Sustainability and Waste – At work

"Sustainability" is directly related to Climate Change. Many firms and businesses are getting into sustainability, in the knowledge that less waste and more efficiency leads to an improved triple bottom line. The challenge is thus for businesses to reduce their energy use, and to reduce their wastes. To do this properly requires the enthusiasm of all their staff, from the top to the bottom, and this requires the installation of a new approach that will be shared by all. It helps to have a clear commitment from the very top! It also helps if you have an energy champion!

There is a lot of information available on this topic, but here are a few suggestions to get you started!

 

What I can do at work

In the first place, of course, the best place to start is with your building design, and if you have that option it is an excellent way to go. There are many successes reported, including one for Lockheed's new building in Sunnyvale, California, where energy savings, higher productivity and lower absenteeism contributed to a 100% payback on investment in the first year. Here in New Zealand it has been reported that higher occupancy rates and higher rentals more than compensate for increased building costs, and that green buildings are cheaper to maintain and more efficient. Check out the new Green Building Council at:  www.nzgbc.org.nz

 

Changes to our buildings

For most of us, who have to deal with an existing situation, we need real engagement with staff to embrace the idea of sustainability. Everyone will have to be involved.

First up might be an energy audit. It has been demonstrated that the pay-back period for investment in energy efficiency is frequently less than 3 years - a return of 30% on investment, and a return that continues for the life of the building.

And what about water use – has this been carefully monitored and reviewed?

Make a plan for your particular business – whether you are a typical office, a hotel or motel, or an industrial plant, there will be many things that can be done to reduce your energy requirements and your waste outputs. All these actions can make a significant contribution towards reducing your energy use, and can truly make a significant improvement to your bottom line.

1. For Immediate action:

• Review lighting and install energy-saving bulbs.
• Determine best temperatures for summer and winter space heating, so premises are not over-heated in winter, or over-cooled in summer.
• Turn lights and electronic items 'off' when not in use. Consider installation of movement detectors to automatically control light switching.

2. Short term goals:

• Consider use of solar water heating or heat-pump water heating, to reduce energy use substantially
• Investigate opportunities for maximising use of natural light.
• Install efficient water use systems

3.      Medium to long-term goals:

• Do you have waste heat available? Consider co-generation  
• Consider possibilities for recycling wastewater
• Replace old, inefficient electric motors and machinery.
• Investigate better use of natural daylight illumination – it can provide better, cheaper light in some situations.

Your plan will need to be tailored to your premises and your budget, but there are many actions that can be taken at absolutely no cost, that will get you on your way. Go to the following site for an excellent guide on what else you can do:   www.eeca.govt.nz/

What I can do about our other activities at work

Minimisation of waste substantially reduces our footprint on this planet, and has the potential for energy saving, and resulting reductions in CO2 discharges. The Zero Waste approach follows the reduce, re-use, recycle philosophy, but also requires that products be designed and constructed so as to provide for these purposes. Investigate the possibilities here both for your own products and services, but for the products and services that you purchase.

Another area to be checked out involves your daily activities. Consider carrying out a waste audit – look closely into your waste-stream, and identify everything in it. Do you have recycling facilities for waste paper? With some reasonable effort, wastes can be sorted, and many of them can be re-used or recycled - sometimes they can even be sold. Does the cafeteria have a plan to not use throwaway plates or cups, and to separate food scraps for separate collection? Do they sort their recyclables? What happens to any waste cooking oils? (It's wanted for biodiesel!)

Are you in a food business? Rather than being landfilled, kitchen wastes can be separately collected and diverted into biogas and compost production, thus saving large emissions of methane (much worse than CO2) and adding to carbon sequestration in our soils. Encourage Council to organise this, or get together with other food producers in your vicinity and get a new system up and running.

Your plan in this area might include:

1. For Immediate action:

• When making purchasing decisions, seek suppliers who have adopted sustainable production
• In buying and producing, aim for minimal, efficient, recyclable packaging.
• Ensure all beverage containers you buy or sell your product in, are recyclable. Find out what can be recycled in your target marketing area. (TetraPak containers are not currently recyclable in New Zealand, and their use should be last resort stuff.)
• Maximise your recycling of glass, paper and plastics, as provided for by Council.
• Sort all waste streams and ensure proper disposal/recycling
• Encourage recycling and resource use minimisation in all spheres of our workplace

2. Short term goals:

• Review cafeteria practices – no throw away containers or cutlery
• If there are food waste products, we will plan to ensure their utilisation, whether by composting, worm farming, or collection for transformation into biogas and compost.
• We will seek to ensure that all our wastes are properly and safely disposed of,  including provision for the proper disposal of all materials (such as fluorescent light tubes, mercury compounds, electronic wastes etc.,) which contain toxic wastes.

3. Medium to long-term goals:

• We will go for sustainable production. When designing product, take full life-cycle into account and ensure recyclability of all product components.
• We will seek to minimise all our wastes, right through the design and production of our products and services, through to maximising reuse and recycling of suitable wastes, and proper disposal of all residual wastes.

This page was created in November 2006.