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Sustainability Office Update: Shifting Massey staff and students to commute using more environmentally-friendly modes.

During September 2023, a survey was run as part of a wider piece of work by the Sustainability, Policy and Comms team to shift current staff and student commuting trends in Manawatū.

The survey was for staff and students who currently use the Horizons Regional Council buses to commute to and from the Turitea campus. There were 65 responses, 80% of whom are current Massey students. It explored commuting behaviour and reasons for the choices made. This data will be used to design a series of interventions during Orientation Week 2024 aimed at influencing other commuters towards more environmentally-friendly modes.

Our survey found that 74% of staff and student respondents use buses for most, or all, of their commutes to and from campus, with 94% using buses for at least half of their trips. The top four reasons why they choose to commute by bus are convenience, cost (it’s free!), better for the environment and a pleasant journey. When they’re not commuting by bus, 38% travel in a shared vehicle, 18% run or walk and 18% cycle or e-scooter. 44% of respondents consider they could commute by bus more often.

As one of our PhD students put it, “I use the bus 5 days a week, Monday through Friday and it has been quite convenient for me. It helps me get to Massey for my research during the work week and is a great option for the environment. The bus stop is not far from my flat, so it makes it quite convenient if I am ever in a rush. I think the idea of having all electric buses will be fantastic for the future of the environment and shows the community that there are moves being made to support climate change efforts.”

On 19th February 2024, a new 100% electric bus fleet is arriving in Palmerston North that promises to address many of the issues our current system has, and hopefully will result in more people choosing the environment for their commute to campus.

And after all, it’s a FREE service! Massey collaborates with Horizons to finance the bus service connecting our campus with Palmy city, benefiting all our students and staff.

So why not join them?

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Sustainability Office Update: Work to help reduce Massey’s carbon footprint

Over the last few months, Te Ohu Toitūtanga/The Sustainability Office has continued work to meet the energy, transport and waste targets in Massey’s 2021-2030 Climate Action Plan, and our biodiversity aspirations.

Energy reviews – save energy in your department
You may well have met Tian Wang, our EECA-supported Energy Efficiency Officer. Tian uses a portable data logger to monitor equipment like air compressors, electric boilers and chillers to identify hot-spots in our energy usage across the campuses. Currently, she is working on decommissioning the air compressor located at Plant Growth Unit and replacing all pneumatic actuators with electric ones. She has been working closely with high energy users such as the vet clinic, Equine and Wildbase, making improvements in all surgery areas by adjusting schedules, improving controls and redesigning the system based on the current operation requirements.  Contact Tian if you would like to know more or how she could help with energy usage in your department.  
Other updates in work to reduce energy-related carbon emissions include two gas boilers at Albany being replaced with renewable energy and more EV chargers for our fleet of vehicles on the Wellington and Manawatū campus. Plans are being developed for the installation of solar panels on the roof of the new IC building at Albany, and a solar farm at the southern end of the Manawatū campus.  

Full waste audits completed to measure food and single-use plastic waste
Due to the Catalysing Climate Action funding from the Vice-Chancellor earlier this year, we have been able to complete full waste audits on all three campuses, in conjunction with PreCycle (Palmerston North), Sustainability Trust (Wellington) and OCS (Albany). Thank you to all those who helped with this very messy activity! Please click here for their respective waste audit presentations. Based on the findings, we will be focusing efforts into 2023 on reducing organic and food waste and our consumption of single use plastics. For further information, contact Dr Allanah Ryan, our Director of Sustainability.  

Green Impact – embed Sustainable practices in your department and workspaces
Green Impact is coming in 2023 to help focus our efforts. Building on the Walking the Sustainability Talk approach, Green Impact is an established tool used by universities globally to track and reward staff and students for embedding sustainable practices within their departments and workspaces. The Sustainability Office will be working with DVC Māori to embed Te Ao Māori into this work. Many of us are already taking steps every day towards a more sustainable workplace! Can you think of teammates, colleagues or friends you would like to team up with? Perhaps you already have a small eco-cohort, or have been part of a green team before? Contact Charlie Potter, our Sustainability Engagement Coordinator, for more details and look out in the New year for how you can participate. 

Commuting survey
We have had a very low student response to our recent commuting survey; only 1%, with 18% of staff. Thank you to all those who completed the survey, which is the first one we’ve been able to do since Covid-19 closed our campuses. We are working through the results and, unsurprisingly, the biggest contributor to our commuting emissions profile is private vehicle commuting. We will be releasing further details, along with recommendations to help support Massey staff and students in making lower-carbon commuting choices

Native tree plantings
Finally, The Sustainability Office supported the MUSA-led event to plant over 500 native trees on the Manawatū campus. Great job!