What are you doing in your offices to make them more eco friendly?

The University of Tasmania (UTAS) has a range of initiatives to make our campus more eco-friendly, including:

• Engagement:  We run a Green Impact program for staff and students to get directly involved in activities to improve their sustainability.  This is a fun and competitive program between teams to be the most sustainable, with prizes and awards to recognise high performers.
• Transport: UTAS was the first Tasmanian fleet to include electric cars and the first to install electric bike charging starting in 2012 (min 10% of parking spots).  We have also provided electric car charging in all Tasmanian campuses. We have installed literally hundreds of bike parking spots as well as spaces for motorcycles.  We also partnered with Metro Tasmania to provide better services to our campuses and new bus stop shelters as well.
• Resources and waste: The first UTAS Waste Minimisation Action Plan has a target of a minimum 25% reduction of waste to landfill by 2025. Initiatives being implemented include deployment of organics waste collection in all buildings; expansion of the Recycling Walls for non-standard recyclables; use of products with recycled content such as Reconophalt™ asphalt for new carparks at our Inveresk campus that has diverted over 710,000 plastic bags and 20,700 toner cartridges from landfill and uses reclaimed asphalt as well as aggregate and sand from street sweepings; carpets throughout as recycled and recyclable; and designs with ‘deconstructability’ for materials re-use when buildings are no longer needed. Our Re-Use Program started in 2016 with furniture and has since then expanded in number and types of items being relocated or donated generating over $800,000 in savings already. Sustainability with a circular economy focus is also embedded in the new Asset Management Procedure (2021) and a Clean out and Disposal Process Guide (2020).
• Procurement has played a critical role in recent years from embedding sustainability in purchasing documents with a focus on sustainability as a key value alongside value for money and quality, development of our Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Commonwealth) statement with a focus beyond compliance from our suppliers, and working with our IT Services teams to reduce the number of printers and removing the need to print at all. Staff are encouraged to access the Re-Use Program prior to buying new; there is a focus on embodied carbon reduction in design and builder contracts. Where possible, materials are reused from discarded materials or low embodied carbon materials are used (i.e., materials manufactured in a way that produced lower carbon emissions than standard materials). All other initiatives around reduction of waste to landfill are based on circular economy principles.
• Buildings:  We are building all new campuses across the state with very efficient and sustainable buildings that includes better insulation, double-glazed windows and environmentally friendly furniture, carpets, and paint.

All of the ways that UTAS seeks to be a leading sustainable university is publicly shared in the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) website.