Organisation - September 28, 2012

Green Office set up on campus

Wageningen UR has set up a Green Office, a new organization dedicated to support sustainable initiatives on campus.

Green Office Wageningen will make its first public appearance on Sustainability Day on Wednesday 10 October. It will give a presentation - one of the activities on this day - on the ground floor of the Forum. Green Office is a go-between for the Facilities & Services Office of Wageningen UR and students and employees. 'Not only do we support the implementation of existing sustainable projects, we also help to develop new initiatives,' explains coordinator Marta Dabrowska. 'We want to turn the organization's needs into projects. For example, by generating a Master's thesis out of these needs and finding a student to do that.'
Green knowledge
Green Office is manned by students. It differentiates itself from other clubs such as the Wageningen Environmental Platform (WEP) and Share by working closely with Facilities & Services, says Dabrowska. 'In addition, we are critical and constructive. We want to scrutinize what happens in the area of sustainability. Can things be done differently, do they have to, and if so, how?' Green Office also wants to act as a forum for sustainability. In this, it succeeds the Sustainability Taskforce which will cease to exist at the end of this year. The university has for some time been stressing on the need to apply more of Wageningen's green knowledge within its own organization.
Student catering
Green Office will launch one of its first initiatives in the canteen of Cormet on the Sustainability Day . The food caterer has offered some space for students to sell their own food. Dabrowska: 'Many students cook organic, biological or vegan food. Cormet does not offer such products and will make it possible for these to be sold.' If the trial is successful, Dabrowska says, Cormet will make this a permanent feature.