BGREEN PRESENTS
October 2011
A one-stop destination for businesses looking to build CSR campaigns that truly push organisations forward
www.buildgreen.ae
BGreen Heart, brought to you by BASF, is the ideal tool to help your business build strong and result-oriented CSR strategies that lead to financial gains and growth. This month we bring you Water conservation: Preserving our precious resources. At BASF, we are well aware that water scarcity is one of our planet’s most serious future threats. In the Middle East in particular, water shortage is set to become an alarming issue much sooner rather than later. According to the Stockholm International Water Institute, less than 1% of the world’s fresh water is readily accessible for direct human use. With rapid population growth, water withdrawals have tripled over the last 50 years and are predicted to increase by 50% in developing countries by 2025. In fact by 2030, 47% of the world’s population will be living in areas of high water stress. Here, we give you everything you need to help your organisation build an effective water conservation campaign and explain how it can benefit your bottom line.
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Tips and Ideas Concrete well-researched and well-document steps to building your water conservation campaign. •The first part of your water conservation campaign should be to ensure that your offices conserve as much water as possible. So first, upgrade all older toilets with water-efficient models and ensure there are water-saving aerators on all of your faucets. This will also reduce your company’s energy costs. •Next, have a water audit done for your facility to find out the recommended water use for your operations. Then, create a water conservation program to ensure that amount is respected using information from the Resources and contacts included here. •Appoint a water conservation champion within your organization who will be responsible for implementing and maintaining your water conservation program. •Create awareness posters to remind employees to implement your campaign’s water saving tips. Use your
company’s logo and colour scheme on all communications. •Include a water-saving tip in your employee newsletter featuring how much water can be saved with each action. Publish your organization’s monthly water use to show progress toward water-saving goals. •Finally, write feature articles on your employee website that highlight the best water-saving ideas and successes. Extra fun ideas Support projects that use reclaimed wastewater for irrigation and industrial uses. Come up with a list and let your employees choose which one they prefer. Expert’s comment BASF’s CSR expert explains how an effective water conservation campaign can benefit your business in terms of image, internal relations and potential financial returns. Harald Kroll, Managing Director BASF FZE says: “An effective water conservation campaign will not only see your company