Our commitment to a green office

The Metropolitan Waste Management Group seeks to be a state leader in the improvement of the environmental sustainability of its operations, planning processes, policy and procedural development. As part of our commitment to creating a green office, MWMG is participating in the ResourceSmart Government Program, which has been tailored to help state government agencies incorporate environmental management into strategic and operational management processes. Through the program, government organisations become state leaders in sustainability.

By participating in both ResourceSmart and its sister WasteWise Program, MWMG has been successful in minimising the environmental impacts arising from waste generation and resource usage, attaining silver certification because of its efficient use of resources.

MWMG has developed an Environmental Policy which guides the organisation's efforts to reduce the environmental impacts arising from waste generation, energy and water consumption, purchasing and transport usage.

Over the past year, the MWMG office has performed extremely well in reducing its environmental impact showing significant improvement in each key reporting area. This was verified through an environmental audit that captured the amount of waste taken to landfill, the generation of recyclables, the impact of transport, energy and water usage as well as the extent of green procurement for office supplies. A snapshot of the 2011 audit is presented below:

• Annual waste generation per full time equivalent employee decreased to 17.68kg per full time employee, a reduction of 48.90%.
• Electricity consumption was reduced by 11%.
• The organisation's fuel usage decreased by 26%.
• Total waste generation reduced by 61.67%
• The recycling rate remained strong at 93%.

Some of the initiatives that were implemented during 2011 to achieve these results included:

• purchasing 100% 'green' electricity
• introducing a new recycling system for soft plastics in addition to exisitng polystyrene, food, cardboard and commingled collections
• replacing an older fleet vechicle with a new hybrid Toyota Camry
• conintuing measures to maximise energy and water efficiency
• adopting a 15% green purchasing target.

MWMG remains committed to exploring new ways to make the organisation’s office an even greener, more environmentally friendly place to work and is excited to be currently implementing a range of new steps.