As developers of the built environment, AF Bostäder has a sustainability mission that is out of the ordinary – to inspire our young tenants to make more sustainable choices in life. They are our future.
AF Bostäder is to be Sweden’s best student housing company. To do that, we must have strong sustainability management. As the landlord for some of the world’s most important people – our students – good sustainability management is particularly important.
In our corridors are tomorrow’s researchers, leaders, authors, parents and politicians. They are the youth of today, but will become the next generation’s role models. Helping them to acquire a strong awareness of how we can achieve a sounder climate and an inclusive life, marked by diversity and gender equality, has a greater value than perhaps we can understand today.
What does sustainability mean for the student collective? For the students, sustainability is not a diffuse vision or a wish – it is self-evident. At the same time, our hopes for the future do not always practice what they preach. In many cases, they are not particularly sustainable at all. For example, not all of them throw their refuse and cigarette ends in the designated places, or sort their refuse.
Waste sorting stations are in place at all our housing areas, but when in 2018 we conducted an analysis of the tenants’ residual waste, up to 85% should have been in other categories – for recycling. A large proportion of this was food, which when correctly sorted could be converted into biogas. There is a lot to do on this!
At AF Bostäder, we focus on sustainability throughout our operations, and in many cases it involves offering our tenants options for making sustainable choices. For example, we not only have ambitious systems for waste handling in our areas, but also associated information campaigns. In 2018, we installed two laundry rooms at Vildanden, where the students can wash their clothes clean – completely without chemicals. We have also devoted energy to providing inspirational information on this project.
These measures are within the framework of our management activities, but we are prepared to go even further and get closer to our tenants in a way that exceeds other’s expectations. As we have the advantage of working in an independent organisation in which we can influence significant people, we will also take the opportunity to try to use that influence. We like to go the extra mile in order to provide inspiration for a sustainable life.
During 2018, we have sent out invitations for plogging, supported Lundapride and sponsored students to take part in the Lundaloppet fun run. That is just the start. If you live with us, you can reckon that we will get even more involved in future – for the sake of the future. If we can inspire greater awareness in a younger generation to make wiser choices, that, ultimately, is our most important sustainability initiative.
Latest update April 8, 2019