Enviro-Mark News Issue 7, November 2009

In this issue:

Editorial

Kristin Flanagan

Seasons Greetings!

It does feel too early to be saying that – the second part of this year has hurtled past at such a rate - but, yes, Christmas will soon be upon us!

Once you’ve made it through the pre-Christmas rush and you are (hopefully) relaxing somewhere nice and warm, spare a thought for how you might like to market the environmental credentials of your business in 2010.

If you’ve been working hard to lessen your environmental impacts, saving money on your overheads and you’ve got your health, safety and environmental legal compliance under control (with the help of your simple, effective and credible Enviro-Mark environmental management system), then it’s a great time to market your green credentials.

So take a fresh look at some of our suggestions (below) and shift promoting your Enviro-Mark status to the top of your to-do list for the New Year!

• Your website – does this accurately reflect your current certification level? Are you using the correct version of the Enviro-Mark logo?  What statements do you make about your commitment to minimising the environmental impacts of your business? Is your environmental policy online and easy to find? Promote your results by providing examples of your achievements so that your clients, potential clients and stakeholders know that you’re serious about your commitments.
• Company Stationery – business cards, letterhead etc. If you have the Enviro-Mark logo on these, make sure you have the correct version and level of certification displayed – and ensure that you update these if you move up a level after an audit.  If you don’t have the logo on your stationery, consider adding it at your new next reprint. Get in touch with us – we have jpeg and eps versions available.
• Company Brochures and promotional materials – if you have these (and you should!), include reference to your environmental credentials and display the logo on them.
• Email taglines and signatures are an inexpensive and effective way to let your customers, suppliers and prospects know about your achievements. Use a statement about your certification and/or the Enviro-Mark logo at the bottom of all outgoing emails.
• Inform your supply chain and key customers in a newsletter, letter or flyer.  This is a good news story, and it might help them to ‘get the green advantage’ too.
• If you’ve successfully reached Gold, you can use the logo on product packaging – and start telling the world!
• Make sure you hang your certificate in a prominent position where your customers and staff can see it.
• Celebrate your achievements - hold a function to celebrate a successful audit. Invite staff, clients, stakeholders, celebrities…have a “gold” party or a “green” morning tea.  Any excuse for a party really…
• Get your photo in the local newspaper – for all the right reasons! Gaining free publicity about your efforts isn’t always easy – but if you’re successful, make sure to forward us a copy for inclusion in this newsletter or the new ‘news area’ of the Enviro-Mark website

If you need any further assistance with expressing your membership or certification under the Enviro-Mark programme, please refer to our standard terms and conditions or give us a call on 0800 ENMARK (0800 366 275) as we’re only too happy to help you to get it just right.

Kristin Flanagan

Membership Manager

Auditor Update: Telarc, Dual Audits, Separate Certification

We’ve recently trained and approved four additional auditors, bringing the Enviro-Mark audit team to six. This means we now have auditor coverage across the country and provides extra capacity to meet an increasing demand for Enviro-Mark audits from our growing membership. The new auditors are from the auditing organisation Telarc SAI and they are all experienced environmental management systems auditors. Joining Mike Farrier and Paul Barrett, we welcome Marie Wimmers, Richard Saul, Bryan Graham and Tony Bennett. For more information about our auditing team and their professional backgrounds, see our website http://www.enviro-mark.co.nz/auditors.asp

Another advantage to having these new auditors on board is that we can now offer a joint Enviro-Mark Diamond level and ISO 14001:2004 certification from a single audit. This will save on auditing time and the expenses associated with having two separate audits. We have completed a number of trial joint audits recently - this service will be available to all members in the new year.

WasteMINZ

Kim Kelleher our Environmental Consultant presented a paper entitled ‘Comparing Apples with Apples’ at the WasteMINZ conference in Christchurch. The conference was attended by waste service providers, local and regional councils, central government, and other businesses involved in waste management who are focused on operating more sustainably – and ultimately eliminating waste. Kim’s presentation focused on the value of environmental management systems in helping small to medium enterprises get organised in their approach – including minimising waste – and the value of independent certification.

Bronze Checklist

The update to the Enviro-Mark Bronze Checklist and Guidance Notes is on its way and should be ready for distribution early in the New Year. We’re updating our Bronze-level materials to make them easier to use, and to ensure they reflect the current environmental and occupational health and safety legislation. It is important that Bronze certification continues to be central to your legal compliance tools. If you have any questions in the interim, please give us a call.

Enviro-Mark Logos

Are you using our updated logos? Last year we updated the logos for each Enviro-Mark level but the old versions live on in many members’ promotional material and online. Here (right) is an example of the old and new versions.  Spot the difference!

Please contact Kristin or Sue via email: enviro-mark@landcareresearch.co.nz if you think you need an updated version.

Pssst.... here are some clues to help spot the difference: the word 'standard' has been removed and the 'NZ' is now in solid blue.

The Green Advantage

Glenda Keegan, Print NZ Membership Coordinator, takes a peek at the Green Advantage direct mail piece that was sent out to all Print NZ members.
We continue to promote the Green Advantage around the country.  Following on from our successful direct mail piece sent to all Print NZ members, last month we also held a series of free seminars in the Tauranga and Hamilton area. 

Members Update

Welcome to the following new members: Adgraphix, Commercial Play Systems, Health Pak Limited, Creative Family, Simply Security Limited, Credit Union South (Nelson branch), Green Cabs.

Congratulations to these members who have recently been certified:

Seminar and workshop update

Our last workshops for 2009 are being held in Wellington on 18 and 19 November 2009.  We kick off the next round of workshops around the country in February 2010, starting with Auckland on 9 February 2010.  If you haven’t yet attended one of our workshops, or feel you’d like a refresher, please check out our events page to locate a workshop in your area and book now.

General Housekeeping

Xmas Closedown - After another hectic year the Enviro-Mark team will be taking a break between 24 December 2009 and 10 January 2010. If your membership is due for renewal over this period, you will be asked to complete and return the renewal forms prior to 22 December to ensure continuity of membership.

Enviro-Mark Bank Account Details - Please check the account details you have on file. The suffix number is 00 (for EnviroSmart members this was previously 02). Please update your records or forward this information on to your accounts payable team to check.

Landcare Research

National Bank

Bank Account Number: 06-0851-0069567-00

Member Profile: Wellington Business Forms

With a 90% reduction in waste to landfill and partnerships with other environmentally aware businesses, Wellington Business Forms Ltd is benefiting from its environmental focus. Elise Ofsofke and Lynn Love discussed their company’s progress with Enviro-Mark®NZ Membership Manager, Kristin Flanagan.

Why did Wellington Business Forms decide to focus on its environmental management?

Three years prior to starting the Enviro-Mark programme we were involved in the tendering process for Greater Wellington Regional Council. We found they and other key clients were starting to refuse contracts with suppliers that didn’t have environmental management practices in place or in their words “green credentials”.  We started to realise how beneficial an Environmental Certification would be to our company both directly and in the wider business community.

What has been the most challenging aspect of this?

Getting to the certified Bronze level was definitely the most challenging part of process so far.  Getting the relevant legislation together and all the health and safety requirements took a lot of work.  Before starting the programme we were already doing a lot of the things that were required but we hadn’t kept any documentation so it was putting together the paper trail was quite time consuming.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of your environmental programme?

It has been rewarding to see the reduction in our electricity and waste, and our increased recycling.  It just shows that all the hard work that everyone has been putting in is paying off.  Staff interest has been fantastic with most people doing their bit and also bringing up new ideas to reduce our environmental impacts.  It has been really great to see some staff have also taken our environmental practices and started to put things into place in their homes as well.

What are some of your EMS achievements?

The processes we have put into place to reduce our environmental impacts have been extremely successful.  When we started we decided we were going to focus on mainly solid waste, electricity use and recycling.  So far we have been able to reduce our skip bin to the smallest size available and reduced the number of pick ups to once a fortnight. Our waste to landfill has been reduced by up to 90%.  We have also estimated electricity savings of at least 10% and materials that are recycled both on and off site has jumped to 95%.  We recycle almost everything we can - including paper, plastic, metal ink tins, metal printing plates and packaging.

What advice would you give to other companies thinking of implementing an EMS?

Do it now! Enviro-Mark makes it easier to take the initiative and do things at your own pace.  The amount of help and advice received throughout the programme from Landcare Research and from other participants has been crucial.  Don’t wait until these sorts of environmental management systems are forced on you.

What value does Enviro-Mark certification have for Wellington Business Forms?

We have been able to show our clients that we are very serious about our commitment to the environment.  Many of the tenders we participate in are now asking specific questions in relation to environmental credentials and what we are doing to improve our practices. Our clients are also becoming more aware of environmental issues and are putting more emphasis on dealing with ‘green’ suppliers. An example of this is the partnerships we have formed with Accor (Novotel Hotels - Green Globe Certified) and New Zealand Van Lines Ltd (have attained ISO 14001).  Both companies are leaders in their field and place high importance in managing environmental issues.  It is great that we can show people where we have come from, what we have already done and what we are planning to achieve in the years to come.

Where are you heading now with your environmental management efforts?

We are currently working towards Platinum certification and hope to have achieved this by the end of 2009.