The UTAS Green Office Challenge was held during the week of 14–18 May, with 11 offices participating in the competition, totalling more than 80 people.

The challenge started with a pre-assessment identifying the areas that staff could focus on during the week.

 The winners of the Challenge include:

• the Chief Operating Officer’s office and the Governance and Legal office in Hobart
• the ITR department in Launceston
• the Finance Department from the Rural Clinical School based on the Cradle Coast Campus.
• an Outstanding Achievement Award went to the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre for going above and beyond the line of duty.

Many great initiatives were implemented throughout the week:

• people swapping cars for bikes for commuting
• purchasing Fairtrade tea room goods
• changing over to a recycled-content paper
• establishing a Bokashi bucket borrowing scheme
• adopting a purchasing policy aimed at sustainable procurement, just to name a few.

Most importantly, the Green Office Challenge gave people a reason to talk about how they went about their daily business and work on the little things that make the big difference.

The Green Office Challenge is set to be even bigger and better next time round.