Australian Paper

IF Day is a national safety awareness campaign that promotes the importance of injury prevention in the workplace, home and community.  It links businesses, schools and the general community in a day of action dedicated to safety, and through the KIDS Foundation, creates a lifelong learning approach to safety so that as children transition from school to work, they are already strong advocates of safety in the workplace and their local communities.

Today Australian Paper Maryvale celebrates IF Day throughout the manufacturing operations by promoting “keep yourself and your work mates safe by following safe working procedures”. 

What are others doing?

Congratulations to the Maryvale Mill for their IF Day award winning online video entry. Check it out 

http://www.ifday.com.au/auspaper.html

Follow these links to learn more about IF Day.

www.ifday.com.au

http://www.ifday.com.au/what_is_ifday.html

Years ago – well before sustainability was becoming an important corporate and design yardstick, we began to have two bins under the desk- one for general rubbish and one for paper. This two bin system was the beginning of sustainable management for many. ‘Wasting paper’ became as much a phrase as ‘wasting water’.

Today, the way we produce paper has changed for the better and a literal forest of green logo’s and certifications abound. One product that was first to package those most important is Dalton’s ENVI range. Manufactured under the ISO 14001 standard, sourced from sustainably managed forests, utilising renewable energy and certified carbon neutral, it has established itself as one of the most sustainable paper options in Australia. As you begin to understand the complexity of sustainability reporting, the ENVI range can become both a tool for communicating your commitment to a more sustainable future, and to compass what aspects determine your impact as a business.

As a design based business, it can perhaps seem a difficult task to understand how your choices are affecting your environmental impact. As a certified carbon neutral paper range, ENVI will actually reduce your company’s carbon footprint, and help you understand how it achieves this. When you specify the ENVI range, the carbon footprint of the paper can be measured by Dalton and provided to you in period reports, or on a job-by-job basis. Providing you and your client’s with valuable information that can feed into your sustainability reporting, and in turn, core management principles.

Rohan Dean, strategic sourcing manager for Dalton, notes that further to its environmental credentials, “being Australian made is a huge benefit in many ways,” providing valuable jobs and supporting our local economy. The availability of a high-quality paper manufactured locally means that compromise is not necessary, as it once may have been, Dean says. “ENVI is competitively priced and it’s quality is up there with the best.”

Although it may seem that choosing a sustainable paper is easier than ever, it is important to be aware of the details of both the raw materials and the manufacturing standards used, as well as the place of manufacture and, of course, print quality. Be aware also of added benefits- in the case of ENVI, CO2 reporting tools and the availability of recognisable consumer logo’s. Dean outlines the simplicity of the process to use the logo’s, “Generally approvals take between 24-48 hours…it’s very quick, and helps maintain the integrity of the certification.”

 ENVI Super Smooth can help us be aware of our choices, and that will positively affect the core principles of a company when it comes to sustainability. So next time you look at the two bins under the desk, think about what paper can teach your business.

Many new businesses have grown out of the issues we face as we strive for a more sustainable future, where existing companies must adopt new values to become positive contributors. Think about the core principles in your business. It can be a huge task to rethink the way you do business, but the right strategies will become drivers for growth and long term survival.

www.lendlease.com/sustainability

www.dell.com.au

www.simsmm.com

www.westpac.com.au

www.boral.com.au

Designed as a hothouse for architectural investigation, Grocon’s Pixel building is made from recycled aluminium – its shade battens prevent the prototype office building from becoming an actual hothouse.

Native grasses on its roof filter rainwater, encourage local ecology and provide insulation, while cantilevered reed beds on the windowsills help cooling.

Three patented wind turbines designed specifically for the turbulent urban environment and winds, generate electricity and feed the excess back into the grid. Pixel is the first building to achieve a 100% green star score from the Green Building Council.

Not only does Pixel use new technologies, it also recycles many materials – like the structural steel – reducing the embodied energy of the building.

“Research suggest 6% of the world’s greenhouse gases every year is a consequence of the manufacture of cement,” says Grocon’s David Waldren. In conjunction with Boral, Grocon has developed Pixelcrete, which Waldren says has half the embodied carbon than normal.

Pixel building’s name comes by being a small building in the big picture – an image Grocon plans to upscale.

 www.pixelbuilding.com.au

“Sustainability is about working with clients who are sustainable,” says Jason Grant from the respected Queensland design practice Inkahoots.

Talk to many designers and they have varying ideas of what sustainability is. Responses vary from those who believe sustainability is simply about making something that people won’t want to throw away, to those, like Grant, who believe it’s about actually choosing who you work for.

While Grant’s ‘take no prisoners’ response sounds the more heroic, it’s not feasible for everyone. If a business is truly sustainable it will be both profitable, and not harmful to the environment. Educating clients – and potential clients along the way – is also part of the process. And if the idea of ‘creating something that lasts’ sounds slightly naïve, it does have certain merit.

“The answer to the problem of overconsumption isn’t recycling cans or green shopping, it’s changing our relationship to stuff, so that everything we use and live with is designed for zero waste and is either meant to last (“heirloom design” and “durability”) or to be shared (“product service systems”) or both,” says Alex Steffen from Worldchanging.

It’s a belief echoed by Leyla Acaroglu, founder of Eco Innovators and this issue’s ‘shining star’. “It’s not enough to be buying green electricity and recycling paper,” she says. “It’s about foundational thinking. Ecodesign is often wrongly seen as complex and costly, but in fact it’s simply good design that offers financial, social and environmental benefits. If designers embrace sustainability, we can create consumer goods with the smallest possible ecological footprint.”

In the online video and recently released book The Story of Stuff, Annie Leonard outlines the process of production. The problem, she explains, is treating it as a linear system that leaves out important aspects of the process. The true hidden costs of production aren’t covered by the cheap products we buy, but are absorbed by the lack of workers’ wages and pollution into developing countries.

Using a lifecycle approach – exploring the impacts of each stage a product goes through – helps designers make informed decisions that lead to more socially and environmentally responsible products with lower carbon emissions.

As Planet Ark’s Jon Dee writes in the Sustainable Growth guide, published by Sensis, sustainability brings many benefits for small and medium businesses: reducing energy contains costs and overheads. Improving the supply chain can mean more productive relationships with suppliers. Younger, better educated (possibly more handsome, though he makes no promises) people will be attracted to companies that are sustainable. Knowing where your supply chain sources materials is essential to ensuring your corporate reputation. Being environmentally and socially proactive makes smaller companies attractive to larger companies who rely on likeminded companies as part of their own sustainable procurement policies.

It’s also about attaining a competitive advantage. While the Chinese dragon of manufacturing represents an insurmountable behemoth to many, others like Tim Piper, from the Australian Industry Group, see the challenge in finding the soft underbelly and slaying it with products of higher quality and better techniques. “Australia is not a low cost producing country, therefore we have to make sure it’s high quality,” he says. In short, it’s about creating products that last. Here too it’s a matter of self-preservation. What other chance is there? “Australians no longer buy Australian made just because it’s Australian,” he says. If done correctly, as part of a wider strategy, sustainability will deliver profitability and a platform for long-term survival.

As we celebrate award-winning sustainable design in this issue of Desktop, it is worth remembering the words from another award recipient. “We must abandon the conceit that individual, isolated, private actions are the answer,” Al Gore said in his Nobel acceptance speech. “They can and do help. But they will not take us far enough without collective action.”

Clients, designers, production people, distributors and consumers can collectively help lower the carbon footprint and ensure the sustainability of the products they create and purchase. It’s about working together to be sustainable.

 www.worldchanging.com

 www.storyofstuff.com

 www.inkahoots.com.au

Since it was established by the Victorian government in 2000, Eco-buy has developed into a national, independent, not for profit consultancy. Its diverse membership list ranges from NAB to Qantas and Origin. Andrew Foran, Eco-buy’s Manager for Client Services and Business Program discusses how Eco-buy helps organisations ‘green up’ processes around purchasing.

How does Eco-buy differ from other companies like Ecospecifier and Green Pages?

We are an independent, not for profit. We specialise in organisation, B2B purchasing. But we’re broader than that. The database supports knowledge tools, processes and practices in our member’s resources. There’s not a huge amount that’s free beyond the database.

What templates will members find?

Most valuable are the documentary templates, product category guides, and checklist tips.

Should people – or businesses – work collectively toward sustainable solutions?

It’s about working collaboratively rather than collectively – getting competing companies in the same room. The underlying theme is collaboration.

Do companies pay to list products on your database?

They have to pay an annual listing fee of $200.

What eco-labels do you look for on these products?

It depends on the product category. GECA, energy and water rating stars. Fair trade, green power and organic labels. We also look at comparable or competing products – what else is in the market place.

Why?

Because in some cases a product with a small environmental attribute can be leading the category.

Would you remove them as better products came to market?

Absolutely, it’s a dynamic space. There’s no such thing as a green product, there are greener products. As we make them greener, things move along. We’re driven by what members are purchasing.

Could graphic design be offered as a service on your database, for potential tendering?

Traditionally we’ve concentrated on products, but we’re working on service category guides that could include graphic design services. The short answer is not yet, but we are working on it.

Do green products cost more?

Green products can be more expensive from their sticker price, but the true cost of ownership from a holistic sense is less. As a general rule of thumb, it will save you money in the long term.

Should sustainability budgets be factored in over a number of years, instead of just one financial year?

It should be. In the corporate space they are.

Are people more open to sustainability and the costs required to change?

Definitely. From any educative sense it’s about showing real examples in context. It’s about embedding structural change so over time you can improve on it.

Is it too slow?

We say ‘aim for the stars, but be realistic and bite off what you can chew right now’. Get some things going while you can but keep a weather eye on some big step changes where you can.

Isn’t structural change at the heart of this?

We need to stop relying on continued linear growth. We need to close the loop. Slowly that’s happening.

Who has to make this change happen?

The organisation has to commit to changing. We see the key driver of negative environmental impact is purchasing and consumption patterns – both as organisations and individuals. The first step is realising it. The second is making some changes to deal with it.

Should there be more regulations and standards imposed by government?

The more structures like 5 star building the better. But the single biggest thing would be a carbon price.

Does Eco-buy offer life-cycle assessment?

We commission RMIT Centre for Design. We can help clients directly or steer them and we do workshops and training.

Three key messages for designers?

90% of a product’s environmental impact are built in at the design stage, so you have a great opportunity to drive real change (leadership and legacy). Make sure what you design first does what it’s supposed to, then looks great, and then is green (form plus function plus green = mainstream). Every product has an environmental impact, so it’s about designing something to be as green as your brief allows, then trying to do better with your next job (continual improvement).

www.ecobuy.com.au