UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

• Use reusable articles,
• Use gloves more than once if possible,
• Avoid plastic and waste,
• Reuse aluminum foil,
• Use recycled paper for copying and printing (possible via purchasing since 3/2022),
• Be economical in the use of paper towels,
• Reduce water consumption (in labs, restrooms, shower stalls): turn off faucet as soon as possible and also while soaping hands,
• Repair equipment instead of disposing of it,
• Share chemicals and equipment,
• Replace toxic chemicals with less toxic alternatives,
• Use boxes with refillable pipette tips,
• Reduce junk mail.

Often small actions have a big effect. This is also the case when it comes to saving energy! Especially if we all do them. Although many are common knowledge, we have listed below the most important tips for saving energy in everyday work. Please follow them and spread the word so that together we can become more energy efficient!

Heating

• Never turn thermostatic valves up full (and then forget about them). Please set space heaters or thermostatic valves to 19°C or 20°C. Thermostat valve position "3" on heaters corresponds to 20°C, one graduation mark corresponds to about 1°C. If it gets too warm, turn down the thermostatic valves according to these indications.
• If you will not be at work for several days, set the thermostatic valves to the frost protection position (*). If necessary, wear warmer clothing in winter.
• Do not cover radiators.
• Never open windows in the winter in the tilted position. Always close tilted windows or open them completely for shock ventilation. Turn off heating during shock ventilation (approx. 5 min).
• Close the door of your office. You will otherwise heat the hallway of your work area.
• Lowering the room temperature by 1°C approx. saves up to 5-6% heating energy!

Cooling

• Use shading devices.

• Use air conditioning only when doors and windows are closed.
• Do not produce drafts through open windows in air-conditioned rooms.
• Turn off ventilation and cooling in unused rooms. In temporarily used rooms, turn on ventilation and cooling just before use.
• The room air should not be colder than 26°C. Observe workplace guidelines and safety regulations in this regard.

Lighting

• Do not use artificial lighting if there is sufficient daylight.
• Use the possibility to dim the light where possible.
• Switch off the lighting when you leave the room for a longer period of time.
• Turn off lights in unused rooms and restrooms.
• Turn off lights in all unused rooms and hallways when you are the last person to leave the workplace.

Office/Kitchen & Lab Equipment

• Use the energy-saving mode on your electrical appliances.
• Turn off unused electrical appliances. Avoid standby.
• Use multiple plugs with switches to disconnect or unplug power supplies and chargers when charging is complete.
• Use rechargeable batteries with all battery-powered appliances.
• Fill kettles only with as much water as needed.
• In research laboratories, raise the target freezer temperature from -80°C to -70°C and close the front sash of fume hoods.
• Operate refrigerators for everyday use at the highest possible temperature (refrigerators +8°C, freezers -18°C).
• Check the temperatures and the tightness of the appliances regularly. Defrost the refrigerators in good time. This saves electricity.
• Energy-conscious use of electrical appliances can save up to 10% of electrical energy.

Computer

• Always shut down unused computers, monitors, printers at the end of the working day: a computer consumes about 10 watts in a 22-hour stand-by operation.
• Beware: settings to save energy are always overridden by UK-IT network policies; computers do not go into power-saving mode, they just turn off screens.
• Use privacy and environmentally friendly online search engines (Ecosia, Gexi): a single Google search produces between 0.2 and 7 grams of CO2 emissions - 7 grams is roughly equivalent to driving a car 15 meters.
• Limit streaming to content you really want to watch and avoid running applications in the background. One hour of video streaming produces 55 grams of CO2 emissions - roughly equivalent to using an average kettle three times.
• Stream on a smaller screen: the carbon footprint of streaming on a 50-inch TV is about 4.5x that of streaming on a laptop.
• Regularly empty your inbox, spam box and unsubscribe from unnecessary newsletters. Empty search history and clear caches regularly. Emails sent to multiple contacts or containing large amounts of data can generate up to 50 grams of CO2.

You can find more energy-saving tips online at the following sites:

• https://portal.uni-koeln.de/universitaet/universitaet-auf-einen-blick/nachhaltigkeit/energiesparen-an-der-uni-koeln/so-kann-ich-energie-sparen
• https://medfak.uni-koeln.de/fakultaet/gamma-aktiver-mittelbau/ag-nachhaltigkeit

If you have individual questions about saving energy in your work area, you can contact your supervisor or ask the Sustainability Working Group.

If you have a great idea for saving energy, send it to us!

• Take the bicycle as a means of transportation to work,
• Carpool to work or take advantage of other offers,
• Business trips: check whether a flight is really necessary.

• Pay attention to sustainability and choose companies/suppliers on this basis,
• Give preference to organic/fair trade offers or items,
• Choose a more environmentally friendly alternative for office supplies,
• Consider sustainability aspects when purchasing products,
• Joint ordering of bulk items with other groups.

• Avoid waste: use own containers (cups, bottles, cans) for drinks and food to avoid disposable packaging: do not use "to go" cups,
• Drink tap water instead of bottled water,
• Choose vegetarian or vegan options in dining halls/restaurants,
• Waste as little food as possible (often, food can still be enjoyed beyond the best-before date).

Waste separation is important to protect and preserve the health of people as well as our planet. As a general rule, waste must be

1. avoided as far as possible
2. made available for reuse, recycling or other further use.

This is primarily the responsibility of the person generating the waste.

Secondly, the employees of the waste management department are responsible for dealing with the separated waste that has been made available for recycling in a sensible manner.

In other words, waste that has not been separated at the ward/laboratory and ends up in the wrong waste can no longer be reused or recycled.

In principle, waste separation is possible in every building, since the waste management of the University Hospital Cologne already recycles some of the waste generated separately.

Nevertheless, the possibilities for waste separation on the Uniklinik premises vary depending on the area.

This is due to the fact that the possibilities for waste separation are only being installed gradually, and usually only at the request of the area managers or the employees of the respective wards / laboratories / areas.

Mr. Dirk Zuper will be happy to help you with the installation of waste separation in your area. Feel free to contact him with your request regarding all questions concerning waste separation: dirk.zuperuk-koeln.de.

If you would like to expand the separation of recyclables in your area, the following points are important:

• Talk with area management to install separation systems for recyclables (e.g., two-separation systems for recyclables and residual waste).
• Talk to the responsible facility manager of the UK cleaning department: The cleaning staff must take the separately collected waste to the waste containers at the building or AWT containers accordingly. The contact person at the Medical Synergies / Quality Management for the UKR is Mr. Stephan Black, he can refer you to the responsible object manager* for your area: stephan.blackuk-koeln.de.
• If you want to know more about waste separation and waste management, the contact address is: abfallwirtschaftmedfacilities.de.  The mf waste management is happy to provide advice and support on the topics of "waste separation and waste management" in the UK Cologne.

In this table you will find concrete information about which waste has to be separated and how it has to be disposed of. The disposal guidelines for hospital-specific waste, infectious waste, and cytostatics are listed in this table. For more detailed information, please refer to the UKK's waste disposal guidelines or contact Mr. Zuper.

Special case CECAD:

Areas which belong exclusively to the University of Cologne (e.g. some laboratories in CECAD) would have to contact the Department 54 of the University of Cologne.

Contact for cleaning, waste disposal and material issue (uni-koeln.de)

The IT-Services of the University of Cologne offer to accept electronic devices for recycling. You can also set up a collection point for electronic devices at your university. You can find more information on the website of the University of Cologne or at the e-mail address entsorgungverw.uni-koeln.de.

Good to know:

If you have good ideas for better waste separation on the University Hospital campus, please submit them to the Ideas Competition. One of these ideas has resulted in the Uniklinik supporting the Cologne-based startup TobaCycle, which recycles cigarette butts! Have you ever seen the collection points for this? They can be found at several locations on the Uniklinik campus.

• Consider whether a document or email really needs to be printed.
• Encourage others to think by adding the following line to your signature:

"Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail."

• Set the default settings for the printer at work to black and white and double-sided to save paper.
• Reuse products or look for reusable alternatives: using a box for shipping a second time, for example, can save 47% of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Return Styrofoam boxes
• Ensure proper disposal of waste (toner cartridges, data protection media, batteries, Styrofoam boxes). For detailed tips on disposal, see above.
• If necessary, request individual advice, for example from the waste management officer regarding the disposal of waste. For the installation of waste separation in your area, Mr. Dirk Zuper will be happy to help you. Feel free to contact him with your request regarding all questions concerning waste separation: dirk.zuperuk-koeln.de.