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Greening the Blue – ONE UN Rwanda
May 2013
2012: The starting point
WED 2013
And now?
UNDP Rwanda starts thinking about how to green our office space as well as raise awareness among its staff
World Environment D ay offered the best excuse to expand the initiative and involved all the agencies
Following the strategies each Agency will look into ways to reduce the carbon footprint.
The starting point UNDP Green Champions GREENING THE BLUE was launched in Rwanda as a UN staff initiative in May 2012 by a group of volunteers from UNDP during the celebrations of the World Environment Day "Green Economy: Does it include YOU?". These celebrations provided the best opportunity to raise awareness among staff on the
need to change behaviors and attitudes at the work place and also to rally them behind the campaign to green the office. It was decidedly a time to take action and lead by example in saving the environment! Brainstorming and consultation sessions ensued and before long, everyone was eager to take part in reducing the UN's
How much do we print in our office? Are we even aware? Do we need all that we print?
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Greening the Blue – ONE UN Rwanda
May 2013
UNDP GREEN initiatives
environmental impact at the work place.
CAR POOLING:
In view of the interest showed by staff, a decision was taken to appoint UNDP Green Champions; (The Greening the Blue Team), who would then lead the office towards the reduction of carbon footprint and effectively contribute to the protection and conservation of the environment. Information on fuel, electricity, paper and water consumption was initially gathered in order to set a baseline, which would then help monitor the results.
A participatory system of carpooling was introduced to allow people going in the same direction to use the same vehicle. Using this system, the staff writes destination and time of official trips on a white board at the entrance of the building at least 2 hours in advance. This has become the official way to request for a vehicle and allows the UNDP Head of Logistics to monitor the carpooling. In addition to reducing carbon print of the office, this system acts as a measure for enhancing accountability and transparency. A comparison of fuel consumption of August 2011 and August 2012 shows a decrease of +/-‐ 20%.
In a very short time, with the team in place, the following steps were carried out in the office and the compound.
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SORTING WASTE: The GtB team installed rubbish bins of different colors (3 bins: paper; plastic; others; + 1 for food in the cafeteria) in 5 different places around the office. These labeled bins give everyone an opportunity to sort their own waste and allows them to take personal responsibility to reduce waste. This sorting of waste is done to encourage recycling as a new phenomenon in Rwanda. It is hoped that through continuous practice and familiarity, the good practice will take root.
Reduce Printer use
Power Savings Switch to energy-saving settings: - Monitor/display sleep: Turn off after 15 minutes or less \ - Turn off hard drives/hard disk sleep: 15 minutes or less; and - System standby/sleep: After 30 minutes or less. Don't use a screensaver. A computer in sleep mode can save 60-70% of power. Turn off your computer whenever you’re not using it, especially when leaving work. And note that it isn't true that turning your computer on and off will wear it out.
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Turn off the light of your office when you leave.
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Take a walk around your office and notice how many lights are on despite nobody using the space (example corridors). Install motion-activated light switches. They'll turn the lights on for a designated period of time (eg: 15 minutes) whenever somebody passes in front of the switch or moves about the room.
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Buy LED Lamps which use less power than any other bulbs (fluorescent tube 40W = LED lamp only 1 W!!). By reducing the need of electricity, Solar power can also be considered (could be a portable installation to move to our new UN House!)
The printer is one of the most used office items. Every day it cranks out tons of important faxes, emails and other documents. Here are some ways you make your printer use greener: - Try not to print in color - Print double sided - Print in eco-mode. - Try to print more screen pages to a paper page. Printing two screen pages per printed page is still very readable and double-sided, that means four screen pages per one paper page - a huge paper savings!
Save Water and Plastic Provide Water-dispenser in meeting rooms instead of bringing water bottles. Use containers, mugs, and silverware that can be washed and used again. You can bring your own durable, reusable water bottle for constant refills.
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750 US
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Reduce car use Share cars for meetings by carpooling with colleagues.
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Put in place a system of shuttle-car between agencies for all the courier. You can also join the ride if it suits you to get on time to a meeting!!
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Recycling Station There are many things in your office that you can recycle. If you don’t have a recycling station at work, start one on your own! You can get a few bins and post recycling guidelines above them. Some of them may include recycling: - Paper products like copy paper, envelopes, magazines, etc. - Cardboard boxes from shipped supplies; - Soda cans and plastic bottles; - Aluminum foil; - Ink cartridges; - Edible Items
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Make your office • Edible itemsliterally green with plants! They absorb airborne pollutants (which are rampant with off-gassing Ei office furniture), and emit healthy negative ions and oxygen into the air. Having some green plants in the office also reduces that "sterile" look, making it more comfortable for everybody.
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Go Green, Literally!
“Climate change considerations need to be built into the core of all development planning if we are to have a sustainable future.” Helen Clark, Administrator, UNDP
LESS IS MORE: Introduction of water dispensers and re-‐usable glasses in all meeting rooms and in the building and cafeteria, hoping in this way to eliminate the use of small individual plastic bottles. SWITCH IT OFF: As part of the awareness raising efforts, the GtB Team designed stickers. These stickers were placed next to the lock of every door in all buildings in the compound, reminding staff to turn off all electronic devices before leaving the office at the end of the day. I PLEDGE, WE PLEDGE: “I will print only when necessary”, Ms Happy Umwagarwa, UNDP human resource manager
commits on the Pledge Board. The office pledge board was put in the UNDP lobby with names of all staff members on the vertical axis and a list of pledges on the horizontal axis such as “I pledge to print in eco-‐mode and double-‐sides”, “I pledge to walk for short distances, instead of taking a car” and so on. At the beginning of every week, staff was invited to tick pledges for which they commit to enforce during the week. LET’S BREATHE BETTER In order to improve the quality of the air and reduce the amount of air pollutants, the GtB also “greened” the offices by adding plants in meeting rooms and sitting areas.
Individual commitments to have a greater collective impact
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Greening the Blue – ONE UN Rwanda UMUGANDA a Kinyarwanda word meaning “Community Service”, is a common practice carried out all over the country on the last Saturday of each month where Rwandans participate in volunteer community work. Cleaning streets, cutting grass and trimming bushes along roads, or repairing public facilities or building houses for vulnerable persons, are some of the tasks. People with particular skills offer their services for free on this day. The day is intended to build community involvement and strengthen cohesion between persons of different background and levels. As part of UNDP’s commitment to the environment, the same model was adopted. During the months of June and July, coinciding with the WED, the office decided to tackle the issue of the overcrowded storage rooms, archives, and the huge amount of paper in the offices. On a voluntary basis, every Friday, different teams of staff, lent a hand in clearing space, sorting out the documents, publications and files,
May 2013 UNDP GtB Team
UMUGANDA Contributing as a team organizing the new archives, sorting out waste and coordinating with the waste company in charge to ensure a proper disposal of everything the office no longer needed. Thanks to the joint efforts, new offices and meeting spaces were made available, archives are now in shape and up to date, publications have been recovered and shared with the wide public during UN events while others have been well donated to local libraries. As an added value, this exercise proved that volunteerism and teamwork are both great assets in any workplace. Well done UNDP!
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Greening the Blue – ONE UN Rwanda
May 2013 This was done using illustrative quizzes and exercises on saving the environment while encouraging debate on contemporary environmental concerns.
GREEN VISION Later in September 2012, the Greening the Blue/GtB team then used the office learning sessions to raise awareness among UNDP staff on the global UN policy of greening its operations and drive behind the greening the blue initiative.
In one such session and in the spirit of sharing knowledge and best practices, the team invited participants from other agencies to attend, and this way encouraged other UN agencies to emulate the good practice. There was a critical moment during the learning session when a new environmental friendly tool was introduced to the staff. THE GREEN GLASSES. The glasses have become quickly the symbol of the Greening the Blue movement in Rwanda. This is our new vision, the Green Vision
UNDP learning & sharing about environment
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WHO
Greening the Blue – ONE UN Rwanda
WED
2013 IOM
It has been a year since the launch of the Greening the Blue campaign and once again, the UN GtB team is involved in the preparations for the World Environment Day/WED celebrations. This 5th June, the One UN in Rwanda will join hands with the Government of Rwanda to celebrate the day around the selected theme. As lead advocates for the environment, the One UN in Rwanda is preparing a debate with the catering and hospitality sector, the Ministry of Environment, waste management companies, the health sector and representatives of private sector and civil society to discuss about the environmental impact of the production, loss, and waste of food in Rwanda. More importantly, the best practices have been shared further among other UN agencies such that GtB teams were formed as part of the first challenge in the preparations for the WED preparations. Who said you cannot have fun while greening the office? The teams are currently competing to save the environment! This is only the beginning… (Pictures from top down and left to right: IOM/tree, UNHCR, WHO, UNFPA, WFP, NRAs, UNWOMEN, UNAIDS, FAO, UNICEF and UNECA)
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UNHCR
UNICEF
May 2013
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Greening the Blue – ONE UN Rwanda UN W OMEN
May 2013
WFP
Our
GREENEST colleagues
WHO
FAO
Colleagues whose environmental friendly behavior is a clear example for all the UN Staff in Rwanda.
UNDP
Choosing the greenest colleague of the office was another challenge of this WED competition this year. The teams each selected among their own colleagues the person whose behavior or attitude towards the environment makes a difference in reducing the overall carbon footprint of the office. Some were selected because they walked to the office or took public transport instead of driving cars or motorcycles to and from work. Among them WHO selected Mr. Jean Pierre Kayigi Gakwandi, who comes to work by foot every day. UNECA colleague, Mr. Charles Mulihira prefers to come to his office by bus, as well as Mr. Joseph Mbaraga from UNAIDS and Mme. Chantal Umulisa who also uses public transport or walks to
the office at UNFPA. Solange Mudahogora from UNWomen, is the greatest advocate for carpooling among friends and colleagues. UNFPA Greening the Blue Champion, Mme. Chantal Umulisa uses public transport and walks to come to the office.
WFP team selected Mr. Tristan Tristan Minyati, who always tries to save the environment by printing double sided and if not, re-‐uses the one-‐side printed sheet of paper. In their office, they have place signs by the printer about the importance of recycling. Awareness everywhere!
At the UNDP, the greenest colleague is Ms. Felista Kimanuka. She is not only one of the first Green Champions, but her commitment is an example for us all. FAO colleagues, have decided to save on plastic, only drinking water from the dispenser. Ms. Catherine Northing, the IOM green champion, is an environmentally multi-‐task colleague (see image next page). Ink refilling pens as well as fabric shopping bags are only a couple of many other good examples. Mr. Rajesh Kayastha never uses the lift in UNICEF building. He also encourages other colleagues to join him on the stairs. 7
Greening the Blue – ONE UN Rwanda
May 2013 UNICEF
IOM
UNICEF
Greening the Blue Compe
Newsle er from the Greening the Blue in Rwanda • Volume 3• • May
The workspace Competition 3offers plenty of possibilities to m ake a Kigali– May 20113. Thank you all for having participated of the Greening the difference in intthe he 3deChallenge nvironment. Blue Co
petition within the context of the World Environment Day. The 3d challenge aimed at calculating the carbo footprint per staff per agency. The Greening the Blue Committees collected data on the agencies’ consump of electricity, fuel, water, etc. These data will help you to set baselines and targets to be used in your greeni the blue The competition is comprised of a total of 5 strategy. Once again it was a great success! 10 UN agencies collected the data! We have the pleasu to present to you the scores and the carbon footprint per staff per agency. Congratulations to the winners an challenges ranging from testing knowledge thank of you all for your participation!
One UN Rwanda staff on basic environmental facts which reduce carbon print to calculating footprint per staff per agency. This was done by collecting agency consumption of electricity, fuel, water, and so on. This data will help the agencies set baselines and targets to be used in the Greening the Blue strategy, which should be ready by the end of the competition on World Environment Day this 5th June. The strategy will help the UN in Rwanda implement a hands-‐on-‐approach to protecting the environment while creating a sense of ownership and personal responsibility to the strategies agreed upon. The graph (on the right) represents the scores and the carbon footprint per staff per agency. Based on this, UNFPA is the leading agency for this challenge! 8
Scores 3d Challenge
IOM Carbon footprint per staff per agenc equivalent CO2
Carbon footprint per staff per agency, kg equivalent CO2
Greening the Blue – ONE UN Rwanda
May 2013
and now The GtB Committee looks forward to receiving the Greening the Blue STRATEGIES from participating agencies, which will be presented during the World Environment Day event. This will be an excellent time to compare notes and learn from each other while also awarding the winners of the crowning challenge. The strategies will guide the work of the ONE UN in the reduction of the carbon footprint during the following year and beyond.
Volume 2• • April 2013
May 2013 Greening the Blue – ONE UN Rwanda Kigali– April 20113. We have the pleasure to welcome the FAO and UNAIDS Greening the Blue Teams in the competition. Thank you to them for greening the Blue!!
FAO
UNAIDS
FAO Greening the Blue Committee: Gaetan Heri, Emmanuel Muligirwa, Olivia Mukalushema and Chantal Kamaliza
UNAIDS Greening the Blue Committee: Ineke Adriaens, Joseph Mbaraga and Jacqueline Uwineza
Elena Ganan and Felista Kimanuka, UNDP Rwanda or on Facebook Join Greening the Blue onin Internet Kigali, May 2013
www.greeningtheblue.org/ www.facebook.com/GreeningtheBlue
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