Waste Wise and other local government environment programs
This sheet describes how Waste Wise, by providing a simple, effective framework for measuring the environmental impacts of reduced waste and increased resource efficiency, can support councils’ participation in the Cities for Climate Protection (CCP), ICLEI Water Campaign, and ECO-Buy programs. Waste Wise’s focus on waste prevention, resource efficiency, and litter reduction links to a range of reduced environmental impacts in other areas: • Diverting waste from landfill reduces greenhouse emissions: paper, cardboard, and organic waste break down in landfills and emit methane, which has twenty-one times the ‘greenhouse intensity’ of carbon dioxide Recycling and resource efficiency lead to reduced energy and water consumption: recycling one tonne of paper saves 4,100 kWh of electricity and 31,780 litres of water compared with producing one tonne from virgin material Reducing litter prevents it from entering stormwater and drinking water supplies, protecting overall water quality Replacement of outdated energy and water equipment and infrastructure can present opportunities for materials recovery through reuse or recycling ‘Green purchasing’ practices give priority to products that are produced sustainably and that use fewer energy, water, and raw material resources in their manufacture
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Solid waste diversion from landfill accounted for 9.5 percent of all abated greenhouse emissions reported by CCP councils in 2004/05 – so it is important for councils to be able to account for all waste produced by their activities and integrate this data with planning and reporting requirements of other local government programs. Understanding how these programs link together will help councils to streamline data collection and reporting, and enable demonstration of progress in waste minimisation, resource efficiency, emissions reductions, energy conservation, and water consumption and quality. Councils that coordinate these initiatives through implementing a formal Environmental Management System (EMS) will develop even greater capacity to deliver these benefits. As councils move through the successive levels of Waste Wise, their capacity to measure and manage environmental issues will increase as they evolve from a focus primarily on their own operations to being able to measure the environmental impacts of other groups including households, businesses, and council’s own suppliers. Reductions in waste and greenhouse impacts across these groups can also be credited towards councils’ objectives, targets, and KPIs for CCP, the Water Campaign, and ECO-Buy. The table below shows the different levels of these programs, details their milestones, priority actions, and broad objectives, and shows how Waste Wise connects to each other program and vice versa. Local governments will not necessarily work on all these issues simultaneously; each council will move through the successive levels of Waste Wise and other programs at its own speed, with differing priorities and actions.
Waste Wise
Bronze certification: Collect baseline data for council offices: Amount of waste sent to landfill Amount of material recycled Measure waste from kerbside recycling: Amount of waste sent to landfill Amount of material recycled % Contamination Conduct litter audits to measure: Amount of litter collected Amount of litter to stormwater Develop KPIs, objectives, and targets for above areas; incorporate into inventories and forecasts for CCP Milestones 1-3, Water Campaign Milestones 1-2 Silver certification: Implement Waste Wise across range of council operations; engage business and community; implement at events, public places, and business Continue to collect data: Amount of waste sent to landfill Amount of material recycled % Contamination Amount of litter collected Gold certification: Waste Wise integrated into council operations; council providing leadership and influencing other organisations; impacts measured across whole of council, as well as suppliers, customers, businesses, and households Ongoing waste data collection and incorporation of findings into other programs; further development of KPIs, objectives, and targets reflecting expanded Waste Wise focus.
CCP
Milestone 1: Establish greenhouse emissions inventory & forecast for council and municipality Using waste and litter data collected at Waste Wise Levels 1 & 2, determine current and forecasted greenhouse emissions for: Waste landfilled Waste recycled Litter collected CCP member councils to use calculator in toolkit provided; non-CCP member councils to use AGO Factors and Methods Workbook which can be downloaded from the AGO website at www.greenhouse.gov.au/workbook/index.ht ml Include all available council, community, and business waste data in emissions inventory Milestone 2: Set emissions reduction goals for council & community Milestone 3: Action plan showing how council will achieve reductions goals; report to ICLEI Take into account KPIs, objectives, and targets developed at Waste Wise Levels 1-3 in developing CCP Milestone 2 & 3 goals Milestone 4: Implement action plan & quantify benefits of actions Milestone 5: Review & report on impact of actions on reducing emissions Include waste and recycling data in reporting for CCP Milestones 4-5
Water Campaign
Milestone 1: Inventory of water consumption and management practices to identify opportunities for improvement Measure baseline levels of litter in stormwater through litter trap audits, litter assessments, and include in baseline Waste Wise data collection process Milestone 2: Set water quality and conservation goals based on M1 findings Milestone 3: Finalise strategy for council to meet M2 goals Milestone 4: Collect and publish information on progress towards goals Incorporate Water Campaign Milestone 4 findings in Waste Wise reporting Milestone 5: Re-examine council and community ’s water consumption and management practices, and measure progress towards objectives and targets Include litter reduction data in Water Campaign Milestone 5 reporting
ECO-Buy
1: Establish ECO-Buy working group to develop and implement program 2: Working group to develop green purchasing policy and have it adopted by council 3: Working group to complete green purchasing action plans for next 12 months Review policy and plans against objectives and targets for Waste Wise, CCP, and Water Campaign 4: Track and record spending on green products 5: Report to ECO-Buy at end of first 12 months; ongoing annual reporting Include Waste Wise purchasing KPIs, objectives, and targets in tracking and reporting green purchasing achievements