BBP Action Plan Hopefully you will have completed the online Assessment Tool accessible on this website. Once you have completed the "How Sustainable is Your Business?" assessment, you will have received a PDF report which gives you a base line of your business' current level of sustainability across the 9 areas of the BBP program. There may have been several ideas suggested to you by doing the assessment that you now want to implement to make your business even more successful through sustainability! You may have specific areas that you want to focus on improving. They may be small actions or larger projects that will take resources and effort. This Action Plan allows you to select specific actions in the areas you want to focus on. These will then be emailed to you so that you can use them as the basis for a plan to improve your business sustainability. If you conduct business in one of our BBP Program council areas (currently Ku-ring-gai, North Sydney and Willoughby City) you are entitled to free support from a dedicated BBP Program Manager. I want to focus on the following areas for improvement:* Select All Energy Water Waste Single Use Plastic / Disposable reduction Staff Community Transport Sustainable Purchasing Business Health BUSINESS HEALTH Create a Business Plan Create a Marketing Plan Create a Sustainability Policy Publish our Sustainability Policy on your website Include Sustainability in your operational procedures Set Sustainability KPIs for your business Actively encourage customer feedback across a range of areas eg box, website, social media Train staff to assist customers with accessibility difficulties ENERGY Monitor monthly energy use and costs and consider creating a spreadsheet to track usage over time Allocate a staff member to be responsible for energy efficiency Set targets and KPIs for energy efficiency Contact Australian Government Business Energy Advice Program for a free energy audit - https://businessenergyadvice.com.au/ Contact your energy retailer to purchase part or all of your electricity by GreenPower - certified renewable energy https://www.greenpower.gov.au Use natural ventilation as much as possible Turn off equipment (computers, laptops and printers) at night or when not in use Train staff in energy efficiency practices Display your energy consumption, to allow staff to visualise and track any improvements based on changes of routines Replace old bulbs with energy efficient bulbs when required (LEDs or CFLs) Install motion sensors and/or timers to automate lighting to turn on only when needed Replace old refrigerators (more than 15yrs old) with energy efficient models, could save 40% energy Undertake Carbon Neutral Certification: https://publications.industry.gov.au/publications/climate-change/climate-change/government.html Investigate the installation of solar panels to the building WATER Monitor your monthly water use and costs and consider creating a spreadsheet to track usage over time Allocate a staff member to be responsible for water efficiency Set targets (e.g reduction of 20% water usage) or measurable KPIs for water efficiency (e.g kL/m2, kL/customer) Display your water consumption (graph of monthly tracking). This will allow staff to visualize and track any improvements based on changes of routines and equipment use. Benchmark your water usage with Sydney Water’s tool, https://www.sydneywater.com.au/SW/your-business/managing-your-water-use/benchmarks-for-water-use/index.htm to compare your water use with similar businesses Include water saving policies and procedures in staff training programs and talk about water conservation plans, opportunities and progress at staff meetings Communicate water saving ideas using bulletins, newsletters, emails or posters. Encourage people to send water saving ideas via email or suggestion boxes Provide incentives for staff to save water by linking water conservation to staff performance reviews Display signage in kitchen and bathrooms to remind staff and visitors to conserve water, to turn off taps properly and report leaks to building management Reward staff that implement new water saving initiatives WASTE Start monitoring quantities of the different waste streams your business generates Do a weekly waste audit for 4 weeks to get an annual figure of different waste streams generated Allocate a staff member to be responsible for waste diversion and reduction Commit to moving towards a paperless office to reduce paper-use and waste. Train, encourage and reward staff to use less paper and to move towards a paperless office Provide clear signage near all bins to ensure that the right waste is placed in the right bin Include waste recycling training in your staff induction Install separate waste bins for soft plastics, hard plastics & cans, paper & cardboard, organics, and general waste Encourage and reward staff who bring their own reusable coffee cups, water bottles and food containers to work Set up a Soft Plastics recycling bin in your office to collect all plastic bags and wraps and take it to your local Coles or Woolworth for recycling in the http://redcycle.net.au/redcycle/locator. Encourage staff to bring their soft plastics from home for recycling Publish your sustainable and recycling successes on your website and social media Consider becoming a public point drop-off location for the Terracycle Recycling brigades. Materials that can be recycled through the Terracycle program include oral care and cosmetic packaging, cleaning product packaging, cigarette waste, coffee capsules etc Recycle your printer cartridges and toners. Look up https://recyclingnearyou.com.au/cartridges/ for your nearest drop off point Commit to reducing unnecessary packaging on products that your business produces STAFF Evaluate staff - both KPIs and happiness - at regular intervals. Measuring and acting on staff performance and engagement can help you identify areas of management and process for improvement, engage them in the business, build loyalty and increase productivity Organise staff incentives, team building, team activities and other social and well-being initiatives for your staff and yourself Develop a Staff Volunteer Policy: Invest in volunteer days for your staff and support community initiatives your team wants to be involved in Undertake initiatives to encourage and reward staff for being sustainable eg sustainability discussions in meetings, creation of a 'green team' Attend green events and workshops Listen to feedback from staff, develop goals, KPIs, training and processes so people are effective, satisfied, engaged and involved in business improvement Conduct regular staff feedback surveys Consider establishing internal performance indicators for internal staff to monitor the effectiveness of your staff COMMUNITY Consider joining your local Chamber of Commerce Develop a Staff Volunteer Policy: Invest in volunteer days for your staff and support community initiatives your team wants to be involved in Promote and participate in national charity days and events with organisations that align with your business values Work with your team to make a calendar of the events you are planning to support for the upcoming year, and organise fundraising, events and communications for each of them Set up regular donations to non-profits on behalf of your business. Discuss causes and issues with your team and customers and support a local or international cause that you are passionate about. E.g. World Vision, ACF, WWF, Greenpeace, Cancer Council etc. Or support a cause or particular campaign on a crowd funding platform such as Chuffed, Go Fund Me, Kickstarter, Start Some Good Go Pro Bono. Offer your business’ unique skills, equipment or services to a community organisation for free Allow your shop or office to be used for the provision of information. E.g. You can allow local groups to pin up posters/promote local events in your window Donate gifts to community, sports or school organisations Identify a relevant community organisation to foster a formal partnership / support agreement with TRANSPORT Include sustainable transport in your Sustainability Policy Track and record all your business transport needs, including type of transport, distance travelled, and fuel consumed, including staff’s trips to/from work, meetings, overseas or interstate travel and deliveries. Use https://myrta.com/vgr/ to calculate your transport CO2 emissions Consider offsetting all or some of your carbon emissions for your business - https://www.greenfleet.com.au/ or https://carbonneutral.com.au/ Add public transport directions to the “contact us” section of your website and a link to the public transport tool on the Transport NSW website: http://www.transportnsw.info/ Provide bike storage racks, lockers and showers to encourage staff to walk or cycle to work Encourage your staff to walk, run or cycle to work Participate in national sustainable transport events Consolidate transport needs wherever possible e.g. multiple deliveries or stops in the one trip, and plan in advance the most efficient route to take for a single destination or multiple destination trip Purchase carbon-neutral flights, find out more information via the National Carbon Offset Standard. Include this requirement in your Sustainability Policy Support employees working from home or other remote sites. Also consider if meetings and appointments can be done via telephone or video conferencing PURCHASING Seek out Ethical Superannuation options e.g https://www.responsiblereturns.com.au/ Seek out Ethical bank options for your business banking needs e.g Bank Australia https://www.responsiblereturns.com.au/ https://www.bankaust.com.au/responsible-banking/ Give preference to local products and services Purchase organic and fairly traded food options eg tea, coffee Increase vegetarian (and vegan) options when purchasing food / catering Switch to safe non-toxic environmentally friendly certified cleaning products Create a list of items purchased and consider whether these items can be replaced with products with post-consumer recycled content if they aren’t already (labels, toilet paper, paper towels, notepads, folders, napkins etc.) Request a sustainability report from your current suppliers and partners to see how they manage their waste and recycling, if they do anything to reduce their energy usage, carbon emissions etc Perform internal communication/training on sustainable purchasing and let your suppliers, staff and customers know about your sustainable purchasing initiatives Discuss sustainability with your suppliers; alternative packaging, products, freight options etc. Purchase materials for longevity, recyclability and take back schemes When renewing large contracts and choosing new suppliers review sustainability credentials of suppliers / products OTHER What are your 3 key actions you are committing to implementing from the above list in the next 12 months? Provide your contact details below so that you are emailed a copy of your Action Plan. Check out the resources on this website for more actions and information on sustainability in each of the areas of the Program. Email* Contact Name* First Last Business Name* business name What sort of Business are you?CaféRestaurantBar/Pub/ClubGym/leisure centreAccomodation/hotelChildcareOffice basedLlight industrial/commercialRetail/foodRetail/otherIf answered OTHER please describe your business type?Business Location - Suburb/postcode*
