Mr Dick Roche, TD, Ireland‘‘s Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has launched an innovative and practical programme, Action at Work, to inform large public and private sector organisations on how to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste. Action at Work, developed under the Race Against Waste campaign, comprises a practical 64-page manual, a CD and website on how to manage waste better along with a series of nationwide sector-specific seminars being held between March and June this year. This is the first ever cross-sectoral programme developed by the Minister‘‘s Department to encourage large public and private sector organisations to reduce, reuse and recycle waste.

The programme is being issued to all government departments, hospitals, Health Service Executive organisations, local authorities, prisons, Garda stations, universities, 3rd level colleges, banks, transport providers and semi-state bodies, with a letter from Minister Roche urging them to change how they manage their waste.

"If every large public and private sector organisation in the country adopted reduce, reuse and recycle practices, we would divert substantial amounts of waste away from landfill," said Minister Roche. "We have already organised ten sector-specific nationwide seminars with the Defence Forces, An Garda Síochána, the Prison Service, the North Western Health Board, Irish Rail and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Board, starting in March. I look forward to seeing many more organisations signing up to the programme in the near future."

The Action at Work pack provides practical information for large organisations on how to carry out a waste audit, how to involve staff, visitors and the public in reducing and recycling in an organisation, how to appoint and work with a waste service provider, how to implement ‘‘green procurement‘‘ practices and how to manage ten specific types of wastes, from canteen and green waste to laboratory and office waste. The pack also contains posters, PowerPoint training presentations, worksheets to audit waste, staff questionnaires and an overview of relevant waste management legislation.
"The Action at Work programme makes it easy for large organisations to get started and play their part in helping Ireland reach the ambitious national and EU targets to reduce the amount of household and commercial waste we produce and recycle 35% by 2013. People at home are already composting and recycling and this practical programme is about getting people to bring their good recycling habits from home into the workplace."

A stakeholder network comprising representatives from more than 26 organisations, including the Defence Forces, Bus Éireann, the Prison Service, the Department of Transport, the Department of Education, the Eastern Regional Health Authority, the Irish Hotels Federation, Institutes of Technology and Universities, informed the Race Against Waste team who developed Action at Work.

A key section of the programme, Green Procurement, encourages Purchasing Managers to consider environmental impacts when choosing equipment and supplies, such as energy-efficient computers, recycled paper, office equipment made from environmentally sustainable timber and energy from renewable resources