Enviro-Mark News Issue 2, December 2008
In this issue:
Editorial
At a time when international economic turmoil is creating uncertainty for businesses, it was great to hear feedback recently about significant commercial benefits in being a member of Enviro-Mark®NZ.
At a function in Wellington, Hutt City Council advised it had achieved electricity savings of about $30,000 a year through the use of their Enviro-Mark tools, while Astra Print pointed to its Enviro-Mark certification as being a key factor in winning some contracts. For others, the programme had led to cost savings through significant waste reduction and by carefully choosing energy efficient machinery.
I know from speaking with many of you that there are clear ethical and environmental reasons for being an Enviro-Mark member, but it is certainly heartening to hear stories of our programme adding value to your bottom line as well.
Providing value for you, our members, is a key goal for us at Enviro-Mark . In this edition of Enviro-News we advise about our forthcoming, heavily subsidised Enviro-Mark training workshops and free, members-only drop-in sessions. Both these new initiatives are designed to complement the self-help tools you currently use so that your ‘journey’ to greater environmental sustainability is both easier and faster. I encourage you to come along and take part. We are also planning to restructure how your Enviro-Mark audits are priced so that you are charged for the actual time required to complete your audit. Further details of this will follow over the next two months.
In these uncertain times ahead it’s pleasing to hear the new National-led Government making pledges to make it easier for businesses to ‘do business’. We welcome this because, having simple and effective systems for managing the risks to your business (such as your environment liabilities) are indeed an essential part of ‘doing business’.
Thank you for taking time to read our e-newsletter. I welcome any feedback.
Charlie Bartlett
Enviro-Mark Programme Manager
Member Update
|
Membership Developments
Congratulations to the following members for recently achieving Platinum or Diamond certification:
- Eco Tech Solutions Ltd - Platinum
- Mighty River Power (multiple sites) - Diamond
- Soar Printing - Diamond
- Eco Maintenance Limited - Diamond
- Downer EDI Works (Invercargill and Auckland sites) - Diamond
- Alliance Group (Pukeuri, Lorneville and Mataura sites) - Diamond
- MCK Metals Pacific Limited - Diamond
- Talbot Plastics Ltd - Diamond
- Criterion Group Limited - Diamond
Special mention needs to go to Eco Maintenance for their super-fast progress up to Enviro-Mark Diamond. They got there in one of the fastest times. Well done!
It’s also great to welcome the following new members to the Enviro-Mark Programme:
- RX Plastics (Aliaxis Group)
- Gen-i Tech Store
- Service Printers
- EIS Ltd
- Freestyle - Total Print Production
- Print House
- Sentra Printing Company
EnviroSmart Project Graduates
Congratulations to the businesses that recently completed the Wellington region EnviroSmart project! The Businesses that took part are: Astra Print, Nealeprint, Thames Publications, Lithoprint, Formway Furniture, Booker Spalding, Label & Litho, Macaulay Metals, Branz and First Windows and Doors.
These businesses all made significant progress in addressing sustainability issues using the Enviro-Mark Certification Programme, with some reporting major cost savings as a result. Congratulations to two of our members from this group who were recognised in the Manufacturing Section of the 2008 Hutt Valley Business Awards, Booker Spaulding (first place) and Label and Litho (runner up) - well done!!
Keep an eye on our website for the case studies relating to these members for more information about their achievements.
Waste Minimisation Act
At Enviro-Mark we are committed to ensuring our programme keeps pace with legislation. So even though we revised our bronze checklist just a couple of months ago, we have again updated the checklist to include the new Waste Minimisation Act 2008 which came into force recently.
The Act encourages a reduction in the amount of waste generated and discarded and aims to lessen the environmental harm of waste. By imposing a levy on waste disposal to landfill, the Act creates even more compelling reasons to use Enviro-Mark to focus your attention on your waste management.
This Act also aims to benefit our economy by encouraging better use of materials throughout the product life cycle, promoting domestic reprocessing of recovered materials and providing more employment.
In a nutshell the Act:
- puts a levy on all waste disposed of in landfills to generate funding to help local government, communities and businesses reduce the amount of waste;
- helps and when necessary makes producers, brand owners, importers, retailers, consumers and other parties take responsibility for the environmental effects from their products at end-of-life from ‘cradle-to-grave’;
- allows for regulations to be made making it mandatory for territorial authorities and others (for example, landfill operators) to report on waste to improve information on waste minimisation;
- clarifies the roles and responsibilities of territorial authorities with respect to waste minimisation;
- introduces a new Board to give independent advice to the Minister for the Environment on waste minimisation issues.
We will be sending out an updated Bronze Checklist with this inclusion to all Champions (our primary contacts) about this in the next couple of weeks.
Terms & Conditions
We have updated our terms and conditions for being part of the Enviro-Mark Programme. The terms and conditions are designed to formalise and set out our obligations under the programme as well as clarify your entitlements as being an Enviro-Mark Member. Of key interest to Members will be the specific information on how to use the Enviro-Mark logos to represent your status in the Programme and promote your credentials.
We will be sending these out to all current Members (our primary contacts) in the next few weeks so please ensure we have your most up to date contact details and advise us of any changes. The terms and conditions will also be available to download on our website.
Workshops & Drop-in Sessions
|
Workshops:
We recently held the first of our ‘new-style’ Enviro-Mark workshops at our training facilities in Lincoln. These workshops have a 60% subsidy for all current Enviro-Mark Members. We had attendees from a number of organisations including Antarctica NZ, Talbot Plastics, Vita NZ, RX Plastics and APN Print. These workshops are an excellent learning opportunity for all those involved in environmental management in business and especially relevant for the Enviro-Mark Champions. We encourage you to take advantage of these heavily subsidised workshops as part of your membership benefits.
Antarctica NZ had this say about the workshop: “Fantastic – have a feeling of being supported and informed”.
Today is the second day of a two-day Auckland workshop and is covering the requirements of the Platinum and Diamond steps. Yesterday the workshop focused on EMS in general, plus the requirements of the Bronze, Silver and Gold steps.
See Enviro-Mark Events for details of training courses in your area .
Drop-In Sessions:
If you are looking for advice on the implementation of your Enviro-Mark programme why not take advantage of our free-to-Members Drop-in Sessions?
This new and free initiative – available to all current Enviro-Mark for our Members is designed to provide extra assistance on all aspects of Enviro-Mark and environmental management. To make these sessions as useful as possible please feel free to bring along any relevant documentation about your EMS.
The next Drop-in Session will be held in Auckland at our Landcare Research Tamaki office on 12th December, from 9:00am until 12:30pm (free parking and refreshments available) and then in Wellington on 26th February 2009, from 2.30pm to 5.30pm (venue yet to be finalised). Please note the new date and time of the Auckland Drop-in Session.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Member Profile: Booker Spalding
 |
Booker Spalding CEO Peter Grayling says an environmental management system (EMS), developed through participation in the EnviroSmart and Enviro-Mark programmes, was a key factor in his Lower Hutt corporate clothing company recently winning the Manufacturing Section of the 2008 Hutt Valley Business Awards. We talked to Peter about his EMS.
What has been the key to the success of your environmental management system?
The importance of buy-in from management and staff from day-one, and the time commitment by our Health, Safety and Environmental Co-ordinator to management the day-to-day administration of the programme. Bob Robinson’s (Weltec) help in guiding us through setting up the system, and the close contact with agencies such as Landcare Research, Wellington Regional Council and Hutt City Council. The sharing of information with like-minded companies, e.g. through workshops, was valuable.
What has been the most challenging aspect?
The amount of time required to set up and manage the programme. With a step-by-step programme like Enviro-Mark you can progress at your own rate but we set ambitious targets and it became a full time job to set up our EMS. We had to ensure the Health, Safety and Environment Co-ordinator leading the programme had the time and resources. It is also challenging to ensure continuity of effort, especially when there are changes in key roles.
What advice would you give to anyone else starting out on the EMS journey?
Make sure you have the resources available - human, time and financial - before committing to an EMS programme. Make sure you have management support from the outset. See it as an opportunity to encourage staff to be brave and take ownership. Departments within the organisation face different challenges and accept some departments will be better positioned to implement change than others.
How has the Enviro-Mark programme assisted?
It’s been a useful learning curve about what environmental management actually is and for formalising what we already had in place. The programme has improved our knowledge of legislative requirements to ensure compliance. Also it provides a catalyst for making incremental improvements and we are continually seeking to make and maintain progress.
What value does Enviro-Mark certification provide Booker Spalding?
The certification provides an edge when tendering as most companies now have a requirement to include environmental, social and health and safety considerations within their tenders. It is proof that we do care about the environment and our commitment to social responsibility, here and overseas. Perhaps the greatest value has been in the way we see ourselves. We are a more self-confident organisation.