YMCA Plymouth
Organisation Bio
YMCA Plymouth is an education, health & families charity, serving young people and our community. We are guided by a friendly & personable approach where all people can belong, contribute and thrive.
We are a local and independent charity affiliated to the federation of YMCAs in England & Wales.
Our services are primarily delivered across two sites; our main centre on Honicknowle Lane, Plymouth and our satellite facility, Torpoint & Rame Community Sports Centre.
About our climate journey
At YMCA Plymouth we are proud to be setting our centre on the path to Net Zero with a host of green initiatives that will make our centre cleaner and greener for everyone in our community. We believe it’s vital to play our part in combating the climate crisis facing our planet and we’re pleased to share with you the concrete measures we are taking and have already taken to move our charity towards Net Zero.
Over the past 18 months, we’ve taken significant measures to reduce our carbon footprint and we have more exciting green projects starting soon. Examples of our climate journey to date include:
1) Future Net Zero Benchmark - We’ve partnered with experts and the Future Net Zero Standard to officially certify our carbon footprint and track its change over time. This means we can accurately verify our path to Net Zero and identify whether we are on track to our goal and where we can work to improve.
2) Green Tourism Award (Bronze) - We’re proud to have joined the Green Tourism certification programme, giving us expert advice and guidance to become a more sustainable business. We’re proud to be one of the first organisations in Plymouth to sign-up as part of city-wide efforts to promote sustainable practices across a range of sectors in the local economy.
3) Plastic Free Pledge Award - We’ve dramatically cut down the use of plastics in our centre by removing single-use plastic cutlery in our bistro and by installing a water fountain alongside providing reusable water bottles for our centre users. We’ve also signed up to the Plymouth Plastic Free Directory as part of our continued efforts to cut down our use of plastics.
4) Installation of Solar Panels (Grant Funded) - Making use of our extensive sports hall roof, we have recently installed an array of solar panels to generate clean energy for our centre. Whilst the solar panels won’t generate all the energy required by our centre, they will play a big part in significantly reducing the energy we use from fossil fuel sources.
5) LED Light Conversion programme - A big centre like ours requires a lot of lighting. Across our two sports halls, studios, offices and outdoor pitches we have been on a mission to change all our outdated, high-energy-consuming lighting, with greener eco-friendly LEDs. Over the past two years, we’ve changed a staggering 320 lights (including large sports hall lights and outdoor floodlights), saving about 10x as much energy as previously.
6) Zero to Landfill - We are working with sustainable waste partners to ensure that as little as possible waste ends up at landfill. Not only are typical types of waste recycled, but further waste that can’t be recycled is taken to be converted into energy at specialist plants instead of ending up in landfills.
7) Community Garden & Allotment - We’ve converted an unused concrete space into a thriving urban orchard and community garden which supplies a local food bank. We planted over 22 fruit trees and have 180 square metres of growing space for a variety of fruit and vegetables. The space is maintained by volunteers and used for community workshops and activities, whilst all the fruit and veg produce is donated to local people in need.
8) Modern insulation programme - Improving our energy efficiency is vital to reducing our carbon footprint. For a large building like ours, built in the 1970s, we have worked hard to insulate our building to reduce the amount of gas heating we use. We recently added extensive extra insulation across our entire main sports hall roof, including the top and side cladding layers.
9) E-Bike Hub / EV Charge Points (Grant Funded) - At YMCA Plymouth one of our key strategic aims is encouraging good health and wellbeing. E-bikes are a fantastic way for people to travel in a way that is both good for their health and for the environment. We’re proud to be chosen as a Plymouth Mobility Hub which will host e-bikes that can be hired and used throughout the city. Additionally, as part of being a city-wide mobility hub, we will also be installing electric car charging points on site and will continually look to grow the availability of these as electric car usage increases. Having charging points on a site like ours will reduce ‘range anxiety’ for electric car drivers who can simply charge up while visiting our centre.
