‘Buy Better Buy Local’ is a Better Business Partnership (BBP) initiative encouraging the community to get behind local businesses across the Willoughby, Ku-ring-gai and North Sydney Council areas. Over the past two years, the pandemic has thrown up very challenging conditions preventing many businesses from engaging as usual with their customers. Even with these challenging conditions, there are businesses that have continued to operate more sustainably for the planet and people. These local businesses are BBP accredited businesses and are annually assessed on 9 key sustainability areas: Energy, Water, Waste, Transport, Reducing Plastic, Community, Staff, Purchasing and Business Health.
‘Buy Better Buy Local’ is a call to the local community to support and recognise these businesses by using their services or products. Amanda Choy, BBP Program Coordinator says, “Our local businesses deserve as much help as they can get. Seek out local businesses first, to inject financial support and build a greater engaged community around each other. BBP accredited businesses are committed to improving their practices and doing their best to reduce their environmental impact, and making social improvements. They are for the planet, people and prosperity – so let’s support them!”
When the community purchase local business with local suppliers, the surrounding environment also benefits as there is less energy used for transportation and production. This in turn means less pollution and therefore reduced carbon emissions. Which is a key goal in many local council plans to get to Net Zero.
“It’s easy to find a business that has been accredited by BBP. Just search in the business directory in bbp.org.au. There you can also see a business’s unique accreditation certificate and what sustainability areas they have achieved a benchmark level in. With over 100 businesses to pick from, there is choice for everyone”, Amanda suggests.