GREEN IMPACT PORTFOLIO 2014/15

Foreword

CONTENTS

“‘We are hugely proud of our Green Impact Awards scheme,

4

Key Statistics for 2014-15

16How to get involved

6

Special Awards

8Showcasing Departments

13Student Involvement

15Awards Ceremony 2015

which was developed by the University of Bristol seven years ago and now operates at over 60 higher education institutions, local authority hospitals and businesses across the country. Green Impact offers a practical way of helping staff and students to become greener, encouraging us all to reduce our collective environmental impacts. Here’s your chance to reduce the environmental impact

of your team, School or Division by undertaking practical environmental improvements, including energy reduction, recycling, biodiversity and healthy living. Every small step helps! If you haven’t already got an award, why not have a go and help Bristol become even Greener.”

Judith Squires, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education,

University of Bristol

Introduction

Green Impact is an environmental accreditation scheme for departments at the University of Bristol. We recognise the potential of staff and students to change the way their institution behaves, from the bottom up.

How it works

Green Impact follows a simple but effective cycle, focusing on providing simple actions, supporting people to make the changes and rewarding them for their efforts.

We have a fantastic online workbook outlining specific and measurable criteria, covering several main

aspects of sustainability: waste, water, travel, energy, procurement, and greening teams and communications.

The more actions completed, the more points are scored, leading to a Bronze, Bronze Plus, Silver, Gold or Platinum award!

Green Impact aims to empower individuals and teams to reduce their environmental impact by encouraging, rewarding and celebrating practical environmental improvements. Not already taking part? Sign your team up today!

“I’ve been really impressed withthe enthusiasm of the teams”

Martin Wiles, Head of Sustainability

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Key Statistics for 2014/15

23 completed workbooks.

Departments involved in Green Impact covered 702 staff, of which 155 were directly involved in a Green Impact committee or team.

2 departments reached Working Towards Accreditation, showing they’ve made a good start and are dedicated to achieving Bronze in the future.

2 departments reached Bronze, 6 departments obtained Bronze Plus accreditation, 1 department gained Silver, 10 teams reached Gold (including six teams specifically reaching Catering Gold), 2 teams achieved the Platinum standard.

8 students received auditor training providing them with highly sort after employability skills.

8 students were trained as Green Impact Project Assistants, gaining experience in supporting teams to enact change.

The overall winner was Print Services with 581 points.

Based on this year’s green actions, potential savings of 129,552kg of CO2 and £25,109 per year were made, across the areas of Waste & Energy.

ACTIONS ACHIEVED AS A RESULT OF GREEN IMPACT!

Theme

Actions completed as a result of Green Impact

Total actions completed

Communications & embedding

131 197

Waste & recycling 199 425

Energy 148 410

Student engagement 15 27

Health & wellbeing 12 28Procurement 56 180

Travel 104 168

TOTAL 667 1438

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Special AwardsPROUDEST GREEN IMPACT ACHIEVEMENT

Student Counselling Service: ‘Bringing the Outside In’Inspired by their own belief in the positive psychological impact of consciously engaging with the natural world, the Student Counselling Green Impact team began a journey of discussion, exploration and research into various interventions, that turned into a Research Study. Called ‘Bringing the Outside In’ it is a randomised control trial which looks at what positive psychological impact there may be in walking mindfully in nature, in looking after a plant and connecting with other plants or a combination of the two.

This project has been an exciting endeavour for the team involving working with other departments in the University and seeking and gaining ethical approval for the project. Whilst it is too soon to tell the outcomes yet the team have enjoyed developing their Green Impact project into a broader piece of research, reminding us all of the positive impact of nature on our mood.

BEST COMMUNITY PROJECT

BEST NEWCOMER: CELLULAR MOLECULAR MEDICINE PROFESSIONAL TEAM

BEST IMPROVER: SPORTS, EXERCISE AND HEALTH

Print Services: ‘Print Release’The objective of this project is to reduce the amount of printing and the number of personal printers across the University estate. The idea is simple and involves users printing to a print queue (default settings are black and white, duplex) and then releasing the print job using their UCard when required. This reduces the paper wastage between 30 and 60%, thereby reducing the number of clicks per machine and toner consumption. As the usage decreases, a smaller print device can meet the departments requirements.

Feedback about the project has been positive so far; the system works very well, is saving ‘trees’ and a number of departments have since reduced their number of printers. A further benefit of the system is ensuring confidentiality as print jobs are not left beside the printer as well as the flexibility to print from a number of devices across the Estate. Further to this project, Print Services have also been working to recycle redundant toner cartridges and printers.

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ShowcasingdepartmentsTHEATRE COLLECTION: “We were really excited by the fact that Green Impact actually existed at the university, and that it was something we could take part in and be rewarded for.”

ENGINEERING FACULTY: “It was a great opportunity to find out lots more about what the department and the university is doing towards environmental sustainability. It was also good to get to know colleagues more. Overall, it was brilliant!

The most noticeable impact has been changing the bottle fed water dispensers to mains fed potable water, reducing our plastic waste enormously.”

THE CENTRE FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT: The Centre for Public Engagement took an interesting approach to communicating their environmental messages by personifying their recycling bins.This fun and engaging method attempted to counter the negativity often surrounding environmental press.

Blue Bins in the Tour de France, encouraging people to travel to work sustainably.

WILLS MEMORIAL LIBRARY: “Taking part in Green Impact has made us think more about what we’re doing, whilst also giving legitimacy to the green actions we already wanted to do! Having university backing and support makes the process easier and it’s good to see that the university is making positive steps”.

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SAFETY & HEALTH SERVICES: “Running our recycling campaign has had the biggest impact as far more waste has been diverted from landfill now we fully understand what can and cannot be recycled.

Our Green Impact Project Assistants helped us create some fantastic eye-catching posters which we’ve stuck around the office and kitchen.

It’s nice to know you’re not the only one taking part in Green Impact and that there are other teams working on the same challenges and actions!”

POLICY PRESS: “We hosted a number of different initiatives throughout the year to get people interested and involved, from charity events to volunteering days. Other examples include:

1. Shower Power ChallengeWe encouraged staff to only have 4 minute showers. Staff would time their showers and be placed upon the leaderboard- the person with the lowest time won a prize- a bar of soap!

2. Policy Press Goes Green NewsletterEvery month a different member of the green team sent out a ‘Policy Press Goes Green’ newsletter with a focus on the different areas of waste, energy, travel etc.The newsletter included an article about how they can become more green in the workplace and at home and then interesting facts and environmental news from around Bristol.

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QUEEN’S BUILDING LIBRARY:“Taking part in Green Impact was fantastic as it brought our team together, we were also able to draw upon different people’s strengths, interests and passions to complete sections of the workbook and have fun at the same time!

Biggest Impact Installing an over-ride switch off button for the light sensors in the library.

Most enjoyableWe held a charity cake sale in the Queen’s Building common room to all the hungry engineers and raised £125!

Profits went to the Forest of Avon Trust in support of biodiversity, and the other half was donated to a local charity close to our hearts, ‘Smile With Siddy’.

The Queen’s Building staff even went as far as requesting more charity cake sales in the future”

Sixteen students helped deliver Green Impact this year, either helping to audit the final submissions of the participating teams or being actively involved in the team themselves as Green Impact Project Assistants

Student Involvement

GREEN IMPACT PROJECT ASSISTANT CASE STUDIES“I volunteered as a Green Impact Project Assistant during my second and third year. I found it was the perfect role for me as it not only appealed to my interest in sustainability but also was a chance to make an active difference around the university.

The role is so varied; I not only attended meetings within my departmental team, but also conducted an energy audit in the office, wrote articles for the departmental newspaper and even brainstormed recyclable items to put on a mobile to remind people to sort waste into different bins! Being part of Green Impact was really rewarding and gave me a chance to do something outside of academic work.

My team also achieved a Gold Award despite only aiming for Silver, which was a bonus and ended the year nicely!”

Emily Worthing

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QUOTES FROM AUDITORS“A useful experience in which you get to meet departments, learn and share ideas as well as having the nice job of endorsing their valuable efforts”

“Fantastic and good impact for both the organisation and my personal development”

“From my experience in the last two years I wouldn’t have done Green Impact if it hadn’t been for the Green Impact Project Assistants, they do a really important job! It’s been really enjoyable working with the students and a great opportunity to be more creative with the criteria. The regular meetings also helped us to manage our workload.”Mireia Bes, Centre for Public Engagement

Awards Ceremony 2015The University announced the winners of its annual Green Impact Awards at a ceremony in the Orangery at Goldney Hall, celebrating the hard work teams have put into greening their departments. With over 100 attendees teams were presented with awards made from either recycled windscreens or reclaimed roofing slates.

“A big thank you to everyone who took part this year and see you next year.”

Martin Wiles, Head of Sustainability

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How to get involvedIf you would like to get involved in Green Impact, you can find out more on the University of Bristol website:www.bristol.ac.uk/environment/green_impact

and/or sign up online here: http://www.greenimpact.org.uk/bristol

The workbook is launched every autumn and you will be supported throughout the whole process by a dedicated team of staff and students. If you would like to discuss Green Impact, the possibility of having a student Green Impact Project Assistant or anything else then please contact Eleri Dare-Edwards (manager@bristolhub.org) or Martin Wiles (m.r.wiles@bristol.ac.uk) to find out more.