Nurturing Environmental Awareness
Cultivating behavioral change is crucial to building a sustainable campus. During the year, we continued to engage our students and staff through various environmental programmes, campaigns, activities, tools, and platforms – all designed to promote environmental awareness among the members of our community.
The University has witnessed and noticed a significant increase in sustainability education efforts made through the different publicity and broadcasting channels managed by the Campus Sustainability Office. One initiative called “My Green Pledges” invites the University community to begin their green journey by taking 14 easy green pledges - simple actions which aim to create real behavioral change. Not only can they be implemented in the workplace and at home, but they also make a great difference to our environment.
Waste Reduction Programmes
To promote resource conservation and reduce the amount of waste to Hong Kong’s over-burdened landfills, PolyU has adopted various measures and facilities to educate our University community about the importance of waste reduction.
One significant example is the ban on plastic bottled water sales on campus which has been in place since September 2017. All sales of non-sparkling and unflavored bottled water under one liter in size are prohibited – including at the campus convenience store, vending machines and catering outlets on Main Campus and in student hostels. At the same time, staff and students are encouraged to bring their own bottles which they can refill at drinking water stations installed around the campus.
A new waste collection arrangement took effect on campus during the reporting year, when trash bins inside classrooms and lecture theatres on the third and fifth floors of campus buildings and wings were removed. We encourage the PolyU community to make use of our recycling facilities, UniRe®, to practice separating waste at source and develop good recycling habits.
To minimize the use of single-use items, PolyU has launched a special scheme with increased discounts for Bring Your Own (BYO) containers and a new takeaway levy in selected canteens beginning in March 2018. Under this scheme, members of the PolyU community can enjoy special discounts if they bring their own food and beverage containers during business hours at designated catering outlets. Since the introduction of the scheme, an average of over 15,000 disposable cups and lunchboxes have been saved every month. The University has also launched a reusable lunchbox rental scheme which provides our students and staff with yet another way of going green. These “EC BoZ” lunchboxes are available at the Z Canteen and Z Café for takeaway meals as an alternative to disposable lunchboxes.
PolyU is committed to making every effort to help integrate a green mindset into the personal habits of members of the University community. “Plastic Free Friday”, a new campaign launched during the year under review, encourages PolyU staff and students to avoid using common single-use plastic items like disposable cups, lunchboxes, plastic bags and plastic straws on Fridays – or any day of the week. During a lunch sharing session hosted by the Campus Sustainability Office and Centre STARS, University representatives encouraged the participants to commit to reducing their use of disposable plastic items and adopting a plastic-free lifestyle to protect the environment.
Evaluating Campus Sustainability Efforts
To foster sustainable development and strengthen a green culture across the University, current students and staff were invited to complete an online campus sustainability survey. The survey had them express their views on campus sustainability practices and overall environmental performance. The results revealed that the respondents were satisfied with PolyU’s environmental performance, but also that they wanted PolyU to focus on campus development to nurture a campus-wide green culture, and carry out environment-related research and technology development in the near future. In general, the respondents had positive responses to questions on environmental and sustainability issues.
In response to this survey, the University has pledged to continue to optimize and modernize the campus and innovations, leveraging information technology to create a smart campus and ensure that work practices are carried out in a secure, environmentally-friendly and sustainable manner.
Compared with results from a similar survey held in 2016, most respondents were more satisfied with PolyU’s environmental performance in 2018. The results also showed that the respondents’ level of environmental awareness was improved, with more people carrying out separation of waste at source and putting separated items into the relevant recycling bins; more people acknowledging the University’s sustainability policies and goals; and more people knowing where to access environment-related information at PolyU. While the University is encouraged by these results, long-term targets will continue to be set and on-campus campaigns will continue to take place to ensure improvements are consistently achieved over time.
PolyU Campus Sustainability Weeks
Our signature annual sustainability event, PolyU Campus Sustainability Weeks, was held in January 2018. This two-week-long event was designed to integrate sustainability into the daily life of students and staff. This year’s event featured an array of activities, workshops, and sharing sessions promoting environmental conservation and a green lifestyle. These included DIY workshops on dishcloth knitting, making a natural insect repellent bag, and making candles out of coffee grounds. Through these interesting experiential learning activities, members of the University community were able to gain a better understanding of sustainability concepts and preferred green practices like upcycling.
This year’s PolyU Campus Sustainability Weeks staged and promoted three special and meaningful events. As part of the “FOOD-CO 1-2-3” campaign, food collection boxes were placed in campus and student hall canteens to encourage the PolyU community to donate their surplus food items. PolyU staff and students were also invited to participate in a “Finding Water” game by scanning a QR code affixed to selected drinking water stations to win a reusable coffee cup. To add more excitement to the game, participants could locate these drinking water stations on campus more easily by browsing the GreenMap@PolyU, a gadget-accessible interactive map. There was also a roving exhibition on Hong Kong’s marine biodiversity to help promote nature conservation during the PolyU Campus Sustainability Weeks.
VeggieLicious
In order to raise awareness of the concept of green dining and reinforce the significance of sustainability among the PolyU community, the third annual VeggieLicious event was held from 30 October to 3 November 2017. To kick-start this meaningful event, a series of workshops and activities were organized on Carnival Day. For example, an “Eco Mushroom Growing Workshop” and a “Stitching Garden Workshop” were held for students to experience eco mushroom cultivation and macramé craftsmanship respectively.
The featured sharing sessions and activities brought extra color to this fun-filled event. A practicing specialist surgeon, who also happens to be a vegan, shared tips on how to take preventive measures against diseases through a healthy diet; while Sparestore, a local vegan restaurant, hosted a vegan coffee workshop and shared some vegan baking tips.
Urban Farming Programmes
Over the years, the “UrbanFarming@Y6” programme has won tremendous support from the PolyU community as a way of promoting sustainable living and relieving stress since 2015. During the reporting year, Phases 5 to 7 of the programme were held, helping introduce even more participants to agricultural theories and concepts, and helping them receive hands-on training on removing weeds, mixing compost and applying fertilizers and nutrients. Due to overwhelming demand, “UrbanFarming@U Seed”, another similar programme with a farm located in Block VA, was also launched in 2018, providing workshops on organic farming practices. Our urban farming programmes demonstrate how it is possible to grow food crops on campus.
Digital Platforms
PolyU has developed web-based maps and platforms which help share green knowledge and information about our University’s natural environment, green features and facilities with our students, staff and visitors.
Fauna@PolyU
To help users easily identify different species of fauna on campus, the Fauna@PolyU platform displays information on various species including their prominent features, images, recordings of frequently-heard calls and other noteworthy characteristics.
TreeMap@PolyU
To stimulate interest in the University community about the natural environment, we recently revamped our interactive TreeMap@PolyU to make it more attractive to users and easier to navigate. This platform displays the locations of a wide variety of trees and flowers on campus, as well as detailed information about and photos of each species.
GreenMap@PolyU
The GreenMap@PolyU is an interactive map that introduces various green features, facilities and laboratories on campuses and in student halls of residence. The map also presents three suggested trails for people to explore green facilities at the Main Campus.
