The Greening of Government

Greening Government and green housekeeping for the Public sector as policy gained popularity during the early 1990s.

In the Northern Ireland Waste Management Strategy the Department of the Environment (DOE) set itself targets to get its own house in order:

• The Department to carry out an internal audit of waste management practices.
• The Department to specify and introduce mandatory recycled content for selected products and materials purchased.
• The Department to reduce its overall paper use by 10% by 2002.

Following the waste management audit, an informed Action Plan was devised to improve staff practice and to meet the other targets set in the strategy. The action plan built around the mantra ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’, was adopted by the Department during 2004.