NorthTec seeks to achieve operational sustainability goals

Media Release 27 August 2013

NorthTec seeks to achieve new operational sustainability goals

NorthTec has embraced a key green initiative by seeking ways to provide long term sustainability and leadership in the way it operates as Northland’s largest tertiary education provider.

Business Director for Health, Environment and Sustainability Committee chair, Phil Giles, says embracing key sustainable initiatives provided another dimension to how NorthTec could become more efficient in the way it works.

“Just to illustrate the point about sustainability, did you know that by the 31st of July NorthTec had purchased over 2.3 million sheets of A4 paper?” Mr Giles says. “This equates to approximately 500 sheets of printing/photocopying per student!

“So, our first goal is to reduce the amount of photocopying and printing we are doing by 15% by the end of 2013. We are already 9% ahead of the same time last year.”

The new drive for sustainability came about earlier this year after NorthTec’s Council questioned the sustainability focus of the organisation.

“We looked at what we were doing and found that we could do a whole lot more and over the past three months a group of interested staff and students have been looking at how sustainable NorthTec’s operations are,” Mr Giles says.

Interested volunteers originally met as a suitability advisory group but have since formed a sustainability committee that reports through to the Senior Management Team.

The Sustainability Committee’s key areas of focus have since been developed as part of its terms of reference which are:

• To minimise the production of waste

• To maximise opportunities to recycle

• To reduce fossil fuel use and increasing energy use from renewable sources

• To reduce impacts on ecological systems

• To contribute to the wellbeing of people and communities

• To support sustainability of the Maori language to contribute to intergenerational transmission.

The Sustainability Committee’s focus for 2013 is in two areas:

• The use of paper for photocopying and printing;

• To find greater efficiencies the use of electricity at NorthTec.

“Our aim is to make people aware of how much paper and electricity we are consuming and provide education and support to reduce the use of both of these resources,” Mr Giles says.

NorthTec’s Sustainability Committee comprises:

Phil Giles (chair) ; Ashlee Lawrence (Student Rep, Conservation and Environmental Management); Eileen Kaufman (Staff, Horticulture); Eric Stone (Staff, Development Advisor); Hayley Semenoff (Staff, Health and Environment); Ilse Corkery (Lecturer, Environment and Agriculture); Justine A. Johnson (Staff, Finance and Procurement); Mary Farrelly (Tutor, Social Services); Peter Bruce (Tutor, Business and Tourism); Peter Dalton (Facilities and Maintenance); Rebecca Fellenbaum (Staff, Marketing and Communications); Ryan Marsich ( Student Rep, Business).

NorthTec is the Tai Tokerau (Northland) region's largest provider of tertiary education, with campuses and learning centres in Whangarei, Kerikeri, Rāwene, Kaikohe and Kaitaia. NorthTec also has over 60 community-based delivery points from Coatesville in rural Rodney to Ngataki in the Far North.

ENDS

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