Green Management

The Department all along recognises the importance of environmental protection and sustainable development for Hong Kong. We are committed to ensuring that all the services delivered to the public and our internal operations are conducted in an environmentally responsible manner. In particular, we strictly comply with the environmental protection principles and practices according to the requirements under the environmental legislation, codes of practices and the Clean Air Charter as appropriate. For a better environment, we also encourage the active participation of staff members in adopting green practices in both the workplace and their daily lives.

Environmental Management

The Departmental Secretary is appointed as the Green Manager of the Department. He is responsible for supervising the environmental protection measures, reviewing the energy saving practices and formulating the green initiatives in the Department. Division Heads are assigned to assist in exploring opportunities in adopting green initiatives and monitoring the energy conservation measures to be widely implemented in offices under their purview. Energy Wardens are appointed at sub-divisional level and they are responsible for ensuring that the green housekeeping measures have been taken effectively by conducting regular inspections in office premises and reminding staff about the importance of persistent conformance to the ongoing housekeeping measures. Review and audit of green management practices mainly focusing on energy saving have been conducted by Energy Wardens on a quarterly basis.

The paper and energy consumption is closely monitored in the monthly meeting of the Resources Management Committee chaired by the Deputy Director and consisted of members of senior management. The consumption records are updated and uploaded onto our intranet portal on a regular basis so that management at all levels could have a holistic view on the resources used to facilitate their monitoring process.

Environmental Performance

Energy Conservation

The Department is proactive in energy conservation and has implemented a number of energy saving measures to reduce energy consumption. In 2014, while there was a substantial increase in operational activities in the Department such as the use of additional equipment and the increase in passenger traffic at control points, the power consumption of the Department only slightly increased by 1.5 per cent when compared to 2013, with total consumption at about 43 million kWh.

The Department will continue to impose the following green measures to reduce the energy consumption level as far as practicable in order to offset the unavoidable increase in energy consumption arising from more departmental activities:

Green Measures Taken
Lighting	Switch off lighting that are not in use. Adjust illumination to the recommended level in the office, corridor, public area, etc.
Air-conditioning	Adjust indoor temperature to the recommended 25.5°C level during summer months. Lower window blinds or curtains before leaving office to reduce direct sunlight on the following day. Keep windows closed in air-conditioned rooms.
Office Equipment	Switch off computers, photocopiers and other office equipment that are not in use to avoid leaving them in standby mode. Replace the office equipment with models of lower energy consumption, such as those with ‘Energy Star’, ‘Energy Efficiency Label’ of Grade 1 or 2 whenever suitable.
Others	Arrange the ‘last-man-out’ to check and turn off all lighting and office equipment. Encourage staff to use staircases instead of lifts for inter-floor traffic as far as possible.

Minimisation of Paper Consumption

With the growth of the operational activities in 2014, the paper consumption increased by 5.5 per cent from 62,178 reams in 2013 to 65,590 reams in 2014. The Department will make continuous effort in reducing paper consumption as far as practicable, and has already adopted various measures to minimise paper consumption both externally and internally, including:

External

• Share information with members of the public via the electronic platform in the departmental website and mobile application for a quick and paperless access of information.
• Provide members of the public with a number of e-Services such as online application, online appointment booking, online reporting of immigration offences, registration of outbound travel information, etc. These e-Services provide convenient means for the public to attain our services and help reduce the use of paper.

Internal

• Communicate and disseminate information extensively through electronic means such as e-mails and intranet portal.
• Distribute the internal circulars and notices as well as posting orders through electronic means.
• Avoid printing or photocopying documents unless hard copies are absolutely necessary.
• Use both sides of paper and utilise the blank side of used paper for drafting, faxing, printing and photocopying documents.
• Reuse envelops and file covers.
• Implement the web-based Electronic Leave Application and Processing System for leave applications and approvals as well as the e-Procurement System for processing the procurement procedures.
• Send out electronic season’s greeting cards during festive seasons.

The above green measures are widely accepted by both members of the public and our staff. The Department would continue to adopt information technology as far as possible and closely monitor paper consumption to create a paperless working environment.

Recycling of Waste and Recovery of Resources

In order to raise the awareness of our staff and members of the public on the benefits of recycling of waste to the environment, the Immigration Tower has participated in the ‘Programme on Source Separation of Commercial and Industrial Waste’ initiated by the Environmental Protection Department since 2008.

Apart from the traditional wastes, other recyclable wastes including rechargeable batteries, fluorescent lamps, CD-ROMs and glass bottles are also collected through the collection boxes.

With a view to fulfilling the target of further minimising solid waste and conserving the environment, used printer cartridges have been returned to suppliers by means of trade-in. The Department has also included green specifications for stock items to ensure that products that caused minimal adverse environmental impacts were purchased.

Support on Clean Air Charter

In support of the Clean Air Charter which aimed at improving the air quality of Hong Kong, the Department has taken the following measures in our daily operations to minimise the adverse impact of vehicles and vessels to the environment as far as practicable:

• Encourage staff members to share the pool car and combine their trips as far as practicable to fully utilise the vehicles and reduce mileage.
• Plan routes when using departmental vehicles to minimise the journey distance and travel time.
• Encourage the use of public transport whenever possible.
• Ensure the compliance with the requirement set out in the Motor Vehicle Idling (Fixed Penalty) Ordinance (Cap. 611, Laws of Hong Kong) by switching off the vehicle engines whilst waiting to reduce exhaust emissions and achieve fuel saving.
• Ensure proper maintenance of our departmental vehicles and vessels to minimise the production of pollutants and nuisance caused by exhaust emissions.

In 2014, with the increasing operational activities, the total fuel consumption of the vehicles and vessel fleet of the Department increased by 2.4 per cent from 1,302,540 litres in 2013 to 1,333,262 litres in 2014. The Department would continue to make efforts to minimise the fuel consumption and emissions of our vehicles and vessel fleet.

The Department endeavours to provide a better working environment for our staff. In this connection, the Department has participated in the Indoor Air Quality Certificate Scheme to ensure good indoor air quality that safeguards the health of our staff members. In 2014, the indoor air quality of Immigration Tower was awarded ‘Good Class’. In addition, the common areas of the Prosperity Villa, our rank and file staff quarters at Wo Yi Hop Road, Kwai Chung was awarded ‘Excellent Class’.

Promotion of Staff Awareness

To advocate a green culture among staff members, the Department has all along disseminated the latest news and useful information to staff through e-mails and intranet portal. Staff members were encouraged to participate in environmental protection campaigns arranged by other organisations, such as the ‘Community Chest Green Day’ organised by the Community Chest which encouraged participants to adopt a greener lifestyle such as taking public transport and supporting recycling of waste, the ‘Earth Hour’ organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature which encouraged participants to switch off non-essential lights at the appointed time for an hour, the ‘Mooncake Tin Collection Campaign’ and ‘Red Pocket Recycling Campaign’ organised by the Building Management Office of the Immigration Tower.

To further cultivate the environmental awareness amongst staff members, the Department has set up green corners at various offices with posters, green tips and latest news related to green matters. The information posted on the green corners would be updated periodically.

The Way Forward

The Department would continue to reinforce and broaden the housekeeping measures, adopt green management principles in all activities and implement new green initiatives and targets in the Department as appropriate. The effectiveness of the green measures would be reviewed regularly in order to seek continuous improvement in the efficient use of energy and resources.