| do one thing well |
An excellent way to make progress is to focus on one thing at a time and do it well.
AusLSA has developed Green Themes, a resource to help you focus your greening efforts at your firm on one material impact at a time.
We've started a website with a bunch of ideas to get you motivated and inspired and hope that you will contribute your favourite ideas.
We suggest a new theme each quarter as it gives you enough time to create change without getting bored.
We also encourage you to adopt the same theme as AusLSA and the firms involved in developing the resource: Clayton Utz, Jackson McDonald, Maddocks, Allens, Kemp Strang and Slater & Gordon.
Each quarter we will be sending out more ideas, more resources and reminding you to focus on a green theme.
| Be part of the movement to green the Australian Legal Sector! |
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Q4: WASTE |
Problems with disposable water bottles
- millions of litres of water and oil to manufacture
- extensive transportation costs
- only 36% are recycled in Aus
- cost 1500X more than tap
Encourage the use of Tap Water:
- Use refillable bottles in meeting rooms - you can even have logos printed on them
- Install water purifiers or even a sparkling water dispenser so you can have filtered, bubbly water
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Most law firm offices provide good recycling facilities. But how you get staff to recycle correctly? And the rules seem to be constantly changing!
Recycling capability is dependent upon your local waste management services and will therefore differ site to site.
I didn’t know I could recycle that! (from Otter.com) provides a great list of what is recyclable and also includes location-specific guides for ACT, NSW, Sydney,QLD, SA, TAS, VIC (Sorry WA and NT : guides not available).
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more ideas...
FOOD
Law firms use quite a lot of catering. To reduce food waste:
- Monitor surplus catering and reduce order sizes if possible,
- Provide leftovers to staff,
- Donate food to redistribution charities:
OzHarvest
Collect and redistribute prepared food from professional caterers, including one-off events, in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Newcastle.
Second Bite
Collect and distribute surplus fresh produce.
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ORGANIC WASTE
When organic materials decompose in landfill, they produce methane.
Methane is more than 20 times worse than CO2 as a greenhouse gas.
The solution?
Divert organic materials (food, soiled paper, etc) from landfill into compost and organic waste streams. The nutrients can be recovered and reused rather than turned into methane emissions. |
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Coming soon:
ENERGY |
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Q1 2014
We'll be preparing for
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Earth Hour: 29 March
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Switching off! |
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PC Shutdown software
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Lighting
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Efficient Equipment |
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Green Themes
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ENERGY: Q1
Night audits, Powerboards, switch off pledges, Green Power.
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TRAVEL: Q2
Public Transport, Conferencing, Ride to work, offsetting,
Bike/Car Share Schemes
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PAPER: Q3
Office competitions, Tree planting, E-Journal subscriptions, Trial new paper processes
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WASTE: Q4
KeepCups, Office attire recycling, Collections of batteries, mobile phones
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