Challenge… What Challenge?

I was introduced to Green Impact after just a few months working in my new position with ACS (University of Sheffield). Not something everyone is particular keen about at a first glance. Looking through the workbook and the various requirements my initial thoughts were ‘WHAT A CHALLENGE’ it was going to be. The Bronze level looked a big challenge let alone considering the Silver and Gold.
This was before I had really looked into it. I spent some time reading through each section and relating it realistically to our department and I soon found myself surprisingly positive. It was a revelation to realise that as a department we were already achieving many of the key requirements as standard procedure. Basic things such as ‘printing on 75%-100% recycled paper or card’ and ‘at least two products meeting Fairtrade standards’ required no work other than evidencing it within the workbook.
After realising this it was much easier to being implementing procedures to achieve the accreditation in other areas. Twice monthly emails are sent out to our team to communicate our progress and to update staff with useful hints and tips on how to work together to become ‘greener’.
We are well on our way to achieving the Bronze accreditation and I’m sure we will look to attain the silver in the future. I realised it only took me identifying what we were already doing and adding a few measures to gain this accreditation which is not taking up much time at all. We are a department who are already very ‘green’ and I am positive that we can easily increase this to do the best we can!
After a few months of working on the Green Impact project my thoughts are now ‘BRING ON THE CHALLENGE’.