November 2007, INFO 234
Welcome to this issue of SIGnals, the Ministry
for the Environment's e-newsletter linking
you to information about the world of sustainable
business.
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In this issue...
The Business of Sustainable Design
Recognising government leadership at the
Govt3 awards
2007 NZI National Sustainable Businesses
Awards
Formway Furniture win Sustainable Design
Award
Recycling in Public Places Initiative
Day diverts e-junk from landfills
Emissions Trading Scheme
Links to Sustainable Business projects and
tools
The Business of Sustainable Design
The Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ)
national conference on sustainable design
could be a tipping point for sustainable
design in New Zealand. On Friday October
the 5th,over 200 designers, businesses and
others attended the conference to get a
better understanding of sustainable design
and what it means for designers.
Alasdair Fuad-Luke, sustainable design
consultant, facilitator, lecturer and writer,
provided attendees with an excellent overview
of sustainability and its implications for
designers.
Sustainable design has two main elements.
The first element is ‘eco design’ which
looks at the environmental impacts of products
and services and considers how improvements
can me made through redesign. Eco design
includes things such as reducing the amount
of waste produced or energy used in production,
or considering if the product can be designed
so that it can be dismantled and recycled
after use.
The second element is ‘sustainable design’.
Sustainable design is about understanding
why the product or service is being created
and how it will be used. Once this is understood
a new product or service is created to meet
the required need. The new product or service
considers the whole life cycle and the environmental,
social and cultural impacts of the development
of the product or service.
Very thought provoking presentations by
David Trubridge and Martin Hill compelled
the audience to consider the implications
of sustainability and their responsibility
as designers. Both David and Martin emphasised
the importance of designing for sustainability
and the challenges they themselves face.
The audience was also exposed to a number
of agencies and businesses who are already
working in the sustainable design field.
This included organisations like the Green
Business Council, Sustainable Business Network,
Environmental Choice and the Ministry for
the Environment. Companies who presented
what they have achieved included Methven,
Formway, Design Mobel and Interface Carpets.
The question now is whether designers will
accept the challenge to incorporate sustainability
into their thinking. Sustainable design
is a great opportunity, a chance to be creative
and challenge existing standards and conformities.
Sustainable design is about something new.
The Ministry for the Environment and DINZ
with other sustainable design experts and
support organisations will now discuss how
to support designers in embracing the sustainability
challenge and brining sustainable design
to life.
And the award goes to…
Recognising government leadership at the
Govt3 awards
The Govt3 Awards, which recognise good sustainable
practice in government, were presented by
the Prime Minister on 10 October at Parliament.
Trophies for winning and highly commended
entries recognised achievements in eight
categories ranging from transport and office
consumables to staff participation and leadership.
“The Govt3 programme is all about the government
walking the talk on sustainability, and
it has been a trailblazer for the Prime
Minister’s package of sustainability initiatives
announced in February. These awards demonstrate
that the government is truly leading the
way towards a sustainable New Zealand,”
said David Parker, Acting Minister for the
Environment.
Past award-winner, the Inland Revenue Department,
was again successful, winning the Recycling/Waste
Minimisation award for reducing waste sent
to landfill over the last year by 76,000
kg. It also won the large-agency award for
Engaging Staff in Govt3.
The Ministry for Science, Research and
Technology (MoRST) won the small-agency
staff engagement award for its innovative
approach. MoRST was also successful in the
Leadership in Govt3 category for the work
of its ’Govt3 Ninjas’ in initiating a recycling
system and a new energy policy.
Another big winner was the Accident Compensation
Corporation (ACC). Their success in achieving
sustainable procurement outcomes took top
honours in the Sustainable Procurement Practice
category. They also won the Leadership in
Govt3 award for large agencies for their
systematic approach across many areas of
sustainability.
The Ministry for the Environment and Victoria
University were nominees for the first time,
with the Ministry taking home the award
for Office Consumables and Equipment. New
Zealand Police was another first-time winner
for the new Manukau Police Station, which
was built using sustainable design principles.
Other winners were Housing New Zealand
and the Department of Corrections. Antarctica
New Zealand was one of 10 highly commended
nominees for leadership on sustainability
at Scott Base.
These achievements were made possible not
only by the hard work of the Govt3 representatives
in each of the agencies, but also by the
businesses that supplied the greener products
and services. Examples include the waste
contractors who collect recycling and composting
waste, the manufacturers of sustainable
paper and other office consumables, the
architects and engineers that incorporated
sustainable features into building design,
and the companies that manufacture the energy
efficient fixtures and fittings that reduce
the impact on the environment.
Fifty agencies are now members of the Govt3
programme, which started in 2003.
2007 NZI National Sustainable Businesses
Awards
Design Mobel is New Zealand’s Sustainable
Business of the Year, after winning the
top award at the 2007 NZI National Sustainable
Business Awards. Design Mobel are designers
and manufacturers of contemporary flexible
slat beds, mattresses and bedroom furniture.
Contact Energy, BeesOnline, YHA Wellington
City, Starfish, Fumes TV were also winners
in their individual award categories.
The NZI National Sustainable Business Awards,
held at Auckland’s War Memorial Museum,
celebrated those businesses making outstanding
progress towards sustainability with Prime
Minister Helen Clark on hand to congratulate
winners.
The Prime Minister announced at the Awards
a $1000,000 grant for the Sustainable Business
Network (SBN). The extra funding for the
Network comes from the government’s new
Business Partnerships for Sustainability
initiative and runs over three years.
“The Government’s preference is to build
on existing sustainable business support
programmes. The Sustainable Business Network
provides such programmes. It is a member-based
forum, where businesses can learn about
new ideas and share experiences,” the Prime
Minister said.
“The Network’s track record in delivering
practical advice on sustainability to business
is excellent. About 600 businesses have
signed up with it already, and its flagship
programme, the Get Sustainable Challenge,
is thriving.”
Entries for the 2007 Awards were received
from over 150 entrants representing a wide
range of business sizes operating in diverse
industries from all over New Zealand. To
qualify, each of the finalists completed
SBN’s Get Sustainable Challenge, subsequently
entered the SBN awards and won the category
awards in their region.
SBN’s Get Sustainable Challenge begins
with an assessment of business practices,
commitment to sustainability, how the business
uses and produces resources, future planning,
business systems and relationships. SBN
represents more than 600 businesses, from
SMEs, consultants, research and academic
staff, through to large businesses and corporations.
Formway Furniture win Sustainable Design
Award
Formway Furniture won the Sustainable Product
Design Award at the 2007 Best Design Awards
held on the 5th October at the Aotea Centre
in Auckland. The Best Design Awards are
held annually by the Designers Institute
of New Zealand (DINZ) and are the major
awards celebrating graphic, spatial and
product design best practice in the domestic
design community.
Formway won the Sustainable Product Design
Award because they demonstrated that stylish,
smart product design can go hand in hand
with sustainable principles. Formway’s ‘Met
Adapt’ office furniture range is made from
materials which have less impact on the
environment and are recyclable. Its designers
also considered the amount of energy used
in production, and the disposal of the product
at the end of its life.
Formway placed sustainability on a level
footing with other design considerations,
resulting in a new product with sustainability
at its core. Formway has used sustainability
to drive innovation in processes, materials
and business models resulting in a truly
sustainable product.
New Zealand’s first eco-coffin, designed
by Holdsworth Design, also won an award.
The coffin uses a minimum of materials which
are bio-degradable and non-toxic. The eco-coffin
demonstrates how consumers are changing
and demanding more sustainable products.
The development of this eco-coffin, and
many other sustainable products, is giving
consumers more environmentally friendly
options which will makes it easier to make
sustainable choices.
The Sustainable Product Design Award is
in its second year and recognises, celebrates
and encourages the significant efforts being
made in the area of sustainable product
design. There has been an increase in entrants
within this category this year, plus sustainability
and the environment were mentioned by a
number of applicants across all product
categories. This is the second year, the
Ministry for the Environment has supported
the Best Design Awards, and in particular,
the Sustainable Product Design Award.
For more information, please visit www.bestawards.co.nz
Recycling in Public Places initiative
As part of the government’s sustainability
programme, the Ministry for the Environment,
in partnership with local government, will
start the roll out of recycling collection
facilities in public places throughout New
Zealand. With more than 80 per cent of Kiwis
now recycling from their homes, the intention
of the initiative is to give New Zealanders
an opportunity to continue their good practice
by providing recycling facilities in high
foot traffic public places.
The Ministry will be working with four
councils throughout New Zealand on a pilot
of the recycling initiative. These councils
will be announced by the Government later
this month. , education and data collection
will all be used to assess the information
from the pilot. The roll out to more council
will continue over the next two years with
Ministry support and is expected that councils
will have plans in place to continue the
programme past 2010.
eDay diverts e-junk from landfills
Nearly 300 tonnes of old computer equipment
and mobile phones will be recycled or re-used
thanks to New Zealand’s first national eDay.
More than 26,000 computer items were dropped
off at 12 locations around the country on
29 and 30 September. Most of this would
otherwise have ended up in landfills.
National eDay organiser Laurence Zwimpfer,
of Computer Access New Zealand (CANZ), said
the response was ‘phenomenal,’ adding: “I
think we’ve helped raise New Zealand’s awareness
of the dangers of dumping electronic waste
in landfills.”
E-waste contains toxic materials such as
lead and mercury, and world-wide it is the
fastest-growing form of waste being sent
to landfills. This poses a potential toxic
hazard for people, animals and the environment.
The old computers and mobile phones will
either be refurbished and re-used or disassembled
and the recyclable materials extracted,
such as copper, some plastics, and steel.
eDay 2007 was supported nationally by CANZ,
the Ministry for the Environment, the Ministry
of Education, 2020 Communications Trust,
Divers Group, Remarkit, TES-AMM, and Dell.
It followed a successful Wellington-only
pilot supported by Dell in 2006.
Mr Zwimpfer said the organisers were keen
to support additional communities who want
to get involved next year, and a number
of regions had already expressed interest.
Emissions Trading Scheme
The recently announced emissions trading
scheme aims to help reduce emissions, encourage
and support global action on climate change,
and put New Zealand on the path to sustainability.
Government proposes to introduce an emissions
trading scheme after consultation showed
that businesses preferred this to other
greenhouse gas reduction alternatives.
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions
are expected to rise significantly if nothing
is done.
New Zealand’s forestry sector (the first
sector to join the scheme) will receive
incentives to plant trees equivalent to
around $300 million over five years under
the proposed scheme, with others joining
in phased stages, allowing time to work
out the sector-specific details.
It is proposed that foresters will begin
monitoring and reporting emissions from
1 January 2008 until December 2009. The
transport sector intends to join the scheme
on 1 January 2009, followed by stationary
energy (coal, gas and geothermal) and heavy
industry on 1 January 2010. The agriculture
and waste sectors come into the scheme 1
January 2013.
Businesses will take part in the several
ways: some will be required to buy and give
up emission units to cover their own emissions
obligations; some trade exposed firms will
be given free units to compensate for increase
costs, which they can on-sell; and some
will facilitate the trading process by acting
as brokers, market advisors or developing
electronic trading platforms.
For more information, including the document
The Framework for a New Zealand Emissions
Trading Scheme and a series of trading fact
sheets, visit www.climatechange.govt.nz.
Links to Sustainable Business projects
and tools
Simply Sustainable: a web toolkit for sustainable
business practice
Simply Sustainable provides practical tools,
resources, guides and case studies to enable
sustainable business practice.
Get Sustainable Challenge - Sustainable
Business Network
The Sustainable Business Network runs the
Get Sustainable Challenge, supported by
the Ministry for the Environment. The Challenge
assesses participating business and helps
improve sustainable business practice through
the use of dedicated resources and workshops.
Participating businesses may also enter
into the annual Get Sustainable Challenge
Awards which recognise efforts in sustainability.
+ More
Address to Opening of WasteMINZ Conference
8/11/2007 - Hon Nanaia Mahuta
Associate Minister for the Environment Address
to Opening of WasteMINZ Conference
6 November Kingsgate Hotel, Te Rapa, Hamilton
Me
Introduction:
Teenaa Koutou and good evening. It’s great
to be here tonight and to see your effort
and innovation in dealing with New Zealand’s
waste. I would like to take this opportunity
to thank the Waste Management Institute
of New Zealand for inviting me to speak
at this conference.
I know that since Labour has been in Government,
previous Ministers for the Environment have
contributed to your conference.
I want to acknowledge all the guests here
this evening, from overseas and around New
Zealand, and particularly the 450 members
who represent a wide range of interests
and responsibilities in the waste management
industry. The work that you do is crucial
to ensuring Aotearoa/New Zealand leads the
way in sustainable initiatives, and I thank
you.
The recent past:
I want to acknowledge the work that has
already been done with regards to Aotearoa/New
Zealand’s goals for Sustainable Development
in recent years.
As colleagues and past predecessors of
Environment have noted, reducing waste and
managing it better has been a key goal of
this Labour-led government.
Our commitment to progressing a Sustainable
Development Strategy in 2002, to a number
of other crucial strategies focusing on
energy efficiency and conservation, the
government has been able to lead the way
in terms of sustainable development.
Former Minister for the Environment Hon
Marian Hobbs said that “Reducing waste and
better management of it would contribute
significantly to enhancing Aotearoa/New
Zealand’s clean green image,” and she believed
at the time, that we are making significant
progress with regards to this process and
we continue that work to this present time.
You well know that the challenge for both
central and local government to reduce waste
and the harm it can cause to people and
the environment will take time, it’s a long
view and the benefits incremental yet substantial
to achieve our broad vision.
There has also been talk of the importance
of public information and education in order
to advance our objective of a Sustainable
Nation and the Prime Minister has lifted
the bar, stretching that vision to a carbon
neutral New Zealand. Our progress in this
area is consistent and increasingly more
comprehensive involving whole-of-government
commitment.
Sustainability Initiatives:
2007 was another big year for waste issues.
In February, the Prime Minister announced
new sustainability priorities for the government
with six new initiatives:
• Waste minimisation and management
• The household sustainability programme
• A carbon neutral public service
• Sustainable government procurement
• Enhanced eco-verification, and
• Business partnerships for sustainability
The first three projects – waste management,
household sustainability, and a carbon neutral
public service – are being led by the Ministry
for the Environment. Waste minimisation
and management work includes progressing
the waste levy, enhancing product stewardship,
and implementing more public recycling facilities.
These initiatives are based on our aspiration
to be the first country that is truly sustainable.
Sustainability should become a core value
and a central part of our national identity
in the 21st century.
The move to a more sustainable New Zealand
is based on two factors. First are the opportunities
emerging from a global market that puts
a higher value on environmental integrity.
Second are the risks arising from the environmental
challenge the world faces today and in the
future.
Waste Minimisation and Management:
The waste minimisation and management initiative
represents a shift from a largely voluntary
approach to one based on stronger central
and local government leadership. One of
the tools to bring about this change is
the Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill. In
September the Government released a Supplementary
Order Paper for the Bill. The paper laid
out the Government’s preferred waste policy.
The Supplementary Order Paper outlines
the framework for a national levy on solid
waste disposal, with revenue divided equally
between local authorities’ activities to
minimise waste and a contestable fund for
waste minimisation projects.
The paper also outlined new legislation
on product stewardship, which provides accreditation
processes and regulatory back-up for industry-led
schemes and sets out a process for ‘priority’
products.
New reporting requirements for operators
and new regulations for other waste-related
data collection and reporting requirements
will allow for better tracking of waste
flows and provide a clearer picture of New
Zealand waste overall.
Another sustainability initiative in the
waste area is the Recycling in Public Places
initiative designed to get New Zealanders
and tourists recycling while out and about.
A network of public recycling facilities
will be available in larger cities and major
tourist destinations reinforcing New Zealand’s
clean, green image and reinforcing the behaviours
that councils have worked so hard to establish
in the home with kerb-side recycling.
The first partner councils to pilot this
initiative will be announced in the coming
days with the first bins destined to be
rolled out before Christmas this year.
Product Stewardship:
The Ministry for the Environment has also
been actively working with industry to develop
and implement product stewardship schemes
across the country.
Three new schemes were unveiled this year
- Resene launched its PaintWise programme
to take back unused paint - AgPac began
its scheme to take back and recycle silage
wrap plastic and an industry-wide programme,
AgRecovery was set up to collect and recycle
used chemical containers on farms.
Many other product stewardship initiatives
continue their successes. Products like
used oil, packaging, cell phones, whiteware,
tyres, and others have been established
or continue their progress.
The Ministry for the Environment is in
discussions with business to create schemes
in the lighting, treated timber, plasterboard
information and communication technology
sectors.
Other work has included work with territorial
authorities to implement WasteTRACK. This
internet-based database consolidates data
to track liquid and hazardous wastes through
its lifecycle. Its use is now a requirement
in 12 territorial authorities for liquid
waste contractors. Another 17 councils are
committed to implementing WasteTRACK in
their area by the end of 2007. The Ministry
is looking to have 75 per cent coverage
of the territorial authorities by April
2008.
Summary:
However, many issues still need to be resolved.
Councils are looking at the best way of
collecting and handling different types
of waste. There is some hard work ahead
to develop and strengthen the country's
recycling infrastructure. Creating lasting
markets to ensure a strong economy that
supports waste minimisation will continue
to challenge and stretch us all. Continued
partnerships between central government,
local government, industry and the community
will be the key factor in meeting these
goals.
We all play a part to maximise opportunities
to work together so that we better to respond
to increasing challenges.
By better managing waste, we make our economy
more efficient and competitive. We save
money, improve the environment and reduce
our greenhouse gas emissions. We improve
the quality of life and wellbeing of our
families, we build our national identity
as clean, green, and environmentally aware,
and we also advance economic transformation.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak
to you this evening. The waste industry
is a significant contributor to making New
Zealand an international leader in sustainability.
It is through your hard work and collaboration
that this momentum continues. I look forward
to seeing the future accomplishments we
can achieve by continuing to work together.
Thank you and enjoy the rest of the conference.
