Industry Water Saving Program – Expansion Announced

The State Government has recently launched the Water Management Action Plans (waterMAP) program, designed to further improve the water efficiency of industry.

Under the waterMAP program, Victoria’s top 2100 non-residential water users will be required to develop water efficiency plans by the end of the year.  The plans will identify how water is currently used, inefficiencies and opportunities for saving water, actions to implement conservation measures and costs to implement the actions.  Each customer will also be required to submit an annual progress update. Eligible companies will be contacted by their local water authority, and will be required to register by 14 September.

Grow Me The Money is working with the State Government and local water authorities to integrate the programs and ensure that business is not being asked to replicate work already underway.

For further information on waterMAP, please contact your local water authority.

Consumer opinions on climate change

This past June saw the release of the first annual World Environment Review poll, conducted in 14 countries.

Initiated by Jon Dee (Founder and Chairman of Planet Ark), this is the first international public opinion survey on climate change since the release of the latest IPCC report. The Australian survey revealed that 88.5% of Australians want the Government to take strong action against climate change, and 87.2% are aware that taking steps in their household against climate change could save them money on their energy bills. Only 12.8% are unaware of this. However, the survey also shows that people could do more to reduce their personal carbon emissions. For example, less than half of Australians turn off appliances at the plug before going to the bed, and only a third has taken public transport in the previous two weeks.

On a positive note, 92% of Australians are concerned about the future of the environment. Also, half of Australians polled said that they would switch to renewable energy in the future and in the past week, 31.8% say they have not bought fresh produce because it had come from an international source and had likely been transported hundreds or thousands of miles. For more information and to view the top 50 Australian findings, visit this website.

“Our business has water needs which are specific to our industry. We would like to find out ways to reduce the amount of water we use.”

Issues such as these are playing much more of a significant role in business operations. Grow Me The Money is aware that all businesses will be challenged to reduce the environmental impact they have. So we have developed a space for you to come and share your thoughts, learn from others’ experiences and discuss any issues which may be relevant to your business.

“Can anyone tell me the best way to recycle energy efficient light globes?  And are they the best option anyway?"

Grow Me The Money has a range of industry experts who are willing to take part in the online discussions. The ‘Ask An Expert’ section is an area where registered Grow Me The Money businesses can go to get specific advice about an issue.
Grow Me The Money Mentors are also taking part in discussions all over the forum and will be providing their professional opinions on topics posted by forum members.

One of Grow Me The Money’s Mentors, the Alto Hotel on Bourke, have had a strong focus on the environmental sustainability of their business since they established themselves at their new location in 2004/5. As well as occupying purpose built premises that incorporate many environmentally responsible features such as energy efficiencies and water recycling, they are always keen to implement new ideas to improve their sustainability performance.

One such initiative that they are keen to share with Grow Me The Money participants is their policy of removing disposable shower/bath toiletries from their customer bathrooms and replacing those with refillable dispensers. This has resulted in significant economic returns as well as reducing their environmental impact.

On the environment side, they have now stopped sending the numerous used shampoo, conditioner and body wash bottles to landfill. 90% of the time these bottles were also not empty so this means that they have prevented those liquids and the chemicals that make up the plastic bottles from breaking down in landfill and ultimately reaching our groundwater systems.

Financially, the Alto Hotel quickly covered the cost of fitting the new dispensers and is now actively saving money through the savings it has made by not purchasing individual bottles.

The customer feedback has also been overwhelmingly positive with guests commenting enthusiastically on the stylish design of the dispensers and the environmental benefits. Alto Hotel purchased their dispenser systems from Lifestyle Initiatives Pty Ltd and are currently refilling them with soaps from Lombards. At this time they are aware that the soaps they are using are NOT any more environmentally-friendly than the soaps they were previously using and would be very happy to hear from anyone who has any suggestions as to where they could purchase organically safe soap products!

If any participants would like to know more about potentially switching to a dispenser system or to discuss other environmental initiatives in the accomodation sector, Grow Me The Money and Alto Hotel are happy to discuss such issues with you! Please feel free to contact Grow Me The Money Helpdesk for more information on a mentoring session with Alto Hotel!