With 72 staff members dedicated to improving its green image, UQ has plenty of reasons to celebrate World Environment Day, to be held on Friday, June 5.
To mark the event, staff are invited to attend a free breakfast at the Staff and Graduates Club, where the Acting Director of Property and Facilities, Geoff Dennis, will provide an update on UQ’s carbon strategy, and Professor Andrew Griffiths, Director of the Sustainable Business Unit, will give a keynote address.
The event will also see the efforts of UQ’s green advocates recognised with Green Office awards.
Environmental coordinator Kay Ollett said the Green Office program, which started in 2005, had helped build environmental awareness and promoted the green office culture.
“This program really shows how making changes in local areas can make a difference to the whole organisation,” Ms Ollett said.
“When we started the program not many people had thought of using recycled paper.
“Now over 50 percent of the paper ordered through the Property and Facilities store contains recycled content.”
The Green Office Program gives UQ’s schools, centres and other organisational units an opportunity to network and exchange ideas and resources to help improve environmental performance in their areas.
Since it began in 2005 the Green Office Program has expanded to 72 representatives in 63 areas across the St Lucia, Ipswich, Gatton and Herston campuses.
Through a system of annual qualitative assessments covering energy management, waste management, environmental awareness and environmentally responsible purchasing, improvements have been measured and benchmarked, and priority areas for future focus highlighted.
Between 2008 and 2009, the average overall Green Office rating for new areas increased by nine percent, showing that the general environmental practices at UQ have greatly improved.
Pamela Lamb, Manager of UQ’s Boilerhouse Community Engagement Centre, which won the Green Office award for best new area, said staff were happy to change their habits in order to become more environmentally friendly.
“I think working in a small, community-focused research centre makes it a bit easier; people here are generally pretty keen on doing the right thing,” Ms Lamb said.
“Michael Cuthill, our Director, always encourages everyone to photocopy on both sides of the paper and we never use disposable cutlery at functions.
“Leonie, our Green Office representative, makes sure we use the refillable pens and are buying recycled paper."
The Green Office Award for most improved area went to UQ’s Architecture and Music Library, which achieved an overall improvement of 24 percent.
“We really focus on recycling paper and always make sure we reuse envelopes,” said Tennille Thomas, the library’s Green Office representative.
“We’re also trying to be more aware of our energy use – remembering to switch off photocopiers and printers, and switching the lights off at night.”
Media: Kay Ollett (07 3365 2076, k.ollett@pf.uq.edu.au) or Penny Robinson at UQ Communications (07 3365 9723, penny.robinson@uq.edu.au)
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