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What you can do

Living Sustainably

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Cleaner Production

How can I find out and do more? 

Environmental management and Design tools

A number of tools are available to assist you:

  • An Environment Management System (EMS) – provides a structured approach to planning and implementing environment protection measures. It is a tool for managing the impacts of an organisation's activities on the environment through integrating environmental management into a company's daily operations, long term planning and other quality management systems.
  • International Environmental Standards - ISO 14000 – a collection of voluntary standards that help organisations achieve environmental and financial gains through the implementation of effective environmental management. The standards provide both a model for streamlining environmental management, and guidelines to ensure environmental issues are considered within decision-making practices.
  • Life cycle assessment – tool for assessing the environmental impacts associated with a product, process or service throughout its life cycle, from the extraction of the raw materials through to processing, transport, use, reuse, recycling or disposal.
  • Profits from Cleaner Production: a Self-help tool for small to medium businesses – a step by step process guide to uncover hidden costs (both financial and environmental) and reveal opportunities to incorporate Cleaner production initiatives in your workplace
  • An environmental audit – provides a method of assessing and reviewing the environmental impacts of a company operation. An audit measures and evaluates all inputs and outputs from the production process, so a company can assess compliance with environmental legislation, determine improvements and actions.
"Eco-design" – Designing For the Environment (DFE)

Known internationally as Design For the Environment (DFE) or 'ecodesign', this approach examines a product's entire life cycle and proposes changes to how the product is designed to minimise its environmental impact during its lifetime — from manufacture, to use, to disposal.

There are significant financial and environmental savings to be made by redesigning products to minimise their environmental impact.  Australians are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of sustainability and are often including environmental considerations in their decision-making process. They are also thinking more about how the product/service is produced, used and disposed of when they no longer need it.

Companies incorporating this approach are at the forefront of innovative business management. Find out more:

Industry Partnership Program

The NSW Government's Industry Partnership Program provides matched funding for individual businesses, clusters of businesses and industry associations to improve environmental performance through Cleaner Production.

To date, the program has already supported 42 projects, involving over 300 businesses.  Contact the Business Partnerships Section, Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW via email cleanind@environment.nsw.gov.au to find out more.

Economic Strategies and tools

The NSW Government has established world-class economic tools that have been designed to reflect the true environmental and social costs of economic activity.

These instruments incorporate pricing and incentive mechanisms to promote innovative and flexible approaches to achieving explicit environmental goals.  They include: emissions trading schemes, green offset schemes, 'polluter pays' charges (such as load-based licensing and load reduction agreements), sustainability compacts and environmental taxes.

More information:

Sustainability Compacts

Sustainability Compacts are three to five year voluntary partnership agreements between the Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW and leading Australian companies that operate in NSW.

It establishes a framework for collaboration on sustainability projects, with an emphasis on projects that enhance the environmental performance of the business itself and the sector in which it operates.

Best practice and Case studies
  • "Solutions to Pollution" – Checklists, practical suggestions and pollution minimisation strategies for workplaces
  • Codes of practice – provide guidance on a range of environmental issues, such as resource usage, emissions, waste generation and disposal, occupational or health hazards, and regulatory standards
  • Business Environment magazine – snapshots about sustainable business practices and the potential for businesses to benefit from working green
  • Industry Partnership Program case studies
  • Australian case studies – how companies have reduced production costs and waste, saved resources and maintained a competitive advantage
  • Additional sources for more information on Cleaner Production initiatives
Sources for additional help

Need more? 

Explore the resource centre for a wide range of useful and informative materials and tools.

 

 

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