Sustainability Advantage case studies
Organisations participating in the Sustainability Advantage Program describe how they have improved their environmental and business performance.
More efficient use of energy, water and raw materials, creating less waste and sending less of it to landfill, and involving staff and suppliers to help, are some of the ways organisations add value to their business and benefit our environment.
Organisation | Areas of achievement |
Baptist Community Services NSW & ACT
Converga Coleman Greig Lawyers
Compass Housing Services Edstein Creative Stone Lake Macquarie City Council Oakflats Bowling and Recreation Club Steber International TAFE NSW Illawarra Institute | Energy, Water, Supply chain
Waste, Staff engagement Energy, Staff engagement Energy, Waste, Staff engagement Energy, Water, Waste, Staff engagement Energy, Raw materials, Staff engagement, Supply chain Energy, Water, Waste, Staff engagement Energy, Waste, Raw materials Energy, Water, Staff engagement |
Areas of achievement: Energy, Water, Supply chain
Not-for-profit Christian care organisation Baptist Community Services NSW & ACT keeps social sustainability at the heart of its operation in helping some of our community’s most disadvantaged people. While financial viability is a hallmark for Baptist Community Services after 66 years continuous service, environmental sustainability is new territory.
As Baptist Community Services embarked on the most extensive building program in its history the organisation wanted to ensure that environmentally sustainable development became part of its future. The organisation has adopted the Sustainability Advantage Program to improve its sustainability performance in four main areas: resources, people, buildings, and supply chain.
While spreading the sustainability message among its employees and clients, it has:
• saved more than 92,000 megawatts of electricity last year
• implemented energy and water saving projects worth more than $330,000
• cut electricity consumption by five per cent at Kularoo Centre for Aged Care in Forster
• cut electricity consumption by four per cent at Warabrook Centre for Aged Care in Newcastle.
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Areas of achievement: Waste, Staff engagement
Digital business solutions provider, Converga, is increasing its commitment to help build sustainable practices into client organisations including helping one client save 400,000 sheets of paper a year.
Converga was the first business in NSW to achieve Gold Partner status in the Sustainability Advantage Program. The company's efforts have returned great results:
estimated paper saving of 753,900 pages – equal to 1500 reams or about 4500 kilograms
consolidated courier runs and transferred others to its own vehicles to reduce CO2 emissions from 4.36 tonnes to 2.13 tonnes per vehicle – a saving of 31,800 litres of fuel, 279,300 kilometres or $12,500
encouraged video conferencing over air travel to reduce domestic flights by 198 trips – equal to 12 tonnes of CO2 emissions, 71,430 kilometres or about $79,200
reduced its waste to landfill from four tonnes in 2008-09 to three tonnes in 2009-10
reduced mileage claims by 9150 kilometres to cut CO2 emissions by 2.48 tonnes and to save $6800.
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Areas of achievement: Energy, Staff engagement
Parramatta based law firm Coleman Grieg is helping to secure its business future by joining the growing number of professional services firms doing their bit for the environment. General Manager, Warrick McLean, says a greener approach to business is now part of Coleman Greig’s DNA, enhancing its proud reputation as western Sydney’s leading full service law firm.
Coleman Greig has been able to:
• promote its sustainability credentials
• strengthen the firm’s recruitment and retention
• use energy-efficient IT upgrades and behavioural changes to cut electricity use by 6 per cent
• cut paper consumption by 25 per cent.
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Areas of achievement: Energy, Waste, Staff engagement
Compass Housing is a not-for-profit organisation that alleviates the hardship of housing stress for disadvantaged families by providing secure and affordable homes throughout NSW.
Despite rapid growth that has seen the company double in size, Compass wants to lower its carbon footprint by reducing resource consumption and cutting waste. The company is achieving these goals through sustainable business initiatives.
Along the way, Compass is also helping its residents reduce their impact on our environment and lower their costs of living. With a champion in each office Compass has:
• encouraged residents and staff to adopt a sustainable lifestyle to conserve resources and save money
• established a sustainable lifestyle program for their tenants that includes health and nutrition, emotional well being, community contributions and sustainable living
• established Envirobuild, where housing is constructed from sustainable resources. Smart metering will be employed to encourage reductions in energy and water use
• developed a waste system that separates organic material, paper and cardboard, and mixed recyclables
• included hybrid vehicles in the company fleet
• upgraded all toilets to dual flush.
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Areas of achievement: Energy, Water, Waste, Staff engagement
Taree business Edstein Creative Stone manufactures traditional stone for monuments, and architectural stone for the building industry. Edstein joined Sustainability Advantage in September 2009 to develop a strategic business approach to sustainability. Specifically, Edstein wanted to improve its environmental performance, manage environmental risk, find new ways to use resources more efficiently, and cut costs.
The CEO of Edstein Creative Stone, Nigel Ferguson, says the firm has achieved all this, and more, highlighting:
• savings in water, electricity and waste of more than $75,000 per year
• water use cut initially by 97 per cent and now, Edstein meets its own water needs by harvesting rainwater
• 32 tonnes of stone off-cuts diverted from landfill every month and recycled
• Energy Saver audit identified potential reductions in annual electricity consumption from 280 to 174 megawatt hours – a saving of $28,600 and 108 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
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Areas of achievement: Energy, Raw materials, Staff engagement, Supply chain
Saving money is important for all local governments because their costs are rising faster than their revenue streams. Lake Macquarie City Council joined the Sustainability Advantage Program to improve resource efficiency, engage staff, and make its supply chain more sustainable. Such is the support for sustainability in Lake Macquarie, that in 2010, the community made over 13,000 individual pledges to reduce their environmental footprint.
These actions will save almost 9,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and more than $570,000. Lake Macquarie City Council wants to turn these pledges into lifelong habits.
As part of their involvement in the Sustainability Advantage Program, the council:
• identified annual savings of $2.4 million by reviewing its purchasing practices
• saved 58,000 litres of petrol, 158 tonnes of CO2 and $60,000 in fuel costs per year by replacing 44 six-cylinder cars with more efficient vehicles
• saved 12.5 megawatt hours of electricity – the equivalent of 11.08 tonnes of CO2 or more than $10,000 – by installing LED lights in public car parks
• started a staff showerhead exchange program which resulted in council employees saving about 1,160 kilolitres of water and 43.5 tonnes of CO2 per annum.
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Areas of achievement: Energy, Water, Waste, Staff engagement
Having built an enviable local reputation for green business, Oak Flats Bowling & Recreation Club is now seeking new ways to be more sustainable. The Shellharbour club is using the Sustainability Advantage Program to get staff and patrons passionate about conserving energy, saving water and reducing waste.
Some of the ways Oak Flats Bowling & Recreation Club is planning for a better environment and adding value to the local community include:
• cutting almost 20 per cent from its annual electricity budget following a retrofit of lighting and a staff pledge to reduce electricity
• reducing water use by 28 per cent or 3.72 kilolitres per day
• reducing waste by 51 per cent for a saving of $11,000 a year
• granting $1,500 of incentives to employees towards home sustainability projects as recognition of their commitment to reduce energy use at home and work
• eliminating all products sold in duplicate forms which have one-use packaging. For example, beer supplied in kegs and sold in glass is not also sold in glass bottles.
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Areas of achievement: Energy, Waste, Raw materials
Steber International is an Australian-owned family business on the Mid North Coast of NSW that manufactures composite components and commercial and recreational motor boats for customers around the world.
The multi award-winning company has demonstrated significant environmental achievements through the Sustainability Advantage Program. Some of the activities and results for Steber include:
• implementing an integrated management system that includes quality control, occupational health and safety, and environment
• reducing landfill waste by 15 per cent in 12 months by installing recycle bins throughout the factory
• recycling 70 per cent of the acetone used in making fibreglass by installing a solvent recycling system
• saving 900 kilowatt hours of electricity per year by shutting down a rarely-used hot water system.
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Areas of achievement: Energy, Water, Staff engagement
TAFE NSW Illawarra Institute is a large, high-profile organisation that operates 14 campuses serving 34,000 students throughout south-east NSW. Starting in 2007, TAFE Illawarra took a whole-of-institute approach to incorporate sustainability into its academic program, business operations and day-to-day activities.
Environmental Officer at TAFE Illawarra, Darren O’Connell says: “Things have moved well from one year to the next and we have had the continuous improvement you want from a program such as this.”
The results have pleased and in some cases surprised everyone involved. They include:
• an annual saving of about $140,000 by cutting water consumption 17 per cent and electricity use by ten per cent
• savings of more than $50,000 a year in electricity costs by automatic shutdown of the institute’s 3,000 computers each night at 10.30 pm
• further reductions in water use by finding and rectifying leaks in plumbing and infrastructure.
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Previous case studies
- De Bortoli Wines : Toasting sustainable success (1011SA_DeBortoli_cs.pdf, 77kb)
Marquis: Greener production now a permanent fixture (1012SA_Marquis_cs.pdf, 73kb)
Converga: Maintaining a sustainable record (1013SA_Converg_cs.pdf, 70kb)
Sydney Markets Limited: Producing a sustainable market (1014SA_SydneyMrkts_cs.pdf, 74kb)
Carlingford Court: Shopping for sustainable ideas (1016SA_CarlingfdCrt_cs.pdf, 82kb)
Rondo: Sealing unsustainable gaps (1018SA_Rondo_cs.pdf, 82kb)
Ontera: Getting sustainability covered (1019SA_Ontera_cs.pdf, 83kb)
Inghams Enterprises Pty Limited: Embracing sustainable change (1020SA_Inghams_cs.pdf, 85kb)
Austral Bricks: A greener industry brick by brick (1021SA_Austral_cs.pdf, 83kb)
Goodman Fielder: Sustainable practices on the rise (1022SA_GoodmnFldr_cs.pdf, 79kb)
Schindler Lifts Australia: Elevating the status of sustainability (10173SA_Schindler_cs.pdf, 64kb)
TAFE NSW Northern Sydney Institute (NSI): Practicing what it teaches (1024SA_TAFEnthSyd_cs.pdf, 71kb)
Page last updated: 07 February 2012
