Sustainable business

There has been an increasing awareness over the last few years about the need for society to move towards operating on a sustainable basis. As a business, there are many things you can do to lessen your impact on the environment.

What is cleaner production?

Cleaner production means:

using energy, water and material resources efficiently
avoiding or reducing waste and pollution
producing environmentally sound products and services
achieving lower costs and higher profits
ensuring health and safety

The goal is to reduce the adverse impacts of business activities on the environment.

Cleaner production can be adopted by large and small companies, for example by:

improving energy efficiency
conserving and reusing water
choosing better technology
substituting hazardous substances
reducing wastes

Many cleaner production initiatives cost little or nothing to put in place. Cleaner production changes may already have been introduced by companies as ‘common sense’ or ‘good housekeeping’. Ideas come easiest and are most straightforward to implement when all staff are involved in a cleaner production project from the start.

How can we help?

We can help all types and sizes of businesses and industries set up and running cleaner production programmes.

Please contact our Waste Management Team at the Regional Council on 0800 0020 004 for further information or to arrange a site visit.

Resources available

A range of pamphlets outlining the cleaner production concepts and some industry specific guidelines are available from us. Links to these publications are given below. Most can be downloaded as PDF files, or hard copies can be requested.

Note:
Some of these links are to external resources. If you have any queries, or your industry is not represented below, we are likely to have access to resources specific to your needs.

Industry specific guidelines

Note:
Many of the contact details in these publications may be incorrect. Please contact us for up-to-date information.

Construction and demolition

REBRI - which stands for Resource Efficiency in the Building and Related Industries - provide excellent online guides to assist resource efficiency measures in the building and related industries.

Find out more: www.rebri.org.nz

Hospitality

Waitakere City Council have published a guide called Better Restaurants and Cafés. The 16 page guide educates food outlets on waste minimisation, recycling, efficient energy use, reducing water and other environmentally friendly actions.

Find out more: http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/AbtCit/ec/clnprod/pdf/restcafegde.pdf

Printing

Waitakere City Council have produced a resource called Guidelines for Green Print Purchasing. This 4 page guide educates businesses on buying print items that support safer printing practices and buying recycled.

Find out more: http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/AbtCit/ec/clnprod/pdf/grnprntpurch.pdf

Retail

Waitakere City Council have produced a Green Retail Guide. The guide educates retailers on working with suppliers, assisting consumers purchase ‘green’ goods and ‘greening’ their business.

Find out more: http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/AbtCit/ec/clnprod/pdf/retailgde.pdf

Simply Sustainable

A link to the Ministry for the Environment's online sustainability section with further links to industry specific resources.

Find out more: http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/sustainable-industry/tools-services/concepts.php

Tourism:

The Ministry of Tourism has recently published a set of sustainability best practice guides for the tourism sector, covering a range of tourism activities including Food & Wine, Landbased and Marine Activities, and transport operators.

Find out more: http://www.tourism.govt.nz/sustainability/what-can-you-do/best-practice-guides.html

Vehicle Repair Industry

Risk Radar Fact Sheets from Ministry for the Environment in association with IAG.

Find out more: www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/sus-dev/risk-radar-sheets-jul06

Metal products industry

Guidelines available from the Ministry for the Environment for businesses that fabricate, machine, treat, coat, plate, paint and clean metal parts.

Find out more: http://www.mfe.govt.nz/withyou/funding/smf/results/4088.pdf