A new initiative at McMaster means the campus workplace will soon be getting even greener.

Expanding on University efforts to build a sustainable campus workplace, the Sustainability Ambassador program, organized by the Office of Sustainability, designates a team member in each University area as point-person on environmentally-friendly initiatives. Karin Middleton, ambassador for Human Resources, says that formalizing the responsibility has made it easier to encourage green ideas at the workplace.

"We immediately saw the value in taking part in such an initiative," she said. "We had already been doing our part by taking home compost and ensuring that we recycled scrap paper, but this allows us to really expand our efforts and coordinate with the rest of the University.

As an ambassador Middleton is responsible for leading sustainable initiatives in her area, a job she has welcomed with opened arms. The increased focus on environmental responsibility has already had positive effects: Middleton's coworkers have already reduced the number of garbage cans in their offices, encouraging each other to think more about recycling, and she hopes to institute the use of a sustainable printer ink in the future.

The new initiative has even had effects beyond the boundaries of the workplace.

"My colleagues tell me that since the program was instituted at work they've found themselves thinking much more about the environment at home," she said.

Sustainability Ambassadors are meant to help further the culture of sustainability at McMaster by acting as liaisons with the Office of Sustainability as well as helping to promote sustainable initiatives in their work areas.