Articles written to inspire you to do better for the environment, and tell you how to go green!
Greener gadgets
I’m sure we all have a defunct cell phone or two lying in a drawer somewhere at home.
Or, maybe a stockpile of computer parts and TV monitors stashed under the stairs or in the basement at work. Many of us are stumped about what to do with our mini arsenals of waste electronic goods (or e-waste).
Between 20 and 50 million tonnes of e-waste are generated every year around the world. Mainly shipped from developed countries to developing countries, toxic chemicals in electronics products can leach into the land or be released into the atmosphere, impacting nearby communities and the environment. New Zealand is not immune to this global problem.
We have a growing e-waste problem in this country with as many as 16 million electronic waste devices awaiting disposal. Currently, the majority of our e-waste is dumped into landfills. This isn’t a great solution as landfills aren’t safe as the waste within them will eventually leach into the surrounding environment and ground water. This means that the nasty chemicals currently in our electronics – everything from lead to cancer-causing PVCs – will eventually find its way into our environment.
So what can we do about this? Unfortunately, compared to the EU which has made some real progress in this area, New Zealand is behind the eight ball when it comes to dealing with e-waste. They have legislation in place where companies must remove the most toxic chemicals from their products if safer alternatives exist. Furthermore, they also have a comprehensive Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) policy which obliges producers to bear financial responsibility for the end-of-life management of their own products. Here in New Zealand, the guidelines the government has in place here are just that – guidelines. They’re voluntary, meaning companies don’t need to abide by them.
There are solutions though. There are things we can do at home and in our businesses to ensure we’re acting responsibly to reduce e-waste:
Buy green: avoid ‘instant upgrades’ on equipment. Spend a bit more and buy something that you won’t be tempted to change every six months. Secondhand is also a good option. If you are buying new, ask your retailer for models that are less toxic. Check the energy efficiency of products. If this all sounds like a lot of work, check out already existing guides to greener IT at www.greenpeace.org/electronics or www.epeat.net
Recycle your electronics: eDay happens here in New Zealand on an annual basis. Last year, New Zealanders dropped off 976 tonnes of e-waste around the country for recycling. Visit www.eday.org.nz. This is great if your business deals with large amounts of e-waste. See the Ark (the-ark.co.nz), RCN (rcn.co.nz) and Computer Recycling (computerrecycling.co.nz) for more information. You can drop old mobiles, batteries and chargers into any Vodafone stores, Telecom retail stores and partner outlets.
Turn off your electronic devices at the wall – that includes chargers.
Utilise your equipment to its full extent: for example, if you have older equipment with less memory, give these to staff who only need to access word and excel processing systems.
Ensuring you’re buying green, looking after your equipment and recycling responsibly will not only be better for the planet but also for your pocket.
Still haven’t converted to green? No worries. Try these simple steps to becoming a sustainable business.
We don’t need to become rocket scientists to be green. Some of the biggest opportunities to be environmentally responsible and enhance our environment are sitting right there in front of us. One business that I have been working with recently is the delightful iced tea company ‘Teza’. These guys are a great example of a small business that is thinking creatively and moving towards sustainability one baby step at a time. Amongst other things, they now give away free mulch from their tea leaves (reducing waste to landfill), use green energy, encourage crafty ways to reuse their bottles and caps, and drive small fuel-efficient tea bushes (that’s cars, to you and me). Teza is the first to admit that it is not perfect, but what it does demonstrate is that, with a little thought, we can really make a difference.
Do you have a green dream and want to be more eco-chic than eco-geek? Or, maybe you are experiencing green fatigue, overwhelmed at the myriad of options out there. You don’t want to feel guilty for what you are not doing but need clear, relevant, prioritised advice to get started.
It’s time to jump on board. Many companies are doing more than just giving green lip service. They are digging deep, taking a good hard look in the mirror and weaving the threads of sustainability into everything they do. Sustainability is becoming part of the critical decision making fabric. It is no longer an optional add-on but something that simply makes good business sense.
As we make a fresh start to 2010 we will see many more businesses and individuals rise to the challenge, becoming slick and efficient with their resource use, reducing their environmental footprint (and enjoying the jingle of more pennies in their back pockets while they do it). It’s time to rethink, redesign and remould our mindsets to join the green revolution.
During the last decade or so since I have been working in this industry, the scientific evidence has also been mounting and is now irrefutable. We as human beings have been meeting our own needs without providing for those of future generations. We have not been living sustainably and as we start to see the catastrophic impacts of our changing climate, many of us want to do our bit. We want a planet that we are proud to leave the kids.
A rapidly growing proportion of mainstream consumers are ‘solution seekers’, actively seeking products and services that share their global environmental and social values and they are prepared to pay a premium. Many businesses have stepped out as leaders and are now seeing the value of tapping into this growing market, maybe you can too.
There will be many opportunities that will be appropriate to your individual circumstances which can be captured from considering a small shift in mindset. When we keep sustainability on the radar we often find creative solutions that save money as well as the planet.
Expert advice can be useful when devising a tailored sustainability strategy but to help you on your way here are three steps to guide your pathway to becoming a sustainable business.
STEP 1: Identify and understand the environmental issues in relation to your business targeting the following areas:
Consider waste as a resource: start thinking about how your waste can be utilised in other parts of your business (waste =food). Better still, consider designs and processes that limit waste in the first place.
Review your location: how is the location of your business impacting the environment?
Could you be closer to public transport networks and other key services?
Consider alternative transport modes: perhaps you could set up a car pool scheme, provide bicycles for your staff or reduce the need to travel by providing video conferences or web chat facilities.
Reduce water and electricity consumption: by fixing leaking taps, installing low flush toilets and switching off lights, appliances and computers, we can make substantial energy and water savings. To demonstrate your commitment to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, you may also wish to consider carbon neutral certification.
Upgrading or retrofitting your buildings to incorporate sustainable design features can significantly reduce your impact on the environment whilst saving you money.
Examine your supply chains: look closely at the lifecycle of your supply chain. Are you choosing suppliers that demonstrate their own commitment to sustainability? To help answer these questions, you could engage a specialist and consider purchasing from those with a third party independent label like the Environmental Choice.
STEP 2: Get buy in
To make your green dreams stick you need buy in from key business partners, suppliers and staff.
Make it relevant. When people are given the opportunity to understand their own contributions they are often happy to make changes and are more likely to take ownership of issues and perhaps even craft innovative solutions.
STEP 3: Take action!
It’s time to get excited and realise your eco-chic vision. Depending on the nature of your business, you may wish to consider developing an action plan (with supporting policies and reporting structures). Whatever implementation plan you choose, the key is to keep revisiting, revising and reinvigorating your plan as you and your business learn and grow.
By taking simple steps you will be firmly on your pathway to integrate sustainable thinking into everything you do. You will be truly rewarded.
New Zealand’s top sustainability trailblazers revealed
An extensive search of New Zealand’s business community has put the spotlight on the country’s most sustainable companies for the 2009 NZI National Sustainable Business Network Awards.
Competing for the title of Sustainable Business of the Year, to be revealed on November 12, are seven companies that all won the ‘trailblazer’ award in their respective regions of the Sustainable Business Network Awards, held during August and September.
They include Bayfair Shopping Centre, ecostore, Kokako Organic, Landscape Design Company, Manaaki Whenua, Landcare Research, Parkes Automotive and The Herb Farm.
Fifteen other finalists will also compete for seven category awards, celebrating businesses that are actively integrating sustainability throughout their operations.
Sustainable Business Network chief executive Rachel Brown says she is thrilled at the number of businesses that are continuing to prioritise sustainability, even in this difficult economic climate.
“The theme of the awards this year is ‘Reinvent to Thrive’, acknowledging businesses that continue to sustain, innovate, re-engineer and rethink during the recession.
“We received entries from a diverse range of companies that are all making impressive and commendable changes to the way they do business, in an effort to be more sustainable,” says Ms Brown.
Calculating your footprint
From August 09
Everything we do, use, buy and consume has the potential to have a reduced environmental effect with a commitment by you.
Your carbon footprint is a measure of the impact your activities have on the environment. It represents the amount of CO2 your lifestyle contributes to global warming.
Help to reverse this trend by taking responsibility for your individual and your household’s emissions. Actively practise the principles of the five Rs – rethink, reduce, reuse, repair and recycle and get to know your footprint by using one of the many available carbon emissions calculators to regularly measure your footprint.
Visit: www.carbonfootprint.com or www.contactenergy.co.nz www.footprintnetwork.org
How to Market with a Green Tinge
From March 09
There is such a disconnection between the popular image of ‘green’ behaviour and advertising/marketing that the term ‘green marketing’ can feel like a contradiction in terms.
Green thinking demands a more considered approach to what we make and what we buy. If we define marketing as the quest to understand and meet people’s needs with goods and services, as marketers the onus falls on us to do a respectable job of the ‘understanding’. We are required to think not only of the customer’s need at the point of purchase, but what they and their community need from the industry concerned if they are to live in a thriving planet and society.
The overall business community is outstripping the advertising and marketing sector in its willingness to grapple with the issues. Consumers are demanding transparent information, responsibility and credibility. Marketing needs to catch up fast.
New Zealand is fortunate in having a robust self-regulating framework for advertising, through the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). In 1994, the ASA published its code for environmental claims - an essential starting point for marketers of ‘green’ products and services and a useful resource for those of us seeking less damaging alternatives.
Moxie research estimates that 32 percent of the New Zealand population are seeking product and service solutions with at least a green tinge. This represents as much as $2 billion of domestic expenditure. Businesses are increasingly asking for green credentials from their supply chain.
Overseas markets have been distorted by a flood of irresponsible ‘green wash’, in which suppliers make false, exaggerated or distracting claims. This trend is growing here but so far remains a trickle, thanks in part to our advertising standards. So as a buyer, beware! Look for hard evidence and reputable certification.
For business owners and marketers, the long-term advantage lies in doing green marketing right. As a start, consider the following:
Motive - what is driving you to promote green credentials?
Authenticity - how demonstrable and significant are the steps you have taken to reduce the harm your products and services do at every stage in their lifecycle?
Action first - make the changes before you shout about them. Chances are you’ll gain most benefit from the cost savings of reducing energy and waste anyway - not to mention the increasing anecdotal evidence that sustainable behaviour lifts productivity.
Certification - there is a growing range of credible certification and labelling schemes. If your sector is covered select the ‘gold standard’ and work towards it.
If you do decide it’s appropriate to promote your virtue, remember success lies in ensuring your communications remain ‘good marketing’. Your target market and proposition are as important as ever and even the greenest consumer wants to know your offering will perform as well as competitive brands.
By Kath Dewar
Kath Dewar runs marketing consultancy KD Consulting. She was part of the team behind the acclaimed Green Party advertising campaign for the 2008 election.
Greening your workplace can be a fun exercise and can bring teams together as they challenge each other to new ways to rethink, reuse, or reduce.
At the Sustainable Business Network, we work with businesses who are sometimes well on their way down the sustainability road and others who are just starting out.
When speaking with one of our emerging Small Business category award winners, Kate Sylvester, about greening up their workplace, the message of staff involvement rings true. Just like other businesses, once the ball started rolling, staff were very passionate about the shift to more sustainable practices.
Sylvester made it easy for staff to get on the bandwagon at home as well. When the business put in an order for a worm farm, staff were also able to order their own worm farms. When Fair Trade coffee or eco-cleaning products are purchased, staff are encouraged to purchase extra to use at home.
Marketing Manager for Express Couriers, Rachel Morriss reiterates the same message. As winners of the Emerging Large and Corporate category, they opened up the suggestion box to staff and, as a result, have implemented an array of simple, yet effective, changes across the business.
Here are some tips for those looking to save costs
and be more efficient:
Print smart: Use recycled and chlorine-free paper in your workplace and set your printers and copiers to double side automatically. Many of our members talk about using the blank side of print waste as note paper.
Switch off: ensure computers, monitors and all appliances are turned off overnight or when not in use and always turn lights out when the room is empty. This is a simple way to make huge savings on your electricity bill.
Make the switch: where possible, replace conventional light bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.
Get serviced: if your heating and air-conditioning units are serviced regularly, they are more likely to run efficiently. The same goes for your fleet or personal vehicles – keep your car well tuned and check your tyres weekly to make sure they’re properly inflated. Statistics show that proper inflation can improve fuel economy by more than three percent.
Buy smart: choose suppliers committed to sustainability – an energy supplier that uses 100 percent renewable energy or financial institutions that are actively working towards climate change reduction and who provide climate friendly insurance options. Green your office products by purchasing those with a third-party independent label like the Environmental Choice, Fair Trade or Biogro labels.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: this mantra can save you costs down the track. Recycling suppliers offer very good rates and will tailor their service to suit you. Simply focussing on reducing your waste to landfill can result in staff creating less waste in the first place as they grow more waste conscious.
Alternate transportation: use public transport, carpool, buy or lease fuel-efficient vehicles such as hybrids, small cars or bicycles. Staff incentives to make a change for the better are well supported and include giving priority car parks to hybrids, compact cars, or car-pool vehicles.
Small steps often have a snow-ball effect, which can only be good for the future of business on this fragile planet of ours.
Have we become distanced from the land? Removed from the soil, grass and grazing animals? When did it become the norm to see media reports of animal cruelty, factory farming and environmental degradation because of our ‘new’ farming ways?
Bring back better times. A time when our products lived up to the clean, green brand. A time when farmers were seen as the protectors of our land and not the destroyers. Where the voice of farming was the family farmer – not some faceless corporation.
New Zealand has a chequered past when it comes to agriculture. On one hand, we cut down vast swathes of magnificent old-growth forests and turned them into pasture. We destroyed unique and amazing wetlands. We introduced a multitude of pests that wreaked havoc on what must have once been the Garden of Eden.
On the other hand, we have some good farming practices. Generally, our animals graze outdoors on grass. They have a lot of space to roam and are housed in humane conditions.
However, we have a lot of work to do to retain our clean, green image and, more importantly, to retain our environment.
So what can be done? Thankfully, the news is good. There are solutions that will benefit both the environment and farmers’ earnings. Some New Zealand farmers have already recognised this and a growing number are changing practices.
“Farming’s gone very high-tech, but not necessarily in a good way,” says Kathi Harris. “You get a consultant in to fix your soil and grass problems, and they’re all paid by the big companies to sell their products.”
Kathi and her husband David run a small dairy farm at Pokuru, not far out of Te Awamutu. Three years ago, the couple abandoned mainstream farming practices.
“We were working harder just to stand still,” says David. “We weren’t gaining profitability or production. We were just spending more and more money on supplements, animal health, fertilisers – all of our costs were going up.”
Demoralised, he was ready to give up on dairying when the couple won a scholarship to follow a farming management programme run by Cambridge company eCogent and it turned their farming business around.
The eCogent method is a win-win way forward for farmers and for our environment. I call it smart farming or what is known globally as ‘bio-logical’ farming. Smart farming is about returning to more traditional farming practices. It’s about less input, and better output. It’s about cutting down on chemicals, cutting back on herd numbers and looking after soil so that pasture thrives and lasts.
Generations of farmers have successfully used this method in New Zealand. Bio-logical farming takes advantage of natural processes that promote good soil, healthy crops, and healthy animals. These natural processes include: best tillage methods, proper livestock manure use, promoting soil life, reducing compaction from overstocking, using rotational grazing to maintain pasture root health through leaving residual pasture cover, and balancing the soil’s minerals through the use of soil conditioners.
Lower stocking per hectare has been shown to increase milk and meat production from each animal. As well, lower costs for inputs such as fertilisers and the resulting reduction of expensive animal health problems allows farms to become more profitable and sustainable.
This was all outlined in a study by AgResearch, which studied different demonstration dairy farms in New Zealand. The study found that milk produced and delivered per cow, per year, was highest under the low input farming system. It also demonstrated that the low input system was financially the least risky for farmers and more profitable when milk-price payouts were low – which was the norm from 1987-2006.
New Zealand is ideally positioned to lead the world in lower-emission pastoral farming. What are we waiting for?
The New Zealand Government, agri-business (like Fonterra) and New Zealand farmers need to adopt and promote this type of farming for the sake of the environment and generations of farmers to come.
Hewlett Packard (HP) New Zealand would like to encourage New Zealand businesses to support Power to Change, a global HP campaign to encourage personal computer users to take responsibility for reducing their energy consumption and their environmental impact.
The campaign encourages users to visit www.hp.com/powertochange and download a new desktop widget that tracks the cumulative energy savings associated with participants turning off idle PCs when not in use and displays the global energy savings the campaign generates through the power of behavioural changes across individual and global users.
For an individual computer user, turning off an idle PC is a small step, but the widget is a tool to demonstrate that, collectively, even small behavioural changes can have a big impact. HP estimates that if 100,000 users shut down their work computers at the end of each day, energy savings could total more than 2,680 kilowatt-hours and carbon emissions reductions could total more than 1,500 kilos per day. This is the equivalent of eliminating more than 105 cars from the road each day.
HP would like to see New Zealand businesses make a commitment to the Power to Change campaign by installing the widget on every desktop and encouraging employees to get involved.
How to be a champion for Power to Change
Downloading the Power to Change widget is just a start. You can follow ‘Power to Change’ on Twitter, add a widget to your Facebook, MySpace or iGoogle pages and watch the campaign video on YouTube.
The website also offers other great ideas from HP on how to ‘green’ your office: 1. Be an all star
Opt for or ask for ENERGY STAR – qualified products, such as personal computers (PCs), peripherals, phones and compact fluorescent light bulbs. Or, at the very least, start the conversation with your office managers on such products. 2. Size and energy matters
Consider using laptops, flat-panel monitors and multifunction printing products. They use less energy and are made with less material than desktop PCs, CRT monitors and multiple printing and imaging products. 3. Don’t use screen savers
Screen savers don’t save energy; they actually use more energy than no screen saver at all. Instead, choose PC sleep settings when you’re away from your PC. 4. Print smart and green
You can set your printer to print on both sides to help reduce paper waste. And remember to print on paper with recycled content. Or better yet, print only when you need to. 5. Shut it off
Switch off electronics and lights when not in use. It’s basic but we all need a reminder from time to time. 6. Pull the plug
Plugged-in electronics still use energy even when switched off. Try this to help conserve energy use: plug all electronics into a power strip or power surge protector and turn the power strip off when devices are not in use. 7. Be a planet partner
You can reduce environmental impact by recycling your used print cartridges in recycling bins. 8. Give it away
Donate or recycle unused and unwanted computer equipment including cables, mice and keyboards. 9. Plant it
Place indoor plants in your office. They look nice and plants can improve your indoor air quality by absorbing pollutants.
Eco Friendly Living...In the City?
Are you wanting to do your bit for the environment, despite living an urban existence, but are put off by the potential bureaucratic minefield you might have to navigate to make some positive changes?
Kirsten Ferguson provides four tips for living a more sustainable and/or eco-friendly life without moving to the country
1. Composting – Be considerate
There are no legal requirements affecting your ability to compost your organic waste, including food scraps, grass clippings and similar. However, general rules relating to causing a ‘nuisance’ will apply. If your compost is causing a nuisance to your neighbour such as being smelly, not contained or is otherwise unpleasant, you may have to remove it.
Have you thought about composting but it seems impossible because you’re an apartment dweller? Well, perhaps not. Some councils provide separate plastic-bin for food scraps and do the composting for you.
2. City Chicks – Check with your local council
You may have already established a vegetable garden and are getting a taste of being self-sustainable. Are you now thinking of taking it to a new level? How about fresh eggs for breakfast, from your own chickens?
In general, the rules do not get more cumbersome than limiting the number of chickens you can have and/or governing the distance from your house (and your neighbours) that they can reside.
Some councils in fact have no rules. In these cases, nuisance rules still apply.
3. Solar panels – Beware the building code
The slightly more serious amongst you might even be considering installing solar panels. Solar panels not only benefit the environment by cutting greenhouse emissions, but they’ll slash your power bill too.
Regardless of what type of system you choose and who you engage to install it, you will need to comply with the New Zealand Building Code. Once installed, the Building Code contains other requirements regarding its operation.
4. Know the rules and go for it!
There are many other things you can do to help preserve our clean, green existence for future generations. However, there are often rules governing how you go about it. Remember to check your local council’s website and, if in doubt, contact your legal adviser to make sure you are within your rights to make your eco-friendly changes.
By Kirsten Ferguson
Kirsten Ferguson is a senior lawyer at Rainey Collins Lawyers www.raineycollins.co.nz
Green Up Your Death
How to have a green funeral
Increasingly we are living our lives more aware of our environmental impact -but what about the impact our death has?
A ‘green ending’ is now available from State of Grace, a funeral service owned and operated by women, that offers ‘family directed’ funeral care with a commitment to sustainability and lowering the environmental impact of everything they do.
State of Grace offers a range of eco-caskets; from a simple cardboard casket, to a stunning silk shroud by designer, Miranda Brown, and a David Trubridge ply and jute coffin. They avoid unnecessary embalming, and as an alternative have a coolroom - they also offer homecare, using ice packs.
Founders of State of Grace, Deb Cairns and Fran Reilly give these suggestions when planning your ‘green’ funeral:
Think about your choices and preferences well ahead of time; preferably while you are well! Not only does this ensure that you get the funeral that you want, it also relieves the pressure from family and friends, and gives them more time to just be with you when you pass away - rather than having to guess and make decisions on your behalf. Have a clear funeral plan, discuss this with your family and leave the task with someone who can implement your decisions.
Do you want to be cremated, or buried? Currently, in Auckland, the best choice, in terms of low environmental impact, is to cremate an unembalmed body in an eco-casket. Conventional burial means that the body sits well under the active soil - if embalmed there is an eventual leakage of these fluids into the surrounding area. If you are lucky enough to live in the Wellington region, you can have a natural burial at the Makara Natural Burial Ground (www.naturalburials.co.nz). There will be more sites opening around New Zealand over the next few years.
Ask your funeral director if they have a coolroom, where your body can be kept cool without requiring embalming, or whether they offer a home-care service.
For the casket - ask your funeral about their range of environmentally friendly caskets. There are several plain timber caskets available now, and a range of eco-caskets, through www.returntosender.co.nz. We have our own range here at State of Grace, including a hand-woven willow casket made by a ‘sheltered’ workshop in Invercargill.
Remember to check that the lining of the casket is a natural fabric, such as cotton or silk, with a wool or cotton mattress as most caskets are lined with synthetic fabrics.
Check whether your local crematorium accepts cardboard caskets, as many now do not.
Flowers - to our knowledge no one is yet offering organic flowers in New Zealand (we wish they would!). Many of our families have invited friends to bring garden flowers to the service - a simple way of allowing friends to contribute and be involved.
Catering - not really an environmental factor so much, but families are often deluged with people wanting to help out at the time of a death, and again, being able to delegate small tasks is a wonderful way of involving the extended family and community. Bringing a plate of special food to a service is just one way that people can participate, and it also keeps the costs down.
Remember to:
• Plan your eco-friendly funeral in advance. Not only will this take the burden off your grieving family but you’ll be sure to have everything just the way you want it.
• Decide now whether you want to be buried or cremated and organise details with your nearest funeral director.
• Chose a casket that will have a minimal impact on the environment.
• And consider the small things that can make a big difference to your funeral, like flowers and catering.
These are just a few things to think about. We recommend discussing your options with a sympathetic funeral director who will support you in your choices.
New Zealand’s top sustainability trailblazers revealed
Preserving Our Garden of Eden
