Environmental Policy - Vila Universitària UAB

Vila Universitària has been pioneering in the Spanish public university sphere in the implantation of quality systems: obtaining the ISO 9002 in 1998 and the implementation of the European quality management system EFQM in the year 2000 are the result. Fruit of this policy and with the conviction to help safeguard the environment and to foster a culture of respect, besides having always as a goal to offer the residents the maximum service quality standards, Vila Universitària achieved the certification ISO 14001 in environment management.

Vila Universitària: compromised with the sustainability of the campus, and in extension, with that of the territory that surrounds it.

Points of environmental attention:

ANALYSIS

All those aspects that hit in a negative way upon the environment as a result of the activity of Vila Universitària, will be accurately and periodically measured and analyzed, -and, if necessary, the related management policies will be corrected-, in order to minimize their environmental impact.
– The state of the wastewater produced by human activity and of the wastewater provoked by waste dumping as a consequence of the commercial and services activity in the area of Vila Universitària.
– The management of the garbage produced by the residential activity.
– The management of the waste of liquid containers and materials being produced by the action of the maintenance and cleaning teams.

GOALS

Once the possible environmental risk is classified and measured, Vila Universitària commits to carry out all those actions that can improve its management and, therefore, help reduce the environmental impact. With this purpose, Vila Universitària establishes real annual attainable and measurable goals, specifically addressed to the improvement of waste management and the prevention of environmental pollution. For each of those goals Vila settles a deadline of execution and sets to obtain the necessary means for its achievement. The establishment of goals will be done by Vila’s quality committee, with an annual periodicity, as a result of the analysis of the records of the former year. This are the actions that Vila Universitària carries on: HAVE A LOOK AT THE ACTIONS

LEGISLATION

Vila Universitària acquires the explicit commitment to comply with the legislation and valid regulation in environment for its application, and in order to do so the DIR.0.P.01 procedure will be followed, in which the new legal dispositions are identified. Vila Universitària also fulfils other internal guidelines, of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (through its Environment Office) and of the Autonomous University of Barcelona Foundation.

CERTIFICATIONS

All the derivative documentation related to the obtaining of the certification according to the rule ISO 14001, -procedures, instructions and records -, is within reach of the members of Vila’s staff, in the same way as proceeded with the rule ISO 9001. This documentation is useful to optimize the management of waste and of the pollutants resulting from Vila’s activity that have a negative impact in the environment.

RESIDENTS COLLABORATION

Residential daily life is the generator of the most pollutants, and this is the reason why the implementation of the ISO 14001 management model requires from the collaboration of the residents. They are permanently briefed of all actions that are made to improve waste management, of the goals to attain and of the results obtained by these actions. Moreover, this informative task connects directly with one of the essential points of Vila’s mission, which is to make a contribution to the formative development of the residents. The channels of communication used, which have to be helpful to the residents so much for briefing and making them aware about the environmental performances as for to implicate them in the daily management, are the regular ones: web page, electronic bulletins, training sessions for the block representatives and sending of specific news through the mailbox.

Every year Vila organizes the energy saving contest. This consists of rewarding the apartment that uses the least electricity from January to April. The winning apartment will not have to pay for consumption in May and June. There are 4 categories according to the type of apartment (modules and apartments for 2 people, apartments for 3, apartments for 4, and apartments for 5) and there will be four winning apartments for each category.

That’s not all, due to the serious drought situation in Catalonia, this year Vila has also organized the water saving contest with the aim of minimizing its waste and making residents aware of the current situation. The categories are the same as in the energy saving contest and there will be 1 winning apartment in each category.

COMMERCIAL AND SERVICES ACTIVITY

The companies subcontracted by Vila Universitària for taking care of daily tasks of cleaning, maintenance and other, are participant of the environmental policy which Vila considers appropriate to implant, which is an indispensable condition for operating. Its follow-up will be guaranteed through the public competitions and contracts of award of services, as well as of posterior operating instructions.

Annexe – Environment Policy

Energy Performance Certificates

CAMPUS’ FAUNA – THE WILD BOAR

As you may know, Vila is located in the Natural Park of Collserola, where the wild boar lives. You’ve probably seen a few of them around campus, and although they just show up during the night, we’re on campus all day because is where we live.

That’s why we have to keep in mind some basic stuff about them:

Wild boar