of Engineering of the University of Navarra, has been awarded as the best practice in the university world in the III Edition of award BASF. The statewide competition recognizes projects that contribute to the circularization of Economics. Organized by the BASF Group and the Club de Excelencia en Sostenibilidad with the collaboration of EFE Verde, it has awarded products or services in 6 categories: Large Company, SME, Start-Up, public administration, Academic World and knowledge dissemination. 

Elixabete Elosegi , a student from San Sebastian and head of Green Tecnun, expresses how "excited they were to receive this news, since there were almost 100 participating projects, and 42 in our category that were eligible for the award". Elosegi, a 3rd year student in Industrial Technologies Engineering, adds that "the value of Green Tecnun is that it is the students themselves who voluntarily promote projects that are successful". The club was born in 2017 and currently consists of 34 engineering students working on 18 projects focused on reducing the environmental footprint, promote sustainable behaviors or include Economics circular criteria in the activities of university life of Tecnun.  

"We are advising the automotive team of Tecnun eRacing to help them improve the circularity of the single-seater. They are initiating actions such as improving waste separation, reusing materials and tools or including filters in the sink to minimize spills," adds Ander Bastida, also from San Sebastian and student of 4th year in Biomedical Engineering.  

"Another exciting project is to use the oil from the cafeteria of Ibaeta to make soap in the campus. It is an initiative that we are developing, we already have the soap ready and now we are seeing how to implement its use in the campus", said Bastida.

In addition, the students try to raise awareness about the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling. Through social networks they inform about sustainable habits, initiatives and activities of the club and collaborations with sustainable organizations. It should be noted that Tecnun, the School of Engineering of the University of Navarra, supports student body according to their needs, with technical advice or equipment, such as the transfer of laboratories or materials.

Carmen Jaca, teacher at Tecnun and coordinator of university club, says that she presented the candidacy "to give voice to the work that Green Tecnun is developing to make our campus a more sustainable place, and thus, encourage them to continue working on this project, because it is a valuable activity for the university and can be an example for other universities".