Eco-friendly civil service

The Department of the Environment launches its action plan for an environmentally friendly administration.

At the end of March, around 40 administrators and functionaries met to present a 5 year action plan to establish an eco-friendly civil service. The plan is the culmination of an initiative that was launched a year ago with a guide to good practice, encouraging administrators to save energy and reduce waste paper. Since then each administrative department designated an eco-officer to work with the Department of the Environment to analyse current eco-practices. With the help of the Mediterranee 2000 [1] association, a plan of 39 actions has been established around 5 key areas:

• protection and management of water and energy
• responsible purchasing
• limiting and optimising travel
• preventing waste, and organising selective collection for recycling
• raising awareness and action among administration

Some actions are already in place, such as separate waste collections for paper, ink cartridges and batteries.

Key findings

• administrators use approx. 8,250,000 sheets of A4 paper, representing around 800 trees
• 9.64% of all purchases in 2009 were green supplies
• 33% of all office supplies ordered cost less than 50 euros
• 54% of orders are for less than 5 lines
• online ordering cuts administrative costs in half

Meeting of the Administration’s eco-responsible advisors [2]

Civil service : 5 years to become eco-friendly [3]