A university is a complex organization.
The University of Groningen is made up of various faculties and support services that are located in many sites in the city.
It goes without saying that an organization like the University of Groningen uses a lot of energy to heat buildings and for computer use.
The University also uses a lot of paper – think of the amount needed for examinations, for example.
And of course it uses a lot of water.
Some facts and figures:
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If we put all 67 million photocopies produced by the University of Groningen every year onto a pile, it would be as high as 67 Martini Church towers (6.5 km).
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If you flooded the entire surface area of the University (c. 326,000 m2), i.e. all lecture halls, corridors, canteens and office space, with the water that the University uses in a year, then all staff would be up to their knees in water.
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In addition to paper waste and hazardous waste, the University of Groningen produces more than 350 tons of residual waste a year.
These amounts of waste, paper and water use are not unusual for a large organization like the University of Groningen.
Given the growing need to live sustainably, it is thus important to confront all staff and students with their environmental behaviour.
In order to keep track of the large amounts of waste production, energy and water use, a handy system needs to be developed.
To this end, the Health, Safety and the Environment Service (AMD) of the University of Groningen has developed ‘Environmental Performance Indicators’ (EPIs).
