Design team members: Dennis Snowdon, Bruce Davison
Supervisor: R.A. Fraser
Background
The progress of the environmental movement at the University of Waterloo is in danger of stagnating and declining. Whereas ten years ago, the university was at the leading edge of environmental sustainability, the current practices have reached a stage of maintenance and new initiatives are required to keep uWaterloo at the forefront of the environmental movement. This project represents one initiative to help the university's environmental practices evolve to meet the changing needs of society.
The beginning of the official environmental movement on campus can be traced« To March of 1990 when a committee was formed on the topic of greening the campus. In the following decade a number of related advancements were made such as the creation of an Environmental and Resource Studies (ERS) course designed to "green the campus", the hiring of a Waste Management Coordinator and the constitution of the WATgreen Advisory Committee. This committee that was formed to look at uWaterloo's environmental aspects, has successfully implemented waste reduction, hazardous material, landscape management, and transportation plans. Problems have been reported, however, in the collection of data to measure the success of these programs. The idea of implementing a comprehensive environmental management system (EMS) for the University of Waterloo has been around since 1994 and is the next logical step in its environmental movement. Previous studies indicate that the International Standards Organization's International Organization Standards (ISO) 14000 standards are the most comprehensive EMS guidelines available. The university has not pursued the development of an EMS due to the extremely high cost of certification, which would be in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars for uWaterloo. This project endeavors to begin the process of implementing an environmental management system that follows the best points in the ISO 14000 standards. As a result, this project will not be concerned with the certification process or the rigorous nature of the requirements for an EMS found in the ISO 14000 standards.
Project description
The goal of this project is to implement the first phase of a system that will allow the university to manage its environmental data in such a way that will permit the president of the university to quickly assess the environmental performance of the institution.
There are two main objectives associated with this project, whic are:
-
to promote the political process of developing an Environmental Management System (EMS) at the University of Waterloo, and
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to deliver a data management system to collect, process, and report on the university's environmental data.
The main objectives are then broken down into sub objectives, which clearly outline all areas of the project. These sub-objectives complete some, but not all, of the steps necessary to implement an EMS. The sub-objectives are laid out in the format of the ISO 14000 standards main headings.
Environmental policy
-
Discuss the development of an environmental policy with the WATgreen Advisory Committee (WAC).
-
Produce a detailed plan of development for the WAC to comment on and use as a reference for future development.
Planning
-
Review legislative requirements, identify significant environmental impacts, and examine existing EMS practices and procedures.
Document the university's current environmental objectives and targets.
The following data needs gathering and reporting.
-
Environmental aspects
-
Training Records
-
Internal and external communication documents
-
General Information
-
Audit Report
Implementation
-
Establish and maintain a data management system to post the university's environmental policy, EMS structure, and environmental objectives and targets.
-
Identify training needs and train the appropriate personnel on the data management system.
Checking and corrective action
-
Build the data management system to automatically and continually monitor and measure University of Waterloo's environmental aspects.
-
Automatically generate monthly and annual environmental records for the sake of auditing.
Design methodology
In order to address the problem statement, a systems methodology will be applied to generate a solution. The stages of the methodology are as follows:
1. Formulate the problem
2. Clearly define objectives
3. Gather and evaluate information
4. Develop potential solutions
5. Evaluate workable solutions
6. Decide on the best solution
7. Implement the solution
The application of the design methodology
1.
Formulate
the
problem
The
introduction
of
an
environmental
management
system
to
the
University
of
Waterloo
that
includes
the
most
appropriate
aspects
of
ISO
14000
standards
would
help
the
university
monitor
and
improve
environmental
practices
and
awareness.
2.
Clearly
Define
Objectives
Defining
clear
and
concise
objectives
helps
guide
the
process.
The
goals
that
have
been
laid
out
outline
all
of
the
essential
steps
and
processes
that
must
take
place
to
ensure
that
a
proper
implementation
of
the
system
takes
place.
3.
Gather
and
evaluate
information
Through
research
and
personal
accounts
from
personnel
associated
with
the
University's
waste
program,
the
problem
has
been
refined
to
providing
a
data
management
system
reporting
on
environmental
aspects.
More
specifically,
the
focus
has
been
narrowed
to
the
design
and
implementation
of
a
database
that
stores
crucial
environmental
data
required
for
generating
annual
reports.
As
stage
two
was
carried
out
and
more
information
was
obtained
on
the
problem,
a
number
of
key
areas
were
identified
for
reporting.
From
these
areas,
specific
data
were
identified
as
needing
essential
factors
as
to
the
impact
of
the
university
on
surrounding
environment.
4.
Develop
potential
solutions
Based
on
the
gathering
and
evaluating
of
environmental
information
available
through
the
university,
a
few
potential
solutions
were
identified.
These
solutions
were
specific
to
the
various
specifications
of
the
ISO
14000
standard,
rather
than
the
existing
environmental
practices.
5.
Evaluate
workable
solutions
For
each
piece
of
environmental
data,
an
evaluation
of
scope
and
units
was
derived
to
the
suitability
of
the
university's
requirements.
This
evaluation
was
completed
according
the
constraints
and
criteria
recognized
in
the
information
gathering
stage
of
the
project.
6.
Decide
on
the
best
solution
A
set
of
clearly
defined
constraints
and
criteria
are
established
and
used
as
a
tool
to
eliminate
solutions
that
are
not
feasible.
After
that
is
finished,
the
remaining
solutions
are
tested
against
the
criteria
and
ranked
accordingly.
When
the
process
is
finished,
the
solution
with
the
highest
score
is
decided
as
the
preferred
option.
7.
Implement
solution
Once
a
solution
is
determined,
it
must
be
implemented
according
to
guidelines
developed
in
the
project.
The
final
part
of
implementation
is
carried
out
via
rigours
testing
to
certify
that
the
standards
and
objectives
of
the
project
are
met.