NET POSITIVE PACK Oxford Brookes has been at the forefront of institutional sustainability and social responsibility in the HE sector for many years. We have a well-established Environmental Management System (EMS) that has enabled us to achieve ISO14001 and plans in place to ensure this vital activity is central to our sustainability activity in the future. However, we are always keen that our institution remains ahead of the curve and feel the hard work that has gone into our EMS puts us in a strong position to consider sustainability in broader terms. Our EMS means that we are well equipped to measure, monitor and reduce the negative environmental impacts we have as an institution but we want to do more than this and so we have started to consider how we might also consider the impact of our positive contributions too. Our aspiration is to become the first Net Positive Institution in the UK and we need your help! This Net Positive Pack has been developed to help us with the process of recruitment. We want to explain firstly what the Net Positive concept is all about and secondly to start a conversation about what it might actually look like in action on our campuses. The EMS and the work of the Sustainability Team mean that we have an infrastructure that enables us to reduce our negative impacts, for example: Access to recycling facilities means we can reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill Showers and bike storage facilities make it easier to cycle to and from work Water fountains mean that we can use refillable bottles for free Fairtrade, locally-sourced and organic foods are always available on campus However green our buildings become it is the people in them, and their behaviour, that has the most impact. We promote various energy-saving, carbon-reducing activities from powering down on evenings, weekends and holidays to paper-saving printing but we need your help to have the biggest impact. NET POSITIVE IMPACT The Sustainability Team is currently recruiting Sustainability Champions from across the institution to help us explore what a Net Positive approach might mean in practice.
We know our staff members do many of these things and more. What we are not sure about is how much people do actually do and, more importantly, how much other activity is taking place that we don t even know about! This is where the Sustainability Champions and the Net Positive Pack come in. Please take a couple of minutes to let us know what goes on in your corner of the campus, either using the activity in this pack, at one of our Positivity Picnics or, if you prefer, online. We want to capture, celebrate and share all of the brilliant things that happen every day so that we can use it as evidence that we have a Net Positive Impact on the wider world. We will share our findings as we progress on our journey. Thank you for your help.
SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL We work hard to offer a range of sustainable travel options. (Our ultimate aim is to reduce our dependency on car travel and carbon emissions). Money from car parking fees is used to provide resources and equipment that make sustainable travel options more accessible. Have a tricky commute? Maybe you could Lift Share. Our dedicated LIFTSHARE website makes it easy for you to co-ordinate lifts with others. Car-sharing is also a great way of meeting new people It can save you money; cutting down on the amount you spend on petrol and parking It has a positive impact on the local area too, reducing air pollution and congestion Live close to a public transport route? Catch the BROOKESbus, which runs between campuses and around the city centre. You can even get an interest-free loan to pay for season tickets. Cycling is a cheap and enjoyable way to get around and can help you stay healthy. So, we have installed cycle parking and showers on all sites to make it easier for you to cycle to and from work. We offer a Cyclescheme so you can buy a tax-free bike! We make sure Oxford cycle and walking maps are available in the main receptions of each campus and even if you can t cycle you could help make visitors to the campus aware of the options. We also have regular visits to each site from the Bike Doctor to help keep you on the road. Remember staff can claim 20p a mile for bicycle business mileage too! NET POSITIVE IMPACT The BROOKESbus runs between campuses and around the city centre. Find information about times on our webpages.
So, there is plenty you can do but we are interested in this exercise in finding out what our staff members already do. Please tick to indicate which of these best applies to you. I use the LIFTSHARE website I use a bus for my main travel to and from work I use sustainable travel options at least twice a week I was unaware of the Cyclescheme I have claimed business mileage on my bike Please use this space to share any travel-related activities that you think might contribute to Net Positivity but aren t included above. WE ARE RECRUITING! If you are interested in becoming a Sustainability Champion please contact Sustainability@brookes.ac.uk or return this card with the following information to the Sustainability Team. Name: Staff Number :
BIODIVERSITY Biodiversity (helped by our Grounds Team!) is what makes our campuses so beautiful. Biodiversity is directly linked to our wellbeing; it enriches our life experience, signals seasonality and makes Brookes a great place to work, study or visit. Our campuses provide us with fantastic opportunities to maximise biodiversity and we are keen to exploit these. We are doing this by producing a Biodiversity Strategy covering all landscaped areas across our sites that will help us to monitor, preserve and enhance the number of species of plants and animals that are found there. Our vision for Headington Hill grounds is to: Provide a safe, attractive and sustainable environment for the benefit of all students, staff and visitors now and in the future. All of our plans are being created in cooperation with residents, local groups and other interested parties so that we can also link what we do on campus with the wider efforts of our local communities. Green fingered? How about kick-starting a growing group on campus? There are opportunities for staff to support local projects such as OxGrow but we are also keen to hear if there is a demand to grow food on campus. Interested? Please let us know! Green Flag award The Green Flag Award scheme is a national standard for parks and green spaces across the UK. It recognises the best green spaces in the country and very few universities can boast that they have it. We received the award this year, but it wasn t easy. It was only through the hard work of our ground staff that we managed to get there. NET POSITIVE IMPACT All of our campuses have management plans and there will be detailed actions relating to each of them by 2014 from reducing pesticide use to planting trees, creating wildlife hotspots and surveying sites.
So, again there are ways of getting involved, of helping us to achieve our Net Positive goal or at least of finding out more. Please provide us with feedback! Please tick to indicate which of these best applies to you. I believe that the biodiversity on campuses contributes to my wellbeing I regularly seek out a green place to sit, eat lunch, meet people I am involved with local growing projects (allotments etc.) I would love to see bees on campus! Please use this space to share any ideas about biodiversity activities that you think might contribute to Net Positive but are not aware of on campus. WE ARE RECRUITING! If you are interested in becoming a Sustainability Champion please contact Sustainability@brookes.ac.uk or return this card with the following information to the Sustainability Team. Name: Staff Number :
ENERGY We spend 8,500 a day on energy! Anything we can do to reduce energy use saves money. Saving energy also helps to reduce our negative environmental impacts too because energy use is where a significant proportion of our CO 2 emissions come from. Remember, reducing our negative impacts will help us become Net Positive too. Our energy management is improving! We track how much energy all of our sites are using and new smart meters are also helping us to improve our data collection. People can have a large impact on reducing our energy use by adopting the behaviours that prevent the waste of energy (and money). Not in use? Then please turn it off! Turning any electronic equipment and lights off when you re not using them and especially when you leave at night, or for weekends and holidays, is the least we can do, especially to monitors and printers - sounds simple but most of us forget. Finished charging? Pull the plug! Leaving chargers plugged in when devices are fully charged is wasting energy and money. Check your settings? Computers, printers, photocopiers and other devices have energy-saving settings that can do some of these things without you lifting a finger! You can also help just by reporting issues to Maintenance so we can fix things as quickly as we can. Oxford Brookes year-on-year CO 2 emissions are predicted to have fallen by 5% (over 300 tonnes) as a result of actions taken to date in support our Low Carbon Transition Plan. NET POSITIVE IMPACT Oxford Brookes has received official recognition from the Carbon Trust for its continuing work to reduce Carbon Dioxide (CO 2) emissions which are the main cause of climate change.
We have offered some of our top energy-saving tips but we are keen to know which of these staff members already do (if any). Please help us to get a sense of what is already happening in our workspaces by ticking next to the statements that are true for you. I always switch off every unused electrical appliance in my workspace I switch most unused electrical equipment off I quite often leave gadgets on standby or on overnight I have used energy saving settings on the equipment I control I d like to use energy saving settings but I m not sure where to start! Please use this space to share any energy-saving tips you might have or things that could make a difference to energy use in your corner of the campus. WE ARE RECRUITING! If you are interested in becoming a Sustainability Champion please contact Sustainability@brookes.ac.uk or return this card with the following information to the Sustainability Team. Name: Staff Number :
WATER It might not feel like it when we are complaining about the weather, but water is in short supply! Not only is it a precious natural resource but it also uses lots of energy to extract, supply and recover so there are environmental impacts that we need to reduce through careful usage, much like energy. Water consumption across all Oxford Brookes University campuses and sites has fallen by 11% in the last 3 years. The fall is due to consistent efforts to reduce water consumption with the installation of water saving measures such as: Low flow showers that only use 9 litres of water a minute compared to the normal 20 litres a minute Rainwater harvesting in new student accommodation and the new Learning and Teaching Building Low-flow toilets, taps and other water saving measures installed as areas of the University are refurbished. Remember, reducing our negative impacts is crucial to help us become Net Positive. NET POSITIVE IMPACT Water consumption across all Oxford Brookes University campuses and sites has fallen by 11% in the last 3 years.
We have offered some of our favourite water saving tips but we are keen to know which of these staff members already do (if any). Please help us to get a sense of what is already happening in our workspaces by ticking next to the statements that are true for you. I am mindful of the water I use to wash my hands I chill water in the fridge instead of letting the tap run until it is cold I have reported a leak or drip to maintenance Please use this space to share any ideas for other water saving suggestions you might have or things that could make a difference to water use in your corner of the campus. WE ARE RECRUITING! If you are interested in becoming a Sustainability Champion please contact Sustainability@brookes.ac.uk or return this card with the following information to the Sustainability Team. Name: Staff Number :
WASTE AND RECYCLING Oxford Brookes produces around thirteen tonnes of trade waste per week; much of this could be recycled. Reducing waste is a big part of reducing our negative environmental impact as a University. To make it easier for you to do your bit we have introduced co-mingled recycling. Just pop any paper, cardboard, rigid plastic, tins, cans or glass in the recycle bins. Our contractors then take it away and separate it for recycling. You can also recycle mobile phones, CDs and ink cartridges by sending them through internal post to the Sustainability Team! Rather than sending them to a landfill site, they are sent to the Orinoco scrap store in Headington. Orinoco is a charity whose mission is to banish boredom and save the World! They use the waste CDs for school and community art projects. The best way to cut down on the amount of waste we produce is not to create waste in the first place! Reduce paper usage by doing simple things like: checking for typos before we print not printing out entire emails unless essential printing or photocopying on both sides of paper reusing scrap paper for notebooks We also support re-use of larger items by encouraging staff to find new homes for them in Google group envforum@brookes.ac.uk, in Onstream and through the administrators forum. Campus Services can help you get rid of hazardous waste please check before disposing of electrical equipment or materials you are unsure about. Visit the Orinoco website to find out where your rubbish ends up. NET POSITIVE IMPACT Oxford Brookes produces around thirteen tonnes of trade waste per week; much of this could be recycled.
We have offered just a few suggestions of ways that waste can be avoided and re-use and recycling promoted. We want to know how common these actions are. Please help us to get a sense of what is already happening in your workspaces by ticking next to the statements that are true for you. I always recycle everything that I possibly can in the office I separate out my food waste in the Oxford Brookes food halls I have used the green bags to recycle mobiles or printer toners I have sent CDs or DVDs to the Sustainability Team I d like to join the envforum@brookes.ac.uk! Please use this space to share any ideas waste reduction tips you might have or things that could make a difference to re-using or reducing waste to landfill in your corner of the campus. WE ARE RECRUITING! If you are interested in becoming a Sustainability Champion please contact Sustainability@brookes.ac.uk or return this card with the following information to the Sustainability Team. Name: Staff Number :
PROCUREMENT AND FAIRTRADE Consumer power is considerable. We are doing everything we can to make it easy for you to buy great products that have an ethical dimension too. We are spending 20 million on local suppliers alone, so we know we have a big influence. We want to use this to make our purchasing power more positive. Our sustainable procurement policy makes sure we are always improving the products that are available to you. All the milk you will find here is organic, the eggs are freerange and the vegetables are from the UK. We ve also become the first university to gain Marine Stewardship Council accreditation; doing our bit to safeguard the oceans. We are also really proud of the way our caterers Chartwells are sourcing our food. There s plenty of opportunity to use your consumer power to make a difference: Choose Fairtrade, or other ethically accredited food when you are shopping Buy local where possible to reduce food miles and support local suppliers It is important to decide when not to buy certain products if the environmental impacts from production and transport are unnecessary. Back in 2003 we became the World s first Fairtrade University. Fairtrade goods can be found in all of our shops, cafes, restaurants and bars on campus as well as in any meetings you attend here. 12% of all food and drink products sold in 2010 were Fairtrade, 100% of Coffee sold in catering and 90% of all tea is Fairtrade Sales of Fairtrade clothing have increased by 28% in 2010 with a new range of Fair Trade clothing. Get involved in our Fairtrade Fortnight usually in February. Look out for details! NET POSITIVE IMPACT Did you know we are the first university to become Marine Stewardship Council accredited?
It really is easy to make positive purchasing decisions on campus. We would like to know how many of these staff members take advantage of, and what else they would like to see. Please help us to get a sense of what is already happening in your workspaces by ticking next to the statements that are true for you. I buy Fairtrade options when they are available Local, organic or ethically sourced products are a real concern for me I have supported Fairtrade Fortnight events on campus I choose tap-water and refill rather than buying a bottle Please use this space to let us know how we can make it easy for people to source good and services responsibly. We are particularly keen to hear about ideas within specific campus areas. WE ARE RECRUITING! If you are interested in becoming a Sustainability Champion please contact Sustainability@brookes.ac.uk or return this card with the following information to the Sustainability Team. Name: Staff Number :