Greenrock Green Workplace Awards
Greenrock announced its second annual awards competition as part of an effort to highlight small and large businesses’ environmental and sustainability efforts.
Launched for the first time last year, the charity’s Green Workplace Awards [GWAs] will once again be accepting entries with the addition of two new categories — Government and Schools — opening up the participation of any Government-occupied building or school body to demonstrate their sustainability initiatives.
The complete 2012 GWA categories are Building Manager, Government, Hospitality, Owner-Occupier, Retail, Tenant and School. The statements of intent must be submitted before or on Friday, March 30. All final submissions, including performance data, are to be submitted before or on Friday, June 15.
The Green Champion category will also remain and be part of the GWAs, recognizing an individual who has put in outstanding effort to reduce the environmental impact of their company. Persons nominated for this category must be submitted before or on Friday, June 1.
The 2012 entry form is available from Greenrock’s website at www.greenrock.org. You can also go to the website to find ideas on how to motivate your co-workers and where to start in making your workplace ‘greener’.
Last year’s Green Workplace Awards winners were Victoria Place Management Ltd (Building Manager), Rosewood Tucker’s Point (Hospitality), ACE (Owner-Occupier), Hiscox (Tenant) and Lindo’s Group of Companies (Retail).Greenrock President
Dr. Judith Landsberg explained: “The response to last year’s launch of the Green Workplace Awards was a positive one and as a result of participants’ and judges’ feedback, we’re pleased to include Schools and Government-occupied buildings as categories.”
“Schools here on the island are actively taking steps to practice environmentally-friendly initiatives. And as schools are deemed a ‘workplace’ for its faculty, we thought it would be a great way to involve teachers and students alike in this friendly competition.
“Whether a school has broad policies that affect every teacher and classroom, or if it’s one teacher or class spearheading the bulk of green initiatives, then a school’s efforts can be recognized via this new category in the Green Workplace Awards.”
Dr. Landsberg continued: “We also wanted to engage with Government employees partly because it makes sense to, given the goals outlined in the Energy White Paper, but also because many Government employees are passionately committed to reducing waste and conserving our resources.
“There are approximately 5,000 Government employees in various buildings — old and new — where steps can be made to reinforce energy savings and sustainability measures. Such steps may include how staff travel to work, use paper, turn off computers and lights at the end of the day, use recycling bins on office floors and so on.”
Following the entry deadline, businesses will undergo a performance period in April and/or May to compile and submit information demonstrating efforts of reduced energy consumption and other ‘green’ behaviours in the workplace. Winners will be selected by a judging panel in June and formally announced in December.
“Overall, our message is that any employee in any building can encourage their business to take part and use the Green Workplace Awards competition as a way to start practicing ‘green’ initiatives for the Performance period in April and May,” said Dr. Landsberg. “The actions taken and the results from that are likely to be surprising – most people are amazed at what they can achieve in such a short time frame.”
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Category: All, Business, Environment
