KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) is all set to become an eco-campus by 2018.
“We will be the first eco-campus in Malaysia…other universities are doing sustainability programmes, but to be an eco-campus, the university has to look at all aspects including its co-curriculum, the management of its resources and so on,” said UMS Eco-Campus Management Centre director Dr Awangku Hassanal Bahar Pengiran Bagul during a press meeting held at the UMS pre-conference colloquium on campus yesterday.
The colloquium is held in conjunction with the first Conference on Campus Sustainability 2014 which will take place today. One hundred and twenty participants will be taking part in the conference, including 70 students from South Korea, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Japan and France.
Dr Awangku Hassanal added that UMS hopes to become a reference point for other universities aspiring to become an eco-campus in the future.
Since the declaration of the university’s ambition to acquire the eco-campus status, UMS has made several changes to the management of its resources, he said.
“We have succeeded in reducing our paper usage by 20 percent by the end of last year,” he said.
However, the university’s electricity usage has increased by 20 percent due to its growth, he added.
“UMS is growing. More students are joining us,” he said.
Among other efforts taken by the university to become an eco-campus is by ensuring its hospital, the construction of which has been approved by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), acquires the Green Building Index status.
If this is realised, he said UMS will have the first Green hospital in the country.
The university is also in the midst of setting up its own recycling centre.
“It will be completed in June this year. We have signed a memorandum of understanding with the company that will be running the centre,” said Dr Awangku Hassanal.
Once the facility has been completed, the university will have its own in-house waste management centre.
“We will manage the dry waste at the centre. It will be turned into energy blocks that will be sold to industry players,” he said.
The proceeds from the sales of the energy blocks will go towards further investment in green financing to buy solar and wind turbine equipment, he said.
Dr Awangku Hassanal estimated that the centre will be able to produce some 5,000 energy blocks per day.