The University of Cologne has been awarded the German Paper Atlas Award as rookie of the year 2019

The University of Cologne has been awarded the Paper Atlas Award by the Federal Ministry of Environment. The University of Cologne is the “rookie of the year” in the use of recycling paper in a public institution by having raised its use of recycling paper from 43% to 93% in one year and by further reducing its consumption of printing paper from 20 million in 2018 to 14.4 million in 2019. Considering the amount of water and energy saved in paper production, this retrenchment has saved ca. 2.7 million litres of water and 557.000 KW/h, which corresponds to the average consumption of water and energy of 150 households per year.

Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Beatrix Busse received the award from Federal Minister Svenja Schulze in Berlin and underlined the universities’ responsibility for the environment and society. The Paper Atlas Award is given out regularly by the German “Hochschulverband” (association of the German institutions of higher education) and the German Ministry of Environment.

Photo Credits: Foto Kirsch