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Know more about us at www.simplygreens.com

This Carbon Footprint and Waste Audit Report of Shalom Hills International School, Gurgaon is the

result of a match in the philosophies with which i-dream was started and how Shalom Hills

International School is gearing up to build a future ready school.

We express our sincere gratitude to all those who have put in their efforts towards making this

report under the EcoSlate Program supported by Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

We are firstly thankful to Shalom Hills International School, Gurgaon and its management team

headed by Dr. (Mrs.) Lilly George for sharing our thoughts in building a sustainable school. We would

like to express sincere thanks to Mr. Dennis George, Vice Chairman – Shalom Hills International

School for providing us with intellectual support. We are grateful to Mrs. Sara Noorana, Principal for

giving us an opportunity to start the Sustainability Education Program in the school. We would also

like to express our gratitude to Ms. Aditi Roy, Vice Principal for believing in the future of

sustainability.

Working Ms. Jalpa Shah was an absolute delight. Your encouraging words, enthusiasm and such

good support have made us believe in our work much stronger than ever before. We are extremely

thankful to Mam for providing us the required assistance for this project and also for her valuable

suggestions.

We are also thankful to Ms. Anjali for being present in all the sessions and for being the support

children needed in our absence.

Finally, a special mention to the group of students, who worked with us on this project. It is an

extremely proud feeling to have worked with them and we hope that we have inspired all of them to

adopt what they learned in this program as a part of their lifestyle.

Head Page No.

Introduction 4

What is Carbon Footprint? 5

How is Carbon Footprint Measured? 5

How this report will help school? 6

Carbon Audit Process 7

Student Training 8

Factors for Carbon Footprint 10

Electricity 11

Paper 12

Waste 13

Transport 13

Creation of Data Sheets 14

Results 18

Electricity 19

Paper 21

Transport 23

Waste 25

Conclusion 26

Annexure I - Water Audit 28

Over the last 100 years, the average temperature of the earth has increased by about 0.8 deg C. If

we let the status quo continue, it is expected to go up by more than 6 deg C in the next few decades.

Climate Change is therefore a reality we cannot run away from.

Any solution to Climate Change lies in the kind of choices we make whether as producers or as

consumers. If we can make responsible choices across everything we consume, we can reduce our

impact on the environment and thereby start moving towards building a sustainable future.

Making a smart or a responsible choice is not an art. It is a scientific process which can be learned

and implemented. It is in this space that i-dream’s Sustainable School Program comes into the

picture and becomes critical in how our young generation is growing up to be. Under this program,

children are trained on various aspects of Climate Change and how to build tools and resources that

can help us to logically make smarter choices and improve upon our sustainability score.

The other important thing we must understand is that if we have to make an effort towards leading

a sustainable lifestyle, we need to first measure our impact on the environment. This is because, we

really cannot manage something unless we measure it. Carbon Footprint is one tool which helps us

do that.

A Carbon Footprint Audit report will tell us how much impact we are creating on the environment

because of our daily activities. It will also help us to identify areas wherein we can intervene, reduce

the impact, save our costs and optimize the usage of our resources.

The future however, is not as bad as it

may seem. Thankfully, we are living in

times where institutions and individuals

around the world are waking up to the

challenges of Climate Change and we are

seeing the emergence of green economy.

It is we, who have to ask ourselves a

question,

“ARE WE READY?”

Carbon Footprint is a measure of total quantity of greenhouse gases being emitted by an individual

or an institution as a result of its daily activities. Simply, Carbon Footprint tells us what is our impact

on the environment and it quantifies the same in the form of total greenhouse gases being emitted.

Every activity that we do results in one or the other greenhouse gas emission. Carbon Footprint tool

analyses each activity, measures greenhouse gas emission from each of those activity and gives us a

sum total.

Carbon Footprint is measured as Kg or tons of CO2e(e=Greenhouse Gas equivalent to CO2).Please

note that the reason why carbon footprint is measured in terms of Carbon Dioxide is mainly because

out of all the six greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere, Carbon Dioxide is the most widely

present gas. All the other 5 greenhouse gases are present in moderate or small amounts. Therefore,

while all the greenhouse gases are measure while doing the carbon footprinting, they are converted

to their Carbon Dioxide equivalents while presenting the final result. This is the reason why there is a

small “e” at the end of CO2 while we write the unit of Carbon Footprint.

The first step in calculating your carbon footprint is to understand what kind of output/result does

any of your activity creates. For eg: when you use paper, the output is measured in terms of amount

of paper used in kilograms. When you drive a vehicle, the output could either be the distance

travelled or the amount of fuel consumed. Similarly, different activities will have different outputs.

To calculate carbon footprint, we simply multiply the output of an activity by the amount of Carbon

Dioxide that would have been released by 1 unit of that activity. The carbon dioxide emission per

unit of an activity is known as the Emission Factor. Please note that because each activity will have a

unique output, different activities or resources will have a unique emission factor.

For eg: The emission factor for paper is 2.9 kg of CO2e per kg of paper, which means that for every 1

kg of paper used by you, 2.9 kg of CO2e is released into the atmosphere. Therefore, if in one month,

you consume 5 Kg of paper, your annual carbon footprint = 2.9 x 5 x 12 = 174 kg of CO2e.

Likewise, if we know the emission factor for different activities, we can calculate our Carbon

Footprint due to different activities or any resource/product which we consume.

This report shall help in several ways, some of which are mentioned hereunder:

Carbon Footprint of your school is the result of several parameters such as Electricity, Water,

Transport, Waste and Paper. This report will help your school figure out the percentage contribution

of each of these factors. This will provide the school with a micro view of how much impact is being

created on the environment.

Once the school has identified the key factors behind the Carbon Footprint, a strategic sustainability

roadmap can be created which will help the school to optimize on the resource consumption.

Reduction of Carbon Footprint has a direct impact on the operating costs being incurred by the

school. Various case studies across different institutions project a reduction in the operating cost as

a result of implementation of the sustainability roadmap.

The report can be used to create awareness with all the stakeholders involved within the school and

outside and thereby create a sustainable vision for the institute.

The long term objective of this report is to initiate creation of a culture of sustainability inside the

school. Sustainable School is a concept which is extremely nascent around the world but is soon

expected to become the next big thing. The school can benefit immensely by projecting itself as one

of the first few future ready schools.

Let us now look at each of these steps in detail and understand in depth how this report was

created.

Step 1

• Student training on how to build a Carbon Footprint Calculator tool for the schools

Step 2

• Identification of various primary and secondary factors contributing to schools's carbon Footprint

Step 3

• Creation of data sheets for all the parameters identified in Step 2

Step 4

• Data Collection as per the respective data sheets

Step 5

• Data Analysis and report making

All the participating students were provided a comprehensive 10 hour class room training on the

theme of Climate Change and Sustainability. The curriculum taught is powered by EcoSlate, which is

India’s first Climate Change curriculum developed by i-dream and Climatemiles with support from

CIIE-Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

For the scope of this project, the students were taught the module on “Carbon Footprint” which

also covered the aspects of “Waste” and “Water”. The objective of the training was to help students

build their own carbon footprint calculator and then use the same to understand the science of

making smart and sustainable decisions. The school’s Carbon Footprint report is the result of

student’s efforts to extend their knowledge to an institution level and seek opportunities to turn

their school into a sustainable school.

Here are some candid pictures of students during various sessions:

The structure of the course curriculum that was used to train the children under this program is

mentioned hereunder:

Session No.

Topic Micro Session Topics

1

Food Injustice

Food Injustice Introductory Game

Food Game

Rural - Urban India

2 LCA and Food Miles Waste Management - Segregation

LCA - Wheat Flour

Calculate Food Miles

3

Food Shortage & 100 year story of Climate Change

Poor Distribution

Change in Rainfall Pattern - Climate Change

100 year world events

Identification of needs

Introduction to Sustainability

4

Life Cycle Analysis

Life Cycle Approach

Create a life cycle of a product

Activity - Which strawberries to consume?

5

Food Miles and Waste Audit

Ways to reduce Food Miles

What is Waste Audit

Waste Audit Framework and process

6 Conducting the Waste Audit Students and trainers shall move out of the classroom and conduct the waste audit

5

Introduction to Carbon Footprint

What is Carbon Footprint?

Global Warming Potential

Emission Factors

Basics of Calculating Carbon Footprint

6

Calculating School's Carbon Footprint

Electricity

Paper

Water

Food

Transport

7 Data Analytics & Analysis Data Review

Data Interpretation through Case Study

8 Report Presentation Report Presentation by trainer and students

9 Sustainable Lifestyle Option Fishing Game

Sustainable Lifestyle Tips

As mentioned earlier, carbon footprint is sum total of all the activities that we do in our daily lives.

While doing the carbon footprint audit for the school, we therefore look at all the activities that a

school performs on a usual working day and what are the various resources that are consumed to do

the same. For the sake of calculations, all the activities or resources are grouped into different

heads. The key heads that were identified for this report are as under:

1. Electricity

2. Paper

3. Waste

4. Transport

Before, we deep dive into each of these factors and understand why they are considered under

Carbon Footprint Audit, we need to look at an evolving technique of Life Cycle Analysis and how it is

answer to all our sustainability questions.

Life cycle analysis is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a

product’s life from cradle to grave (i.e. from raw material extraction to material processing,

manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance and finally disposal).

For example if we consider life cycle analysis of electricity we will take into account all the

environmental impacts associated right from the extraction of raw materials like coal and

petroleum, their processing in the thermal power plants , conversion of voltage of the signals using

transformers ,their transmission through power grid lines and finally reaching our homes.

Life cycle analysis can help us achieve sustainability as it gives us a clear idea about total carbon

emissions, material and energy used at each and every stage of life cycle of any product, with the

help of which an effective carbon management strategy can be established. It can also provide us

with value information about the stages in the life cycle having major environmental implications

thus drawing our attention to the most relevant areas which can be worked on in order to reduce

the impact.

Let us now look at the key factors involved in Carbon Footprint Audit for the school.

We present below the life cycle chart for electricity. One look at it is enough for us to understand

why it is an important factor in our carbon audit process.

If we look at each and every step in the lifecycle of how electricity reaches our homes, it is clear that

at each and every stage we are consuming huge amounts of energy starting from extraction and

burning of coal. Coal is a fossil fuel and consists of nothing but Carbon. Burning coal therefore

releases several units of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere. Even though we are consuming

electricity in its final form, all the associated carbon emissions are happening as a result of the same.

We therefore need to calculate how much greenhouse gas emissions are we making because of our

usage of electricity.

Extraction of Coal and other resources from

below the earth

Burning of Coal in thermal power plants

Conversion of low voltage signal into

High voltage using a transformer

Transmission through power grid lines and

towers

Conversion of High Voltage signal into low

voltage using a transformer closer to

our homes

Consumption of Electricity

57% of electricity in India comes from burning coal in

thermal power plants.

Let us now look at the Life cycle of Electricity.

Let us look at the life cycle of Paper to explore further on why we consider paper while calculating

the carbon footprint.

Again, at each stage in the life cycle of paper, we are consuming resources which emit greenhouse

gases and because we are consuming the end product, all of these emissions will be accounted for in

our carbon footprint number.

Cutting of trees

Trees are debarked and with chemicals,

wood chips are converted to Pulp

Bleaching of pulp with chlorine to make

it white

Cutting into different sizes and Packaing

Transported to different wholesalers

and retailers Consumption

Disposal into landfill sites

1. 42% of industrial wood harvest is used to

make paper

2. Paper industry is 4th largest contributor

of greenhouse gas emissions

3. Paper alone accounts for 25% of our

landfills

When we are talking about waste, we are anyways talking about end of lifecycle. However, what is

interesting is to see the different kinds of waste we are producing and eventually what we are

choosing to do with it. Therefore, while recycling of our paper waste might reduce our overall

carbon footprint, throwing it in the landfill effects will increase the same. This is because, once it

reaches the landfill site, we are highly uncertain of its journey from thereon. It might be burned, it

might be thrown into our water bodies or it be might be covered and left free for decomposition.

Each of the above action results in one or the other greenhouse gas emissions and adversely affects

the environment. Since, we are the consumers of a product and hence the generators of the waste

as well, the carbon footprint due to waste will be added to our account while doing the carbon audit.

This one is essentially a no brainer. When one travels from place “A” to place “B” and be it any mode

of transport using one of many fuels available to use, there would not only be greenhouse gas

emissions but also of several other gases which are harmful for the environment and the human

health.

A life cycle chart of any fuel throws more light on this:

The life cycle makes it clear that not only at the consumption stage but even at earlier stages; huge

amount of energy is consumed in making the final product. Petroleum, diesel, CNG or natural gas is

again fossil fuel which consists of Carbon. Burning of these directly results in carbon emissions which

therefore need to be accounted in the Carbon Footprint audit exercise.

Extraction of raw materials - Mining

Treatment and further processing in a refinery

Distribution using trucks from refinery to city points such as

petrol pumps Consumption

The output of electricity is measure in terms of units of electricity consumed. This is reflected in the

monthly electricity bills in the form of Kwhrs. Therefore, to calculate the carbon footprint due to

electricity, all we need to do is figure out monthly electricity consumption for duration of 12 months.

The data sheet for electricity is as follows:

S No. Month Electricity Consumption(kwhr)

EF (Kg of CO2e per Kwhr)

Carbon Emissions(Tons

of CO2e)

The output of paper is measured in terms of kilograms of paper used. To calculate the carbon

footprint due to paper, we need to figure out the total paper consumed in the school. In order to do

so, we further sub divide the school in terms of how the paper is used by different stakeholders in

the school.

The data sheet for paper is as follows:

Student Notebooks:

S. No Grade No. of students

No of notebooks used/year

Wt. Of 1 notebook(kg)

Total wt. of paper used

annually (kg)

Teacher Notebooks:

Head Unit

Weight of 1 teacher notebook

Total No. of teachers

Total weight of Paper Used (Kg)

A4 Sheets:

Head Unit

No. of sheets used per month

No. of months per year

Total no. of sheets used

Weight of sets of 500 A4 sheets (Kg)

Total weight of A4 sheets used (Kg)

Examination Answer Sheets:

Head Unit

Total number of Answer sheets used per year

Weight of one sheet of paper (kg)

Total weight of answer sheets used (Kg)

Newspaper:

Paper Summary Sheet:

Head Unit

Weight of student notebooks per annum (A) Kg

Weight of teacher notebooks per annum (B) Kg

Weight of A4 sheets used per annum (C) Kg

Weight of answer sheets used per annum (D) Kg

Total weight of Paper used per annum (E = A+ B +C + D)

Kg

Paper Emission Factor (F) Kg of CO2e per Kg

Paper Carbon Footprint – 1 (G = F * E) Tons of CO2e

News Paper Carbon Footprint (H) Tons of CO2e

Total Carbon Footprint ( G + H) Tons of CO2e

Head Unit

No. of newspapers per Day

No. of days in a week

No. of weeks in a month

No. of months newspaper is ordered

Total No. of newspaper ordered

Emission Factor of Newspaper (Kg of CO2e per newspaper)

Newspaper Carbon Footprint (Kg. of CO2e)

For waste, we divide it into two groups of Wet Waste and Dry Waste. Wet waste consists of food

and bio-medical waste while dry waste consists of paper and plastic waste.

The data sheets are as follows:

Wet Waste:

Head Unit

Soil, Horticulture (A) Kg

Food (B) Kg

Bio-Medical (C) Kg

No. of Months (D)

Total wet waste ( E = [A +B+C] * D) Kg

Emission Factor (F) Kg of CO2e per Kg

Wet Waste Carbon Footprint (G = E * F) Tons of CO2e

Dry Waste – Plastic:

Head Unit

Total Plastic Waste in a month (A) Kg

No. of Months (B)

Total Plastic Waste per annum (C = A*B) Kg

Emission Factor of Plastic (D) Kg of CO2e per Kg

Plastic Waste Carbon Footprint (E = C * D) Tons of CO2e

Dry Waste – Paper:

Head Unit

Total Paper Waste in a month (A) Kg

No. of Months (B)

Total Paper Waste per annum (C = A*B) Kg

Emission Factor of Plastic (D) Kg of CO2e per Kg

Paper Waste Carbon Footprint (E = C * D) Tons of CO2e

For transport, we divide the scope of work into two sets. The first set captures the data from the

school buses while the second set captures the data of all those students and teachers who do not

use the school buses.

The data sheets are as follows:

School Buses:

Bus No.

Fuel Amount Spent per month (Rs)

Rate of Fuel in Gurgaon (Rs)

Fuel Spent per month (ltrs / Kg)

No. of Months in a year

Emission Factor (Kg of CO2e per ltr or Kg)

Total Carbon Footprint (Tons of CO2e)

Private Vehicles:

S. No One way distance b/w home &school

Mode of transport

Model Fuel used

Distance travelled annually

Mileage (km/l)

Fuel Consumed (l)

Carbon Footprint is still a very nascent concept in India and especially with the schools. Therefore, it

is difficult to compare this number against any averages or against any other institution. As a result,

it is difficult to ascertain whether this number is too high or too low. We would however look at this

number in isolation and deep dive into it to figure out how this can be optimized so as to start

framing a roadmap towards making a sustainable school.

We begin our analysis by looking at all the four factors we have identified before and their overall

contribution.

S.No. Head Carbon Footprint (Tons of CO2e)

1 Electricity

154.33

2 Paper

120.49

3 Waste

5.30

4 Transport

192.56

5 Total 472.68 `

The pie-chart below gives us a percentage contribution of each of these factors to the school’s

carbon footprint:

Electricity 33%

Paper 25%

Waste 1%

Transport 41%

Carbon Footprint (Tons of CO2e)

Some of the first few observations from these numbers are:

Contribution of waste is just a small 1%, which is the first positive sign

Contribution of transport is higher than electricity which is a slight deviation from the usual

The contribution of paper at 120 tons of CO2e is fairly high and it needs to be looked at in

more detail

Let us now look at each of these factors in detail to understand about their impact. While we do

that, we shall also mention all the assumptions made during making of this report and explore ideas

on how these numbers can be optimized resulting in reduction of carbon footprint.

Here’s a snapshot on how we arrived at this figure:

Parameter Unit Amount

Amount of electricity consumed per Annum Rs.

5,91,598

Per Unit Electricity Rate in Gurgaon Rs./kWh 5.98

Total Units of Electricity consumed per Annum kWh

98,929

Electricity Emission Factor Kg of CO2e/kWh 1.56

Electricity Carbon Footprint Tons of CO2e 154.33

We essentially looked at the total amount of rupees that are spent by the school annually on the

electricity bill. From this, we calculated the total units of electricity consumed by the school per

annum assuming the rate of electricity in Gurgaon at Rs. 5.98 per Kwhr.

An ideal method is to look at monthly consumption of electricity, as it helps to understand monthly

variations. However, even in the absence of such data, total electricity consumption of

approximately Rs. 6 Lakh does offer scope for optimization. Following some simple techniques can

result in the reduction of energy bills by anywhere between 10-20%.

Here are some Power Wower energy tips:

1. Check all instances in the school in which any appliance is left in a standby mode. There is a

proven research which says that even in standby mode, electrical appliances consume 20%

of the total electricity

2. Computer labs in the school offer a great scope of reduction. There is a general observation

that almost all computers are kept in switched on mode throughout the day. A usage based

plan can help reduce the burden on the electricity bills. This will also help in improving the

life of the systems

3. For a centrally air-conditioned school, it is important to regularly monitor the temperature

at which the AC is used during the summer time. Most energy efficient and also a

comfortable temperature to operate the AC is between 22-24 deg C

4. For an AC, what is also interesting is to note for how much time is it used. Although not

advisable in peak summer months, however merely reducing the duration of usage of AC

from 6 hours to 5 hours results on an average 15-17% reduction in the energy bills

5. Usage of tube-lights in a school contributes significantly to the energy bills. For eg: replacing

a 36W tube-light with a more energy efficient 24W tube-light can result in annual energy

savings of close to 21%. However, percentage contribution of tube-lights to the overall

electricity footprint needs to be ascertained before taking this step

6. Check the star rating of all appliances being used in the school. There are several

authenticated research from Bureau of Energy Efficiency which states that a higher rating

appliance consumes lesser electricity than those with lower ratings

7. An energy audit is recommended. The only short coming with a Carbon Footprint Audit is

that it does not give us a detailed account of how electricity is being used and managed in

the school. An energy audit report will bring out how many appliances are being used in the

school, how are they used and how much energy do they consume. This can help prepare a

much better optimization plan which shall bring down the energy cost to the school

8. Switch to Solar: Although in the first stage, this is not recommended as one can identify

enough opportunities in the existing set-up itself to reduce the electricity consumption.

However, in the long run going Solar is best strategy. It should be considered as a long term

investment towards being able to become a Gold Rated Sustainable school

Here’s a snapshot of how this number was arrived at:

Heads Units Total Amount

Wt. Of Student Notebooks per Annum Kg

27,142

Wt. Of Teacher Notebooks per Annum Kg 41

Wt. Of A4 sheets used per annum Kg 225

Wt. Of Exam Answer Sheet per annum Kg

325.18

Total Weight of Paper Used Annually Kg

27,733

Paper Emission Factor Kg of CO2e Per Kg of Paper 2.9

Paper Carbon Footprint - I Tons of CO2e 80.43

News Paper Carbon Footprint

Tons of CO2e

40.07

Total Paper Carbon Footprint Tons of CO2e 120.49

Student Notebooks

65%

Teacher Notebooks

0%

A4 Sheets 0%

Exam Answer Sheets

1%

News Paper 34%

Paper Carbon Footprint

A detailed review of each of these sections is presented in the supporting excel file attached with

this report. The number of students and teachers has been taken as 2,020 and 164 respectively.

It is however evident from the pie-chart that the two highest contributing factors in the Paper

Carbon Footprint are Newspaper and Student Notebooks.

Let us look at these in a little more detail and figure out some solutions that can bring down this

number:

1. The total newspaper ordered per day is 318 which over a year comes out to be 57,240

newspapers. Although newspaper reading as a habit should be encouraged among the kids

but consider a scenario where there is a rule that one newspaper will be shared between 2

students. And they get to carry the newspaper back home on alternate days. This simple

step can reduce the carbon footprint by 50% which is extremely significant

2. The above is more important considering out of 2,020 students only 318 are getting the

newspaper. Going forward, this number is only expected to increase. There could also be

case, that all the newspapers are a shared resource and therefore accessible to all students.

Even in such a scenario, there is a strong case to bring down the number of newspapers

ordered every day

3. Each subject can have a restriction on the number of notebooks to be used for the same in

one academic year. This move will further optimize the usage of paper within the students

4. Teacher diaries and some student diaries can be made from recycled or handmade paper

5. The usage of A4 sheets should be carefully looked into and majority of communication to

the teachers or to the parents should be done electronically via emails or through school’s

website. A positive thing is that the school’s website already has a section on “Circular”. As

an extension, it can further be linked to one of the parent’s email ID

6. It is interesting to see the sections of “Student” and “Faculty” log in on the website and it is

therefore safe to assume that some of the paper work is already being done online

7. The habit of passing of books from higher grade to the lower ones should be encouraged.

This would have a huge impact on the school’s carbon footprint

For the calculation of transport carbon footprint, two groups of students were formed. While one

group collected the data for the school buses, the other interviewed those students who do not use

the school buses. Here’s the distribution:

S.No. Head Annual Carbon Footprint (Tons of CO2e)

1 CNG Buses 88.16

2 Diesel Buses 39.49

3 Private Vehicles 64.91

4 Total 192.56

The pie-chart below presents the percentage contribution:

CNG Buses 46%

Diesel Buses 20%

Private Vehicles 34%

Annual Carbon Footprint (Tons of CO2e)

A detailed review of all data points is mentioned in the attached excel report.

Some observations and suggestions are listed below:

1. Out of the total of 39 buses, 22 are CNG while 17 are diesel. From the perspective of air

pollution, diesel is the most polluting fuel. It is therefore highly recommended to switch all

buses to CNG. Although the emission factor for both fuels is almost the same, switching to

CNG is still recommended as it is a much cleaner fuel compared to diesel

2. More than 80% school children use school buses which is extremely high and therefore

positive when benchmarked against many other schools in Delhi/NCR

3. Even though only 20% of children use private vehicle, yet their percentage contribution to

overall carbon footprint is very high at 34%

4. We should explore creating a plan to bring in these children into the school bus system. Even

if this means investing in a few more buses, in the long run this would indeed be a wiser

decision. The cost of the same can be covered through student transport fee. Even parent

will find it convenient as they will save on both time and the money on fuel

5. A review of the existing routes is recommended to explore the possibility of any

optimization

As mentioned earlier, when we are talking about waste, we are essentially talking about end of

lifecycle anyways. However, what matters is what actually happens with the waste we generate.

Specifically, talking about India, majority of our waste goes into landfill sites from where it is either

burned, thrown into water bodies or buried deep under the landfills. Each of these actions is harmful

for the environment besides resulting in emission of greenhouse gases.

While calculating the carbon footprint due to waste, we consider the most probable journey of the

waste and reduce from it any instance of recycling or reuse.

Three types of waste were identified in the school: Plastic, paper and wet waste. Here’s a snapshot

of their contribution:

Type of Waste Units Carbon Footprint

Plastic Tons of CO2e 1.78

Paper Tons of CO2e 1.92

Wet (MSW) Tons of CO2e 1.61

Total Tons of CO2e 5.30

The pie-chart below gives an indication of their percentage contribution:

Plastic 34%

Paper 36%

Wet (MSW) 30%

Waste Carbon Footprint

A detailed review of all the numbers is mentioned in the attached excel report.

Although as per the data gathered by the students, the waste carbon footprint appears to be small

and almost negligent, in the long run however it is critical for the school to set up an effective waste

management system. This would ensure that all kinds of waste is recognised, segregated and finds

the most optimum end of life, which has zero or minimum impact on the environment.

A potential waste management system for a school is depicted below:

Some of the other waste management techniques are mentioned hereunder:

1. Avoid buying products with excessive package. In fact, say no to any packaging

2. Reduce packaging by buying the items you use frequently in bulk and by purchasing refills

3. Try not to buy disposable products such as paper plates

4. Choose glass over plastic as it has a much higher recycling value

5. Avoid using non-recyclable materials such as tin foil at your school

6. Whenever anything from school is being discarded, consider reusing the same or giving it

someone else who may need it

7. Create compost pit in your school

8. Buy natural plant food and avoid chemical manures

9. Tie-up with an authorised e-waste collector for responsible e-waste recycling

10. REUSE…REUSE…REUSE. We know this, but we just do not do this

Set up a Waste Management team in School comprising of

students and teachers

Set up two kinds of small bins in each

classroom - one for dry waste like paper and second for wet/food

waste

Daily collection of waste from each

classroom into bigger bins set up on each

floor

Separate daily collection from all labs

such as bio-lab or Chemistry Lab

Weekly collection of waste from each floor

bin into a bigger school bin

Segregation of waste Tie-up with agenices to handle different kinds

of waste

Make sure that all stakeholders are involved such as

garbage collector etc

Create a learning Management system in the school and educate

all stakeholders

Today, Sustainability is a choice but tomorrow, it will become an obligation. We are delighted to

work with your school on this Carbon Footprint Audit Report. At every stage we have discussed and

explored ideas with which we can optimize the consumption of the respective resource and thereby

start moving towards reducing the carbon footprint. Our experience tells us that by merely following

simple techniques, we can reduce our carbon footprint by at least 20%. And this can be done in the

short run without any significant additional investment to the school.

Once we reach a 20% reduction, we can then explore ideas by which we can further stretch to

reduce this by another 20-25%. Of course, this would require additional investments which can then

happen over a period of time.

We hope that this report will open your eyes to a new world of sustainability and your school and

the management will imbibe this as a part of the school’s culture. In India, children adopt ideas and

systems from the culture in which they are brought up. Philosophically, we believe so is the case

with Sustainability as well. If a child is brought up in a sustainable environment, then even though

there is no one to teach the child, he/she will inherently grow up with a strong belief in making

sustainable choices.

We end this report with a hope that together we shall strive to create that culture and work

together towards creating a future which is healthy, clean, sustainable and most importantly HAPPY.

As an extension to our Carbon Footprint and Waste Audit Report, we also present to you a brief

snapshot on how your school is consuming water. The same is presented as an annexure to this

report.

Considering that the school operates for 9 months and assuming 5 days per week, the total annual

consumption of water would be 4,500 kilo litres. Some observations are mentioned below:

1. With 2,020 students and 164 teachers and assuming some support staff, let us say that the

total strength of the school is 2,200. At 25,000 litres per day, we are looking at per capita

consumption of water of 11.36 litres of water. This figure is definitely on a higher side

because we have not considered the amount of water which is used by the school to

maintain the green cover. If we include that, the per capita consumption is bound to go

down

2. One flush on an average consumes about 9 litres of water. Assuming every individual flushes

every day, the per capita consumption of 11.36 litres is understandable. However, if we

consider that the boys use urinals, this figure again presents an opportunity for optimization

3. Start encouraging children and teachers to bring at least one litre of water every day from

home. This would further reduce the burden on school’s water consumption

4. The usage of bottled water should be completely banned in the school. If we can use

effective filtering system, our government provides us with decent quality drinking water

5. The taps should be regularly checked for any leakage

6. Get a rainwater tank in your school. This might come across as a significant initial investment

but in the long run it will bring down your water consumption and the water bills. A detailed

feasibility study can be done for the same

…...........................................................end of report……………………………………………………………………………