Last week I wrote about where does the EP stand in green standards.  This week, some tips on what can WE do to make the Parliament greener. And also, some fresh news about what is going to happen soon…thanks to EMAS that revealed it exclusively to us!

In our corridors…

I want to believe that all of us use double sided printing. But do you turn your printer and screen off when going home? EMAS guide can help to check if we have the right behaviour in our daily life. I also spotted a funny series of animations by EEA on the same subject.

There are some other small things I thought of regarding us.  You can add your ideas below:

- Bring to the office a jar to filter water, as Marie Claire, Kristiina and others already do.

- When the wonderful Nespresso machine breaks down, we can buy a machine without plastic capsules.

- Do we always make sure to switch the lights off when leaving our offices?

“switch off your lights every time you leave your office for more than 4 or 5 minutes. It makes a difference.” (EMAS)

- EMAS suggests us “another braver option: ask your LSA to remove your personal printer and be connected to the network printer in the corridor!! You will save a lot of energy, ink and paper” …shall we try it for a period and see if it works?!

Other ideas are welcome!

…and coming to the office

With cars accounting for over 40% of total CO2 emissions, climate change cannot be tackled without envisaging a “softer mobility”. In the mini-survey I made among the collegues, 20% of us use exclusively car to come to work, 30% car and/or public transport, 20% bike and 30% public transport. Not bad but….what could the EP do to encourage even more eco-friendly behaviour from our side?

What else can we do

Mobility- Yes there are the bicycles. And yes, in Strasbourg ‘la navette’ (ed. a bus service between parliament and the town centre) is free. But cannot we do more? EMAS explained us that big things are in the pipeline, such as a better integration of carsharing and bikes services of Brussels city in the EP area, a ‘mobility management desk’ at the EP starting from next Autumn. And probably from 2010 discounts on public transport for all the EU officials, as already happens in Luxembourg!  AND – last but not least -flexitime and telework will be soon reality, thanks to an upcoming pilot project! Will it apply to WebComm? ;)

And even  more can be done, for example: requiring a fee for use of the car park, ‘make the EU area cars free‘ (Hanneke) and ‘ stop VAT free car purchases for the staff or at least give it only to green cars’ (Mindaugas). (ed. In Belgium, under some long standing quasi-diplomatic protocol, an arriving EU official can purchase his/her first car VAT-free – on a once-only basis.)

EP bikes

Waste – EMAS assures that “‘in Brussels, a series of separated bins will be soon installed in the corridors for a separate collection and recycling of plastic bottles“. But the issue of plastic bottles should be, maybe, seen in terms of avoidance rather than recycle. Why not to use everywhere distributors as in the canteens? A pilot action of water fountains will be soon experimented in the training rooms.  Maybe in 2020 we will have them everywhere…EU times!

Lights - EMAS expains that ”In Brussels, cleaning staff work early in the morning, so it is very important that EP colleagues switch off lights in the evening, otherwise they will stay on during the whole night“. Do we do that?

Cleaning products – The bars and restaurants already use eco-friendly products. Once expired the old contracts, also offices, toilets, carpets and windows will be cleaned up with eco-label. No bad!

Paper waste – a pilot project of installing screens in the meeting rooms, to avoid printing of tons of documents will start soon. Hopefully only the beginning!

Food- maybe a provocation. But meat and fish account for a very big part of CO2 emissions. Should not we reduce at least a bit  the offer of this food in our canteens?

Finally - EMAS offered to organise an EMAS awareness training for our Unit. Are we interested?!