The National Australian University's (ANU) Environmental Management Plan, drawn up in 1999, provides for the creation of a department, ANUgreen, responsible for implementing the environmental management program. The Green Office Program was set up by this department with the aim of promoting changes in awareness among the members of the university in order to encourage more environmentally sustainable daily practices. The idea behind the Green Office Program is to have a positive influence on all the university's members of staff who work in offices.
The Green Office project began in 2004, when it received funding from both local and national government environmental agencies, as well as the institutional support of the university. The public agencies provide around US$5,000 to the program's annual budget and the university pays the salary of the Green Office coordinator.
The Green Office coordinator is responsible for training the participants in this project and producing material such as guides and recommendations for the program. There are two ways of participating in the program: as a Green Office Coordinator, or as a student participating in voluntary work. all this stuff
Environmentally responsible management is one of the first steps towards ensuring changes in environmental awareness among the University’s community members. The monitoring of changes in daily practices can have direct and immediate effects that bring about more rational resource management for promoting environmental awareness.
Another positive factor regarding the implementation of the programme is that it does not entail additional expense for the institution. On the contrary, money will be saved in day-to-day management practices.
The National Australian University's (ANU) Environmental Management Plan, drawn up in 1999, provides for the creation of a department, ANUgreen, responsible for implementing the environmental management programme. The Green Office Program was set up by this department with the aim of promoting changes in awareness among the members of the University in order to encourage more environmentally sustainable daily practices. The idea behind the Green Office Program is to have a positive influence on all the University's members of staff who work in offices.
The Green Office project began in 2004, when it received funding from both, local and national government environmental agencies, as well as the institutional support of the University. The public agencies provide around US$5,000 to the programme's annual budget and the University pays the salary of the Green Office coordinator.
The Green Office coordinator is responsible for training the participants in this project and producing material such as guides and recommendations for the programme. There are two ways of participating in the programme: as a Green Office Coordinator, or as a student participating in voluntary work.
The Green Office's objectives are:
To bring about changes in awareness in the institution so that environmentally friendly work becomes the norm.
To inform the members of the University of the three principles of environmentally friendly resource management—rethink, reduce and recycle—and to promote these principles in all processes that are designed to bring about changes in the management of the University.
To promote the following measures among members of the university community, students and professional staff:
Using sustainable transport
Reducing the environmental impact of the university's consumption
Reducing energy consumption
Minimizing waste
Minimizing water consumption and the risk of pollution
Protecting biodiversity
The main activities of the program involve direct action in the University's offices and departments. The main areas of action are:
1. Assigning Green Office Coordinators. 2. Auditing departments and workplaces. 3. Generating awareness among the university community. 4. Drawing up partnership agreements with the University's Purchasing Office.
During its first year, 10 departments joined the program; by 2005 there were a total of 25. It is hoped that all university departments will become involved during 2006.
Each participating office has a Green Office Coordinator working as an ANUgreen volunteer. The Green Office Coordinator is given information, awareness materials and material resources in order to carry out the activities he or she considers necessary. The Green Office Program is coordinated centrally but is completely independent from the initiatives of the coordinators in each workplace.
The program is designing a strategic plan to ensure that as many departments as possible become involved, and to make the tools necessary for improving environmentally responsible practices available to all the campus’s users. Interviews are held with all heads of department so as to obtain their unconditional support. Computer technicians are other key partners for promoting changes in environmental awareness. The Green Office works with them to publish information and improve the technical mechanisms for bringing about more sustainable practices.
There are also participants and volunteers among the students. Their tasks are awareness raising and environmental auditing. The students attend training sessions and are monitored by the Green Office coordinator.
The University's Purchasing and Contracts Office works in cooperation with the Green Office to establish environmentally responsible consumption criteria. Some of the actions taken are:
The publication of a guide to responsible consumption aimed at those in charge of purchasing material for each of the University’s units.
The signing of a cooperative agreement between the Green Office and the Purchasing Office establishing joint criteria for contracting and purchasing services. Negotiations are currently taking place with the University to promote the purchase of ecological and fair-trade products.
ANUgreen collaborates with other Australian universities to promote the exchange of experiences and to move forward more quickly towards the objective of a change in environmental awareness on university campuses. This collaboration includes an annual conference, organized by the 'Australian Campuses Towards a Sustainability Network', during which the different universities share their experiences.
In 2004 and 2005, a total of 25 university departments joined the Green Office Program. The main objectives of the programme are awareness raising and education for sustainability among the members of the University. It is difficult to evaluate how successfully these objectives were attained, though some quantitative results do exist. For example, we have seen a reduction in paper consumption: white paper consumption has decreased by 25 per cent, while the consumption of 100 per cent recycled paper has increased by 56 per cent and the consumption of 50 per cent recycled paper has increased by 32 per cent. The net consumption of white paper per person has therefore decreased by 6 per cent.
Environmental audits are held in 11 of the 25 departments that participate in the Green Office Program. There are 15 audits in all, since partial audits are carried out in some departments (energy consumption, waste management, etc.). Five of these audits were conducted by students on the Environmental Accounting course, which is run by the Faculty of Economics and Commerce. Student participation is voluntary, but collaboration with the Green Office provides them with practical experience for their studies. All other audits were carried out by Green Office volunteers.
The implementation of the programme has enabled some conclusions to be drawn on the design and implementation mechanisms for the project:
As an action strategy, simple, focused changes must be achieved in order to maximise their effect.
The importance of the Green Office Program can be seen both in the environmental improvements made and in its effects on savings in resource efficiency.
The project must achieve a lasting change rather than short-term effects, which is why changes in awareness are absolutely vital.
The Green Office Program must become stronger by working with university staff rather than against them. This perspective means that some initiatives for change will take more time than was initially expected.
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