CASE STUDIES

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INTERFACE CARPETS

• Source Natural Capitalism The Next Industrial
  Revolution
• (Hawken et. al., 1999)

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Interface Carpets

• Interface carpets aims to be the worlds first
  sustainable corporation
• Traditionally, old-fashioned broadloom carpet is
  replaced every decade because it develops worn
  spots, causing major disruption to an office
• Over 5 billion pounds of the carpet now in
  landfills has Interfaces name on it
• Chairman Ray Anderson realised that not throwing
  more energy and money into holes in the ground
  represented a major business opportunity
• Interface launched a transition from selling
  carpet to leasing floor-covering services

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Selling services not products

• Interface owns the carpet and leases it to
  customers
• Interface is responsible for monthly inspections
  and maintenance if required
• Benefits
• Carpet tiles used so only worn parts are replaced
  usually 10-20 of area shows 80-90 of the wear
• Increases net employment (less manufacturing but
  more upkeep)
• Eliminates disruption, since worn tiles are
  seldom under furniture. Because the carpet is
  laid in the form of tiles, glue fumes are also
  significantly reduced or possibly eliminated. The
  customers former capital investment becomes a
  lease expense
• Cost savings to customers

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Creating new products

• Interface has developed a new polymeric material
  to create a new kind of floor-covering service,
  called Solenium, that can be completely
  remanufactured back into itself. All worn
  materials can and will be completely separated
  into their components, fibre and backing, and
  each component remade into an identical fresh
  product.
• Benefits
• production process is simpler
• less wasteful manufacturing upper surface
  produces 99.7 less waste than normal carpet, and
  the other 0.3 gets reused.
• provides better service - highly stain-resistant,
  does not mildew, easily cleaned with water, 35
  less materials-intensive, four times as durable
  (using sevenfold less massflow per unit of
  service) and is acoustically and aesthetically
  improved
• suited to renewable feedstocks
• manufacturing cost substantially reduced and
  margin increased

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Overall benefits of new approach

• Overall reduction in the net flow of materials
  and embodied energy by 97
• If a satisfactory quality of service isnt being
  delivered, the problem can be addressed directly
  and immediately
• Service cost can be fully deducted from taxable
  business income, just like any other normal
  operating expense
• Products value doesnt have to be capitalised,
  as capital cost is entirely off balance sheet and
  onto that of the firm that leases it giving
  manufacturing firm an incentive to minimise
  capital requirements per unit of service flow

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Other points

• Higher performance and competitive advantage did
  not evolve through incremental improvement, but
  rather from a deliberate effort to redesign the
  flooring business from scratch so as to close all
  loops, take nothing away from the earths crust,
  and add nothing harmful to the biosphere
• Future goal all fossil fuel use to be
  ultimately eliminated

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SYDNEY WATER

• Source Sydney Waters website

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Sydney Water

• Manages the water supply and sewage
  infrastructure for the greater Sydney region,
  servicing four million customers in Sydney, the
  Illawarra and the Blue Mountains
• Delivers over 1.6 billion litres of water and
  collects and treats more than 1.3 billion litres
  of wastewater daily
• Is involved in activities such as stormwater
  management and land management
• Has 3,630 staff
• Has an annual capital works program of around
  500 million
• Manages 3 billion of assets, including 10 water
  filtration plants, 30 sewage treatment plants and
  more than 40,000 kilometres of pipes
• Owns 3,155 hectares of land, of which some has
  undisturbed vegetation

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Sydney Water and Sustainability

• Sydney Water committed to sustainable operations
• Develops an annual sustainability report.
  (Towards Sustainability Report 2002 can be
  viewed at http//www.sydneywater.com.au/html/envir
  onment/tsr/tsrpdfs.html
• Has developed a comprehensive educational package
  for employees to build their understanding of
  sustainability and Sydney Water initiatives in
  this regard, including on-line and face-to-face
  components

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Sydney Water and the Environment

• Initiatives
• Programs to reduce water wastage, including
  periodic upgrading of sewage treatment systems
  and other infrastructure
• Program to fix leaks in water system using
  acoustic devices already saving 22 million
  litres per day, estimated will be 50 million
  litres a day when program completed

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Sydney Water and the Environment
(continued)

• Initiatives
• Influencing demand through water pricing.
  Although Sydney has experienced significant and
  steady population growth, water consumption has
  been relatively stable, particularly due to the
  introduction of usage-based pricing which
  provides a direct incentive to conserve water
• Productive wastewater reuse schemes. In one
  project in south-western Sydney, dry weather
  flows are treated and used for agricultural and
  tree-farming activities, reducing nutrient,
  sediment and organic material discharged into the
  sensitive Hawkesbury-Nepean River system.
  Irrigation demands are now starting to outweigh
  availability of treated wastewater

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Sydney Water and the Environment
(continued)

• Initiatives
• Distribution of ceramic mugs to head office staff
  and a cost differential for drinks served in foam
  cups to reduce use of foam cups in the cafeteria
  resulting in a saving of 140,000 cups, and
  11,000, a year
• Program to encourage rainwater tanks in urban
  areas, such as provision of practical information
  such as sizing of tanks and efficient use of
  water. Backflow prevention devices have been
  provided free to customers purchasing tanks since
  June 2002. A model home including a rainwater
  tank has been exhibited at trade shows and home
  display centres, and work with other government
  agencies has been undertaken to simplify policies
  and procedures

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Sydney Water and social issues

• Initiatives
• Provision of flexible work options to maximise
  retention of skilled staff and reduce staff
  absenteeism eg. two long-day childcare centres in
  Sydney providing affordable care for children of
  employees and the community to address low levels
  of female participation in the Sydney Water
  workforce
• A Give as you earn scheme - staff can
  automatically donate money from their pay to
  tax-deductible charities in Australia. Sydney
  Water matches each new and additional donation
  above existing ones dollar for dollar. More than
  31,583 was donated between July and December
  2001, matched by Sydney Water

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Sydney Water and social issues
(continued)

• Initiatives
• A Youth Employment Strategy to address the fact
  that only 4.5 of employees were aged 15-24. This
  strategy includes work experience placements,
  sponsorship, scholarships, graduate and
  undergraduate programs, an apprenticeship program
  and disability traineeships

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Sydney Water and social issues
(continued)

• Initiatives
• A performance management system to foster staff
  development by increasing employee knowledge,
  skills and experience and e-learning and
  leadership training for senior managers
• A program to improve the health and safety
  culture through a range of programs for employees
  and selected topics. Training includes manual
  handling, construction training, ergonomics and
  risk management. The Be Safe, Mate program
  encourages employees to take responsibility not
  only for their own personal safety but also that
  of their colleagues

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Sydney Water and social issues
(continued)

• Sydney Water engages the community in projects
  such as the rehabilitation of Smalls Creek, which
  eventually leads to the Hawkesbury River. The
  creek has Aboriginal sites, a remnant vegetation
  community and several endangered species of
  flora. The local community participated in early
  planning workshops to identify and prioritise
  issues, and later in five full-day working bees
  to remove weeds and undertake bush regeneration
  and revegetation. The community are now taking an
  active role in the management of this area
• Sydney Water runs a Speakers Program where staff
  present about Sydney Waters activities and water
  conservation initiatives to interested community
  groups

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Insurance Australia Group (IAG)

• Source Corporate Sustainability an Investor
  Perspective. The Mays Report (Mays, 2003)

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Sustainability and the insurance industry

• The insurance industry has an affinity for
  sustainability because a range of environmental,
  social and economic factors influence its core
  business challenge of calculating risk and
  setting appropriate premiums. They also influence
  its core purpose of helping people to manage and
  reduce risk
• Weather-related risks, influenced by climate
  change, are major drivers of claims costs for the
  insurance industry in big-ticket areas like home
  and motor cover
• Natural disasters like hailstorms, floods,
  cyclones and bushfires represent a major driver
  of losses both insured and non-insured for
  the community and the economy. An inability to
  underwrite such risks would not only have
  ramifications for individual insurance companies,
  but global economies

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IAG Hazard table
Source Mills et al, (2001) page 72, prepared
for IAG
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Insurance in Australia

• Australia has enormous potential to suffer from
  impending climate change. More than 80 of its
  population resides within 50 km of the coast with
  increasing concentrations in regions already
  vulnerable to weather hazards (CSIRO, 2002)
• In addition, 1,500 billion of Australias wealth
  is locked up in homes, commercial buildings,
  ports and other physical assets (ABS, 2002). This
  is equivalent to nine times the current national
  budget or twice our gross domestic product
• The insurance industry currently underwrites the
  risk to the bulk of these assets from weather
  events but climate change threatens its ability
  to do so as effectively in the future

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IAG

• Insurance Australia Group (IAG) is Australias
  leading general insurer
• IAG provides personal, compulsory third party
  (CTP) and commercial insurances as well as
  retirement solutions in Australia and New
  Zealand. The Group comprises a number of brands,
  including NRMA insurance, SGIO and CGU Insurance
• IAG serves a significant portion of the
  Australian and New Zealand market with about 11
  million policies in place

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IAG
(continued)

• IAG has taken the first steps to incorporate
  sustainability into its business model
• At the organisational level, IAG has implemented
  staff development programs and increased
  eco-efficiencies
• At the product level, it has assessed how to
  incorporate sustainability principles into
  products
• IAG is further enhancing brand and reputation
  through participating in community programs and
  focusing on its corporate climate change position
  and research

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IAG
(continued)

• A key business objective is to reduce the size,
  frequency and ultimate cost of claims
• Being more proactive in areas such as preventing
  workplace accidents, mitigating against climate
  change and promoting safer communities can
  translate directly into a lower claims burden
• As an insurance group, our business is to pay
  claims. But to fulfil this role we must stand for
  more. We need to be able to help our customers
  and the community beyond just paying claims. To
  do this, we need to share our experience and
  knowledge with the community to help manage and
  reduce risks. We also need to build a culture
  which allows our people to develop and work to
  the best of their abilities. We must ensure that
  our business is sustainable and can deliver
  ongoing value to our shareholders an IAG
  perspective

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Priority Areas

• Three priority areas that align IAGs business
  interests with societal interests
• safety pursuing a strong safety culture within
  IAGs own workplace to anchor its role as
  Australias leading provider of workers
  compensation services
• environment improving environmental performance
  starting with the in-house basics such as
  recycling, energy efficiency, less paper use and
  reduced travel, but extending to the entire value
  chain through supplier and customer relationships
• community supporting communities in an effort
  to reduce risk, including being safer and
  cleaner, thus reducing the potential for claims

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Potential benefits of initiatives

• These initiatives
• support premium pricing (through enhancing brand
  and reputation) and growth through increasing
  volumes and improving product mix
• reduce claim frequency and size, and cost of
  claims processing
• improve employee culture and therefore
  productivity as well as the ability to recruit
  and retain the best people
• decrease operating expenses e.g. lowerenergy
  costs, reduced workers compensation costs

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Practical examples

• IAG has become a signatory to the United Nations
  Environment Programmes Finance Initiative (UNEP
  FI), which requires incorporation of
  environmental considerations into day-to-day
  activities
• IAG conducted extensive research into its
  sustainability baseline including workplace
  safety and environmental performance
• IAG developed and implemented corporate safety
  and environmental targets that focus on reducing
  injuries and accidents, and also cutting its
  paper, fuel and energy use, and minimising carbon
  dioxide (CO2) emissions. For the 2003/04
  financial year targets included reductions of
• energy and paper consumption by 15
• fuel (tool-of-trade cars) and air travel
  kilometres by 5
• carbon dioxide emissions by 15

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Practical examples

• Customer and consumer-focussed initiatives
  include the web-based Green Safe Car Profiler, a
  user-friendly tool on the Internet that allows
  easy comparison of new vehicle models in terms of
  their safety and environment attributes including
  fuel efficiency
• Other current initiatives include working with a
  network of Preferred Smash Repairers to improve
  their overall business performance, including
  environment and OHS occupational health
  safety modules, with the ultimate combined
  benefit of improved service to IAGs customers,
  better outcomes for the wider community and
  business gains as well
• IAG also has begun to sustainability road-test
  a number of initiatives and ideas by engaging a
  broad range of external stakeholders from
  business, government and civil society, including
  organisations covering environment, consumer
  advocacy, social welfare and other fields that
  attract significant community support

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Going forwards...

• Reducing the extent of possible climate change
  through policy strategies and innovative product
  offerings, e.g. products or policies that aim to
  reduce car emissions by offering cheaper
  insurance premiums for lower usage and support
  for the public transport system. Benefits
  include
• improved air quality
• decreased road congestion (which would reduce
  aggressive driving, a factor that is responsible
  for half of all accidents in the USA)

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Going forwards...
(continued)

• Assess differentiating factors, such as
  relationship between distances travelled in an
  insured vehicle and average number and severity
  of claims, to allow insurers to factor the extent
  of vehicle usage (with environmental
  consequences) into insurance premiums. Benefits
  include
• better costing of premiums
• encouragement for people to use public transport,
  with a reduced contribution to global warming and
  lessened long-term variability of climate change

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Going forwards...
(continued)

• For the same reason, IAG are also considering the
  possibility of factoring the fuel efficiency of
  vehicles into premium calculations. Likewise
  eco-efficient housing lessens the impact of
  climate change. Better urban design has the
  benefits of
• lower theft and burglary rates
• reduced vehicle usage lower accident rates
• lower greenhouse emissions

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IAG and climate change

• Weather and climate are core business for the
  insurance industry. At its most basic, insurers
  underwrite weather-related catastrophes by
  calculating, pricing and spreading the risk and
  then meeting claims when they arise. A changing,
  less predictable climate has the potential to
  reduce its capacity to calculate, to price and to
  spread this weather related risk
• IAG believes that climate change is a real threat
  based on the assessment of the science presented
  by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
  its own scientific modelling work and
  re-insurance sector research

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IAG and climate change
(continued)

• Currently IAG is developing a climate strategy
  which includes
• investing in world-leading research to learn more
  about the problem and its expected impact, using
  international experts to look at specific
  Australian scenarios such as Sydneys hailstorms
  and northern Australias cyclones
• considering possible adaptation strategies to
  minimise vulnerability, for example comparing the
  merits of rival roofing and other building
  materials
• exploring and adopting strategies that minimise
  IAGs and its customers contribution to climate
  change through innovative products and processes,
  and new business models that contribute towards
  reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and
• establishing a clear public advocacy positioning
  and a call to action to business, governments and
  community groups to work together to find
  sustainable solutions to the challenges

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Assessing business value creation

• Business value created as a result of
  sustainability initiatives should be rigorously
  measured and financially evaluated wherever
  possible
• As well as providing accountability and
  incentive, this will allow the company to
  understand the long-term connections between its
  sustainability-related initiatives and business
  opportunity and growth

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Cairns Crocodile Farm and Mulgrave Central Mill

• Source Queensland Environment Protection Agency
  website

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Cairns Crocodile Farm and Mulgrave Central Mill

• Symbiotic relationship between Cairns Crocodile
  Farm and Mulgrave Central Mill illustrates how
  one businesss sustainability problems can be
  anothers solution
• Demonstrates how businesses working together can
  create solutions that have both environmental and
  economic benefits
• Cairns Crocodile Farm has specialised in
  crocodile meat and leather products for the
  export market over the last 12 years, and has
  some 15,000 crocodiles
• Ability to expand limited by the need to provide
  more warm water for crocodile ponds during colder
  winter months. Warm water during winter increases
  the appetite and growth rates of crocodiles,
  significantly increasing farm production rates
  and profits

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Cairns Crocodile Farm and Mulgrave Central Mill
(continued)

• Rather than the conventional solution of
  investing in a new boiler, the owners asked to
  use the warm water produced by the sugar mill ten
  kilometres away
• This was beneficial to the Mill as they
  previously had to pump water around a large
  cooling tower before discharging into the
  Mulgrave River, where there is a risk of thermal
  pollution. The Mill also receive an additional
  source of income from payment to supply the
  water, in addition to energy cost savings

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Cairns Crocodile Farm and Mulgrave Central Mill
(continued)

• The water is now pumped to the crocodile farm and
  cools naturally as it runs through the crocodile
  ponds and then almost 6 kilometres through the
  farms wetland treatment system prior to
  discharge into an estuarine system
• A third party has benefited from this arrangement
  as with the increase of the crocodiles
  appetites, there has been a 30 increase in
  demand for poultry by-products from the local
  abattoir, Bartter Enterprises Pty Ltd, which has
  significantly reduced their waste load

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Benefits

• In the first month of piping in warm water from
  the Mill, the benefits far surpassed the farms
  expectations. The crocodiles required more feed
  than ever before, indicating a rapid growth rate
• Economic, environmental and social benefits of
  the project have included
• estimated direct reduction of approximately 1,500
  tonnes of CO2 emissions annually from Cairns
  Crocodile Farm by reducing the need to use the
  boiler
• reduction of bore water usage by six million
  litres each week at the Cairns Crocodile Farm
• reduction in poultry abattoir waste by 260,000 kg
  annually
• creation of 13-16 new jobs over the next three
  years in these industries and in the indigenous
  community, who collect crocodile eggs for the farm

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ING Headquarters

• Source Green Development Integrating Ecology
  and Real Estate (Wilson et. al., 1998) and
  Natural Capitalism The Next Industrial
  Revolution (Hawken et. al, 1999)

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ING Headquarters

• The International Netherlands Group (ING) bank
  headquarters in Amsterdam demonstrates the
  possibilities of good design
• When the bank outgrew its original headquarters,
  the board of directors decided to create a new
  image for the bank
• Their vision for the building it would be
  organic, would integrate art, natural
  materials, sunlight, green plants, energy
  conservation, low noise, and water

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ING Headquarters
(continued)

• This vision was refined to also require that it
  must use the latest technology, had to be
  flexible, and had to be energy efficient. Perhaps
  most importantly, the bank was not to cost one
  guilder more than a conventional building
• The design of the building involved a
  multi-disciplinary team with close collaboration
  and took three years because all participants in
  the project, including employees, were involved
  at all stages
• The site was chosen by workers because of its
  proximity to their homes

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ING Headquarters
(continued)

• Completed in 1987, the resultant 540,000 square
  foot building, which is a series of
  interconnected towers, is one of the worlds
  leading examples of how buildings should be built
• The building
• uses less than a tenth the energy of its
  predecessor and a fifth that of a conventional
  new office building in Amsterdam, with annual
  energy savings of approximately US2.9 million
  (1996 dollars)
• uses passive cooling with backup absorption
  chillers and uses no air conditioning, something
  extremely unusual for a building of its size
• is filled with natural light, artworks,
  curvilinear forms and flowing water. Indoor and
  outdoor gardens are fed by rainwater captured
  from the banks roof

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ING Headquarters
(continued)

• Employee absenteeism has dropped by 15 percent,
  productivity is up, and workers even hold
  numerous evening and weekend cultural and social
  events there
• The bank has been elevated from fourth to second
  place amongst Dutch banks - uncertain how much
  this is the result of the new building and
  subsequent public image/corporate culture changes

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PERTH CITY FARM

• Source The Western Australian Department of the
  Premier and Cabinet Sustainability Policy Unit
  website

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Perth City Farm

• City Farm is a youth project run under the
  auspices of Men of the Trees (WA)
• With limited resources, this not-for-profit
  organisation is involved in a wide range of
  sustainability issues relating to healthy urban
  communities and environments, including community
  development, land reclamation, organic food
  production and waste management
• On a one-hectare block, fifteen minutes from
  Perth CBD, City Farm has transformed a derelict
  scrap metal yard (that had originally been slated
  to be a car park) into a thriving community
  garden, implementing permaculture principles and
  growing organic food
• The garden includes a nursery, vegetable patches,
  fruit trees, native flora and poultry
• City Farm also hosts an artists workshop

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Perth City Farm
(continued)

• City Farms primary emphasis is on community
  development
• City Farms structure and operation is organic
  and egalitarian, with volunteers and coordinators
  taking responsibility for day-to-day tasks. It
  has a democratic approach to decision-making,
  with all volunteers having input to management
  issues and freedom to organise new activities and
  projects that they take responsibility for
• The City Farm site was originally contaminated
  with hydrocarbons and heavy metals, and the
  buildings had asbestos roofs. Removal of
  contaminated soil was undertaken

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Community Services

• Many community groups use City Farm as a space to
  meet and work, as it provides resources (both
  human and material), courses, workshops and
  venues for community groups at a low cost
• City Farm promotes many community arts projects,
  providing local artists with workshop space and
  organising exhibitions. Art surrounds the
  grounds, from funky signage, to the sculptures
  and painted logs. City Farm is a keen advocate of
  functional art. For example, its old can-crusher
  has been transformed into a work of art using
  recycled materials

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Community Services
(continued)

• City Farm has been an active music venue that has
  fostered many local musicians over the years. It
  is home to the Sambanistas, Perth's biggest
  community arts and percussion group
• City Farm promotes organic food through their
  community lunches and dinners. Every Thursday,
  City Farm cooks an organic vegetarian buffet
  lunch that is open to the public

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Community Services
(continued)

• Education has always been a primary objective at
  City Farm, providing a link between urban and
  rural regions. It runs permaculture design
  courses, tours of the farm for schools covering
  worm farming, composting and plant propagation,
  and recycling workshops for primary school
  students
• City Farm frequently runs information and
  workshops at festivals throughout the Perth
  metropolitan region. These stalls often feature
  compost and paper-making demonstrations

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Community Services
(continued)

• City Farm provides information on community
  groups, up-coming events, environmental projects
  and campaigns, and provides advice on recycling
• There is literature on hand for visitors
  (including their own publications), as well as
  having experienced staff to provide advice
• Offsite, City Farm provides people with the
  opportunity to get involved in a number of
  landcare programs around the State

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Community Services
(continued)

• From its inception, City Farm has regarded itself
  as a place where people could gain
  work-experience in a variety of areas. Many of
  its volunteers have gone on to paid employment
• Government funded projects have included
  Landcare and Environmental Action Program
  (LEAP), TAFE courses, 'Work-for-the-Dole'
  program, Community Service programs for the
  Justice Department and provision of volunteer
  opportunities for the mentally disabled with the
  Department of Mental Health Services
• City Farm is working with ATSIC and a number of
  other Aboriginal organisations and government
  departments in setting up a 'Safe Place' on the
  City Farm site. Such a space would provide
  travellers without accommodation a safe place to
  at least make a fire and possibly have access to
  an ablution block

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Recycling

• City Farm practices and teaches a range of
  recycling and reuse techniques that put old
  materials into productive use - to some extent
  this is necessitated by limited funds
• Recycling techniques are incorporated into school
  workshops
• City Farm recycles organic and inorganic waste
  material. Organic waste is transformed into
  valuable organic matter through composting and
  worm farming. Since 1994, approximately 4,000m3
  of tree mulch, 1,500m3 of lawn clippings and 20
  tonnes of newspaper has gone into City Farm's
  gardens

54
Recycling
(continued)

• Inorganic waste is reused in its offices and in
  arts projects. So far, 20 tonnes of recycled
  metal and 200 tonnes of discarded timber have
  been used on site
• From the TAFE and surrounding offices, waste
  paper is brought to the site for recycling
• Recycling and reuse is evident in City Farm's
  furniture, landscaping and artwork
• Bicycle recycling reduces waste and provides
  cheap and clean transport

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Bush regeneration

• City Farm works with its parent body, Men of the
  Trees to facilitate a range of tree-planting
  programs
• As a salinity abatement strategy, Men of the
  Trees have conducted hundreds of tree planting
  programs, many of which have involved school
  children
• City Farm's longest running tree-planting project
  (since 1990) is on the remote Aboriginal reserve
  of Pia, about 720km north-north-east of Perth.
  Pia is in the heartland of the Wadjarri people's
  lands, and is entirely managed by local Wadjarri
  people. There is an annual visit to the site to
  work on permaculture gardening, as well as art
  and music activities

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Future Threats

• Ongoing challenges of economic viability, given
  there is no direct government funding and a heavy
  reliance on volunteers
• Secure land tenure - City Farm has operated on
  temporary leases since its inception, which has
  severely inhibited its ability to grow and
  restore its deteriorating infrastructure
• Lack of legislative or policy support for urban
  farms

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SUNDANCE FARMS

• Source Factor 4 Doubling Wealth Halving
  Resource Use.
• The New Report to the Club of Rome (von
  Weizsäcker et. al. 1997)

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Sundance Farms

• Agriculture is commonly discussed as a major
  cause of many serious environmental problems
  including soil erosion, overuse of water
  resources, deterioration of water quality in
  rivers and creeks, loss of biodiversity and in
  many parts of the world, salinity
• However, a number of farmers are demonstrating
  that land can be farmed productively whilst
  protecting its environmental values

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Sundance Farms
(continued)

• Sundance Farms in Arizona is an 830 hectare
  irrigated farm which grows crops including
  cotton, wheat, barley, milo, maize, seedless
  watermelons, rockmelons and sweet corn
• The arid conditions in Arizona are similar to
  those experienced in many areas of Australia
• Even in well-managed irrigated farms, only 40-60
  of water applied to a field will be taken up by
  crops (for many farms this figures is closer to
  20), with the rest lost to surface runoff, deep
  percolation or sprinkler wind spray

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Sundance Farms
(continued)

• Sundance Farms changed from furrow and flood
  irrigation to subsurface drip irrigation in 1980.
  The drip lines, buried 20-25 cm deep, emit small
  amounts of water right in the plant root zone.
  The soil surface usually stays dry, reducing
  surface evaporation, and the root zone is never
  saturated, reducing runoff and deep percolation.
  The few per cent of water lost is mostly
  accounted for by the occasional backflushing of
  the drip lines
• The drip lines, made to last and buried below the
  depth disturbed by any agricultural equipment,
  were dear to install, but the cumulative
  reductions in inputs and increases in
  productivity made the investment very
  cost-effective

61
Benefits
(continued)

• Water-use efficiencies increased from roughly 60
  to over 95, a factor of 1.6 improvement
• Reduced tillage operations, replacing ploughing,
  floating, land planing and listing with simple
  shallow surface tillage also reduced tillage
  energy use by 50
• Simplified tillage allowed quicker postharvest
  turnaround of fields, permitting two crops to be
  harvested in some years

62
Benefits
(continued)

• Because the drip lines cut water losses, less of
  the applied herbicides and fertilisers left the
  fields. Herbicide applications were reduced by
  50 and nitrogen fertiliser use by 25-50
• Less water had to be pumped from deep well
  turbines, thereby reducing pumping energy use by
  50
• Crop yields increased by 15-50

63
Sundance Farms - keys to success

• A variety of factors probably contributed to the
  many observed benefits
• greater uniformity of water application
• greater effectiveness of systemic insecticides
  now delivered through the drip lines directly to
  the plant roots
• better management of yield-reducing salts that
  often accumulate in surface-irrigated fields
• higher yields with less water meant a reduction
  in water use by a factor of 1.8 to 2.4 in a hot
  and unforgiving desert where rising water costs
  had already wrung out the most obvious savings

64
NIKE

• Sources Good News for a Change Hope for a
  Troubled Planet (Suzuki and Dressel, 2002) and
  The Natural Step website

65
Nike

• Nike isnt always widely held up as an example of
  a sustainability-focussed organisation,
  particularly in light of revelations in recent
  years of sweatshop labour that has been used to
  manufacture some of their products
• However, in 1998 the organisation adopted The
  Natural Steps principles and has adopted
  sustainability as a company-wide priority

66
Sustainability initiatives

• In 2003, there were 65 pilot projects and
  initiatives that focused on sustainable product
  design and operational efficiencies. Some of
  these activities include
• measuring the companys global footprint by
  examining the supply chain, from packaging to
  transportation, as a step toward creating
  sustainability benchmarks, tracking results and
  reducing harmful impacts worldwide

67
Sustainability initiatives
(continued)

• attempting to replace inorganic solvents with
  water-based adhesives, cleaners and primers.
  Water-based cements in 90 of its shoes have
  helped the company save over 1.6 million gallons
  of solvents a year the equivalent of more than
  32,000 barrels of oil. They have also been
  working on removing carcinogenic phthalates out
  of inks. Nike advertised in conjunction with
  Greenpeace it would be phasing out the use of
  PVCs
• making shoeboxes 10 lighter, saving 4,000 tons
  of raw materials and US1.6 million annually
• attempting to make a totally recyclable shoe,
  with uppers and lowers that can be easily
  separated and recycled into other products
  everything from more shoes to basketball court
  pads and volleyballs

68
Sustainability initiatives
(continued)

• adopting the use of organic cotton. Although only
  3 of cotton used in their products is now
  organic, the sheer volume of throughput still
  means that this is providing the organic cotton
  industry with enormous support
• creating 17 sustainability-oriented positions in
  the United States and Asia
• developing a commuting program to encourage Nike
  employees in the United States to take public
  transit, bike and carpool. This has resulted in
  14,137 gallons of gas saved and 11,310 pounds of
  pollution prevented in 2000

69
Nike

• Nike has the following three sustainability
  goals
• Eliminate the concept of waste in product design,
  use of materials, energy, and any other resources
  that cannot be readily recycled or reabsorbed
  back into nature
• Eliminate all substances that are known or
  suspected to be harmful
• Close the loop and take full responsibility for
  products at all stages of their development

70
COLLINS PINE

• Source Good News for a Change Hope for a
  Troubled Planet (Suzuki and Dressel, 2002)

71
Collins Pine

• Leads the way in sustainable practice for the
  forestry industry
• Own what has been called the finest privately
  owned industrial forest in the US
• Their practices have been praised by everyone
  from the Rainforest Action Network and the Sierra
  Club to the Washington Post and the Christian
  Science Monitor
• Employs 7,500 people directly, and grosses about
  US250 million (US) a year in plywood, hardwood
  and softwood lumber, oil and gas
• Business started in 1855 by the present owners
  grandfather-in-law
• The family have funded everything from libraries
  and scholarships to church construction and
  foreign aid programs

72
Collins Pine
(continued)

• The company has formally pledged to do three
  things
• maintain the health of the forest ecosystem
• support the production of wood on a sustained,
  renewable basis
• provide social and economic benefits to the
  surrounding areas and communities
• Collins Pine makes smaller profits than its
  publicly traded competitors simply because its
  owners arent greedy
• Their more long-term methods mean they lose 25
  profit, or hundreds of thousands of dollars,
  compared to competitors. For example, by using
  natural tree regeneration, the forest matures at
  a more normal rate than the usual, even-age tree
  farm monoculture management

73
Collins Pine
(continued)

• Ironically, because Collins Pine forests are more
  ecologically rich, they are more impacted by
  government regulators, e.g. more stringent
  regulations to protect the fish and game species
  theyve managed to bring back
• In another example, the US Forest Service cuts
  firebreaks just inside their property line,
  because a well-managed, mature forest tends to
  stop burns. Clear-cutting neighbours in the
  watershed are allowed to overcut, while Collins
  Pine is then not allowed to take more in the
  state-allowable cut

74
Collins Pine
(continued)

• Collins Pine at Alameda forest was asked if they
  had any of the rare great grey owl feeding at
  their meadows, which then required a 600-foot
  wide strip of trees to be left around all
  meadows. In spite of the imposition, they said
  yes, not because they had ever seen the owl, but
  because the habitat was appropriate and the owl
  could return
• Despite lower profits and stiffer regulations,
  the Collins family takes low enough profits that
  they can provide decent wages for all their
  employees
• Staff are proud they can protect the forests and
  their long-term livelihood
• Many staff have waited years for an employment
  opportunity to arise at Collins Pine

75
Collins Pine
(continued)

• The company also decided to certify its wood,
  whereby an outside agency is invited to determine
  if a companys practices are truly sustainable,
  so that the lumber can become certified,, that
  is, bear a consumer label stating that it is cut
  within the renewable limits of that forest
• Despite initial reluctance from many employees
  about potential loss of control, interference and
  more paperwork, the outcomes have been
  inspiration for higher achievement and a
  revitalisation of practices
• This process also initiated positive dialogue
  with environmental organisations such as
  Greenpeace

76
GRANNY SMITH GOLD MINE

• Source The Western Australian Department of the
  Premier and Cabinet Sustainability Policy Unit
  website

77
Granny Smith Gold Mine

• The Granny Smith Gold mine is a joint venture
  between Delta Gold and Placer Dome, located
  approximately 25 km south-southwest of the
  township of Laverton, surrounded by a number of
  other mines, in the north-eastern goldfields
  region of Western Australia
• Laverton has a population of about 500 people, a
  substantial proportion of whom are Wongutha, the
  traditional custodians of the surrounding country
• The processing plant has been producing gold from
  ore since 1990. Originally envisaged to have a 10
  year lifespan, the discovery of additional gold
  deposits in 1998 will see another 20 or more
  years, providing both the company and the
  community time to find ways to diversify local
  industry with a goal of a longer term sustainable
  future

78
Granny Smith and sustainability

• The Granny Smith mining venture has developed and
  introduced a unique blend of sustainability
  practices and is taking more holistic approaches
  to mining activities
• Granny Smith Gold Mine aims to encourage
  beneficial environmental, economic and social
  outcomes, to relations in both the immediate
  vicinity of the mine site and with the local
  community of Laverton
• By recognising the importance of sustainability,
  Granny Smith's gold operations have introduced a
  philosophy that recognizes economic potential as
  only one of a host of values, such as social
  justice and conservation, which can be nurtured
  in concert with traditional business goals

79
Environmental sustainability

• Revegetation has been planned and designed for
  both operations and closures. As progressive
  decommissioning of sites occurs over the life of
  the operation, revegetation follows in phases
• The revegetation strategy includes final
  terraforming of disturbed land, planting schemes
  for tailings areas and general rehabilitation of
  the Granny Smith location
• The seed, save and sow method is used, where
  original plants at dig sites are de-seeded for
  propagation and later replanting/reseeding to
  ensure the integrity of local ecosystems is
  retained
• With a goal of diversification of the local
  economy, an experimental crop of 200 olive trees
  has also been planted and is growing well

80
Environmental sustainability
(continued)

• Granny Smith has a worm farm for recycling of all
  cardboard, paper and food scraps on the mine
  site, thus providing fertility for the olive
  trees while solving a waste management issue
• The "Ruggies" recycling program initiated in 1997
  to reduce material disposed to landfill. Several
  mines have since joined the program and thousands
  of tonnes of waste have been recycled. The
  program has also succeeded in cleaning up mine
  sites.
• Material recycled includes steel from mill balls,
  copper from cables and aluminium from drink cans

81
Environmental sustainability
(continued)

• Transport contractors that once returned from
  minesites to Perth empty are now taking saleable
  cargoes back with them
• Money raised benefits children's hospital and
  charities
• All people work voluntarily for the Ruggies
  Recycling initiative

82
Social and cultural sustainability
(continued)

• The social impacts associated with having a large
  mining operation on the edge of a remote
  community are being considered
• For most of the past century there have been few
  significant attempts to cultivate positive
  relations with local indigenous people
• Historically the gold mining industry has been
  weak with respect to employment of aboriginal
  people
• Granny Smith has made efforts to increase local
  employment opportunities for the indigenous
  people, in both the town and on the mine site
• Various mine training programs such as the
  Aboriginal Mine Training Program and the Adult
  Certificate of General Education open new career
  opportunities

83
Social and cultural sustainability
(continued)

• Cultural initiatives that seek to encourage and
  support opportunities for local artists to
  display and sell their work have also become a
  normal part of the mine's development strategy
• It was determined that local arts and crafts such
  as weaving, painting, pottery, wooden artefacts
  and carvings in the form of traditional 'tools of
  the trade', such as shields and boomerangs, would
  benefit from the construction of a small tourist
  outlet to facilitate greater sales

84
Economic sustainability

• The mine is working with the community on
  developing the local economy, so that when the
  mine eventually closes, the community has
  alternative means of generating income.
  Harnessing previously undeveloped local potential
  is essential to providing a truly sustainable
  vision for the area
• With this in mind the potential for olive
  farming, tourism, and crafts sales are being
  investigated to diversify the local economy

85
Summary

• This is an example of effective liaising between
  two communities. One, a mining camp with a fly
  in-fly out population, and the other, a small
  town-site in an isolated corner of Australia's
  outback, where people historically received
  relatively little benefit from large mining
  developments
• The efforts made between the two demonstrate the
  global community possibilities for successful
  outcomes through incorporating sustainability
  into mining operations

86
Sustainability characteristics

• Ingenuity, resourcefulness and creativity in
  regards to rehabilitation approaches
• Genuine approaches taken towards the building and
  maintaining of positive relations - both
  employees and the wider community
• Contributing to the quality of life of local
  community - respecting cultural and social needs
• Wider social contribution also - in the form of
  the Ruggies Recycling Program and its
  contribution to Princess Margaret Hospital

87
Sustainability characteristics
(continued)

• Successful communications with government and
  non-government agencies, and grass-roots
  community members
• Positive approach to long-term issues considered
  too hard by previous generations
• Sustainability reporting - transparency and
  openness in communicating progress towards
  sustainability

88
BLACKMORES

• Source the former NSW Environment Protection
  Authority website

89
Blackmores

• Blackmores provides natural health products and
  services, selling vitamins, minerals, herbs and
  nutrients
• Started out as family business more than 60 years
  ago but publicly listed in 1985
• Employs some 240 people in Australia, and also
  operates in New Zealand and South East Asia
• Sustainability initiatives stem from the company
  founder, Maurice Blackmore, who firmly believed
  that human health depends on a healthy
  environment and that this connection should be
  reflected in his companys business principles.
  This has been a long-standing approach

90
Environmental initiatives

• Reducing trade waste discharge - by planning of
  operations, and installing a new pump. Liquid
  waste is treated by a specialist contractor
• Recycling incoming packaging - waste plastic is
  compressed and sold to recyclers, cartons are
  reused three times before being sent to recyclers
• Blackmores is a signatory to the new National
  Packaging Covenant
• Separating recyclable and organic waste from
  staff canteen waste sent to landfill. An on-site
  worm farm deals with a percentage of organic
  waste each day
• Reusing products - products below specification
  and returned products are used as additives to
  fertiliser

91
Environmental initiatives
(continued)

• Reducing energy use - through participation in
  the Energy Smart Business Program run by the
  former NSW Sustainable Energy Development
  Authority
• The company has set up a formal energy team and
  introduced several measures to cut its
  consumption of electricity
• the building has been insulated
• low-wattage fluorescent tubes have been installed
• airconditioning is controlled by time switches
• lights are turned off when not in use
• The company has also installed a solar generator
  on the roof and feeds electricity back to the
  grid. It has increased its use of green power
  from 5 to 25 in one year

92
Social initiatives

• Contributing to community projects and local
  environmental projects. For example, for several
  years in a joint partnership with Oz Green
  (Global Rivers Environmental Education Network),
  and the Manly Environment Centre, Blackmores
  contributed to a program encouraging children and
  businesses to care for local waterways. The first
  project set out to clean up Manly Lagoon by
  monitoring pollution and encouraging local
  industries to minimise their impact on the Manly
  catchment

93
Social initiatives
(continued)

• Raising staff awareness - by establishing
  environmental goals for the office, factory,
  kitchen, whole corporation and company future to
  encourage staff to make a conscious and ongoing
  effort towards improving environmental
  performance
• Training for new staff includes pollution control
  and environmental awareness

94
Outcomes

• Reduced waste sent to landfill
• Reduced energy consumption
• Blackmores received a silver award at the Energy
  Smart Green Globe Awards in March 2000,
  acknowledging its energy efficient practices and
  the successful completion of 50 of targeted
  projects agreed to with the former NSW
  Sustainable Energy Development Authority
• In October 2001 the company attained gold award
  standard
• Blackmores does not have specific information
  about costs and savings as cleaner production
  ideals have been part of the company ethos since
  conception

95
SEC Plating

• Source Sydney Water website

96
SEC Plating

• In 1998 SEC Plating Company was using 300,000
  litres of water per day, making them one of the
  top 20 water consumers among trade waste
  customers in Sydney
• The company also constantly battled to meet trade
  waste (aqueous liquid waste) quality standards
• Poor waste management was identified as one of
  the key underlying causes
• The company developed an effluent improvement
  program to reduce pollutants entering the waste
  stream from the source, reduce the volume of
  water used, isolate waste streams containing
  substances prohibited under Sydney Water's Trade
  Waste Policy, and implement water recycling

97
Managing trade waste

• Some issues became more manageable through
  employee education and better housekeeping
  addressing relatively simple issues such as
  preventing tanks overflowing, improving chemical
  handling to reduce and manage spills, and
  changing work practices
• Determining the acceptability of wastewater
  streams for Sydney Waters sewerage system
  required a thorough analysis program, testing for
  compatibility with other wastewater streams, and
  investigating treatment suitability in the
  company's own effluent treatment equipment

98
Managing trade waste
(continued)

• Some waste streams were able to be batch treated
  onsite, while others required transport for
  offsite management
• Water recycling trials have indicated scope for
  recycling
• Average daily mass emissions have decreased
  substantially

99
Long-term average daily mass trade waste load for
SEC Plating Company, 2000/01 and
2001/02(Source Sydney Water) Sulfate load is
x1000
100
Outcomes

• Other benefits
• cost savings, with a 60 reduction in trade waste
  costs There have been overall savings of
  thousands of dollars per annum, from reduced
  quarterly agreement fees, reduced laboratory
  analysis costs, and reduced water and sewerage
  costs
• water consumption has been reduced from 300,000
  to 100,000 litres per day
• SEC Plating Company intends to maintain this
  focus on environmental improvement and cost
  saving and has set clear targets for its water
  management program, including 70 recycling of
  wastewater