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 compliance 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. We also encourage the active participation of staff members in adopting green practices in both the workplace and their personal lives.

Environmental Management

The Departmental Secretary is appointed as the Green Manager of the Department. He is responsible for overseeing 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 implemented in offices under their purview. Energy Wardens are appointed at sub-divisional level to ensure the effective implementation of the green housekeeping measures by conducting regular inspections in office premises and maintaining staff awareness of the importance of persistent conformity to the housekeeping measures. Reviews of green management practices with a main focus on energy saving have been conducted by Energy Wardens on a quarterly basis.

The Resources Management Committee, chaired by the Deputy Director and consisted of members of senior management, closely monitored the paper and energy consumption in its monthly meetings. The consumption records were regularly updated and uploaded to our Intranet portal to enable managers at all levels to have a holistic view on the resources used to facilitate their monitoring process.

Environmental Performance

Energy Conservation

The Department has implemented a number of energy saving measures to reduce energy consumption. In 2015, the power consumption level slightly decreased by 0.3 per cent when compared with 2014, with total consumption of about 43 million kWh.

To reduce the energy consumption level as far as practicable, the Department will continue to impose the following green measures:

Green Measures Taken
Lighting	Switching off lighting that is not in use. Adjusting illumination to the recommended level in the office, corridors and public areas, etc.
Air-conditioning	Adjusting indoor temperature to the recommended 25.5°C level in summer months. Lowering window blinds or curtains before leaving office to reduce direct sunlight on the following day. Keeping windows closed in air-conditioned rooms.
Office Equipment	Switching off computers, photocopiers and other office equipment that are not in use to avoid leaving them in standby mode. Replacing the office equipment with models of better energy efficiency, such as those with Grade 1 or 2 labels under ‘Energy Star’ or ‘Energy Efficiency Label’ whenever suitable.
Others	Arranging the ‘last-man-out’ to check and turn off all lighting and office equipment. Encouraging staff to use staircases instead of lifts for inter-floor traffic as far as possible.

Minimisation of Paper Consumption

With the growth of operational activities of the Department, the paper consumption increased by 2.4 per cent from 65,590 reams in 2014 to 67,195 reams in 2015. The Department will make continuous effort in reducing paper consumption as far as practicable, and maintain its diversified range of measures to minimise paper consumption both externally and internally, including:

External

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

Internal

• Making use of electronic means such as e-mails and Intranet portal to communicate and disseminate information as far as possible.
• Distributing internal circulars and notices as well as posting orders through electronic means.
• Avoiding printing or photocopying documents unless hard copies are absolutely necessary.
• Using both sides of paper and utilising the blank side of used paper for drafting, facsimile transmission, printing and photocopying documents.
• Reusing envelops and file covers.
• Implementing 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.
• Sending out electronic season’s greeting cards during festive seasons.

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

Recycling of Waste and Recovery of Resources

With a view to raising the awareness of our staff and members of the public on the benefits of recycling of waste to the environment, Immigration Tower has been made a member of 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 were also collected through the collection boxes.

To further minimise solid waste and conserve 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 the products to be purchased cause minimal adverse impact to the environment.

Support on Clean Air Charter

To implement the Clean Air Charter which aims at improving the air quality in Hong Kong, the Department has adopted the following measures in our daily operations to minimise impact of vehicles and vessels to the environment as far as practicable:

• Encouraging staff members to share pool cars and combine their trips whenever practicable to fully utilise the vehicles and reduce mileage.
• Planning routes when using departmental vehicles to minimise the journey distance and travelling time.
• Encouraging the use of public transport whenever possible.
• Ensuring 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.
• Ensuring proper maintenance of our departmental vehicles and vessels to minimise the production of pollutants and nuisance caused by exhaust emissions.

The total fuel consumption of the vehicle and vessel fleets of the Department decreased by 2.9 per cent from 1,333,262 litres in 2014 to 1,295,024 litres in 2015. The Department will continue to make the best effort 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 2015, 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 foster a green culture among staff members, the Department has continued to disseminate 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; and the ‘Mooncake Tin Collection Campaign’ and ‘Red Pocket Recycling Campaign’ organised by the Building Management Office of Immigration Tower.

To enhance the environmental awareness among 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 will be updated periodically.

The Way Forward

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