GREEN IMPACT Handy hints to help you through 2015/16 PROJECT BANK

You may have noticed, there’s a new tab on the left hand side of the Green Impact workbook, the Project Bank is new for 2015/16! This presentation will guide you through what the project bank is, why we created it and how to use this exciting new tab

Why add the Project Bank? We are long-standing Green Impact high achievers at the University of Sheffield! Having taken part in Green Impact for 6 years, we thought it about time we mix things up a bit Feedback collected at the end of 2014/15 suggested that the workbook provided a great structure for greening departments with some useful criteria but at the same time, it could be quite rigid and a bit of a tick box exercise. Many of you wanted to gain recognition for other greening activities happening in your departments or increase the motivation for your wider departments to get involved in environmental sustainability more generally Thus, the Project Bank was born!

What is the Project Bank? The Project Bank is a new tab which allows you to gain recognition for all the extra green things happening within your departments. The tasks in the Project Bank are smaller than an Excellence Project. They are every day greening actions, or year long smaller greening projects that you can choose to undertake Completing the Project Bank is not compulsory - you can do as many or as few actions as you like. You don’t have to have completed any other tabs to start the Project Bank either, you can dip in and out as you like!

You can either complete our suggested actions within the Project Bank or simply fill in your own! Most of the tabs have been left blank for you to add in your own projects and initiatives Every time you complete a project, you will get a certain number of points depending on whether it is Bronze, Silver or Gold standard. We will total these points up at the end of the year and see what Project Bank level you have achieved!

What goes in the Project Bank? The Project Bank contains all those greening activities that your department undertakes outside of the workbook. -These projects or initiatives are smaller than the Excellence Project. -Projects and initiatives should be different to any of the standard workbook actions in Bronze, Silver, Bonus, Healthcare, Catering, Grounds and Labs -You can use the same project/initiative in both the Special Awards tab and Project Bank

Structure of the Project Bank In the same way as the standard workbook, the Project Bank is broken down into the different categories of Waste & Recycling; Energy; travel; Procurement; Water; Biodiversity & community; Engaging teams, communications & action plans; Health & Wellbeing. There are also categories for Labs, Catering, Healthcare and Grounds There are the additional categories of Student Engagement and General (for activities without a clearly defined category or, if you run out of space anywhere!) Within each category, are the award levels of Bronze, Silver and Gold. In most categories, there are 3 different actions for each award level. For example, if we head to the Project Bank and click on Waste & Recycling, what appears is 9 different actions – 3 Bronze, 3 Silver & 3 Gold There are a few exceptions to this rule. For example, in the Student Engagement category, there is only 1 Bronze, 1 Silver and 1 Gold action. The award level is visible in description in the Project Title tab. The criteria number will also tell you – PBB for Bronze, PBS for Silver and PBG for Gold

How to use the Project Bank For most categories (i.e. Waste & Recycling, Energy etc.) in the Project Bank, there are 9 different actions – 3 Bronze, 3 Silver, 3 Gold. Let’s take a look at the first few Waste & Recycling actions: PBB01 – Eradication of single-use plastic bags within the department PBB02 – The team and/or department has developed its own Bronze standard Waste & Recycling initiative or project. PBB03 – The team and/or department has developed its own Bronze standard Waste & Recycling initiative or project. PBS01 – Recycled decoration competition or display PBS02 - The team and/or department has developed its own Silver standard Waste & Recycling initiative or project.

How to use the Project Bank… The majority of categories in the Project Bank have 3 different award level actions. In most, 1 project per award level has been filled in by us, the other 2 are left blank for your own projects and initiatives The project we have suggested gives you an indication of the types of project which would be classed as a Bronze, Silver or Gold action. It is not compulsory to complete this project, you can do so if you wish or move straight onto filling in your own initiatives. Nothing in the Project Bank is compulsory, it’s just there to provide a space to enter your own projects or to give you some guidance on greening activities outside of the workbook! The Project Bank has been designed to give you as bit more freedom with the workbook

Bronze, Silver or Gold? So you have completed a task, how do you decide where to put it in the Project Bank – is it Bronze, Silver, Gold? We have included example Bronze, Silver and Gold tasks for most categories which act as a guide for you to place your actions correctly For each action, you should take into account: The impact of your project; its scope and its reach; the number of staff and/or students involved in the project; the duration of the project; the level of effort required for the project. Before you enter an action into the Project Bank, send it over to Green Impact just to double check its category

Scoring system Nothing in the Project Bank is compulsory and unlike the rest of the workbook, it is not accumulative. You DO NOT need to complete all Bronze actions for Bronze, then all Bronze and Silver for Silver, then all Bronze, Silver and Gold for Gold. The Project Bank works on a points based system. For every action in the tab, Bronze is 4 points, Silver is 6 points, Gold actions are 8 points You need 12 points for PB Bronze, 20 for PB Silver and 40 for PB Gold. You will be awarded with a certificate from GI and perhaps a small prize! It also means we can have a best practice team within each normal workbook tab. If you get Bronze workbook and the most points in the Project Bank, you’ll win Green Impact’s best Bronze team! This works the same for Silver and Bonus.

The best way to get familiar with the Project Bank is to take a tour! Log into your workbook and explore the Project Bank tab If you have any questions, contact Green Impact