Welcome to this month's edition of Good Environmental News
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GECA seeks input on Waste Collection Services standard
GECA, in collaboration with the NSW Office of the Environment and Heritage and the City of Sydney, is developing a new standard for Waste Collection Services in New South Wales.
This project was funded by the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority, the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage and the City of Sydney.
As part of the development of this standard, GECA is seeking input from waste industry professionals including service providers, waste generators, consultants, academics and environmental organisations.
Australasian Waste and Recycling Expo
Hear more about GECA's new (draft) Waste Collection Services standard at the Australasian Waste and Recycling Expo (AWRE), 23-24 August at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. GECA's Matthew Kolisnyk and ISPT's Steven Peters will share the future direction of this project and ask for input and interest from stakeholders in the room at 3:30pm on 23 August.
Tomorrowland: Building for a Sustainable Future
Join us at 'Tomorrowland: Building for a Sustainable Future', an event by The Fifth Estate and co-designed with GECA and Pollinate. It's the summit that will examine key issues and provide insights and tools to enable business to sort the futuristic from the likely and the probable, what’s likely and what’s not.
New technologies and sophisticated, sustainable materials are set to transform the building and construction industry. With this comes an increasingly intense focus on the supply chain and whether it meets sustainable and ethical standards. How do we do business under the pressure of such rapid change? How do we design for the unknown?
An event not to be missed for property executives, design professionals, manufacturers of sustainable materials and procurement professionals on what they need to know about building technologies and materials for the future.
19 September, Sydney.
'Materials in Mind' at Sydney Indesign 2017
Sydney Indesign 2017 was a fantastic celebration of design and an opportunity to connect with those who feel passionately about it.
GECA was proud to be a Supporting Partner of the event, and our modified shipping container, Materials in Mind, was very popular with visitors.
"Visitors loved the design and look of the container and enjoyed the interactive elements of learning more about what environmental, health and social criteria to look for in a material or product," said GECA's Marketing Manager, Paula Clasby.
The interactive showcase of sustainable building materials will next be on display and open to visitors at the Randwick Eco-living Fair.
Once again, GECA would like to thank all involved in the creation of Materials in Mind, including Kebony (Mafi), Astec Paints, BGC Plasterboard,Spectrum Floors, Regupol, Grass-Cel, Zenith Interiors, The Bold Collective and Caen Creative.
GECA represented at ISEAL, APEC conferences
In June/July 2017, GECA’s Standards and Technical Manager, Shaila Divakarla, represented GECA at three international conferences and meetings: the UNEP 10 Yfp SPP working group meeting, the annual ISEAL conference in Switzerland, and the APEC GSCNET conference in China. All events provided opportunities to collaborate on a global scale with other likeminded organisations working towards a sustainable future.
The Global Sustainability Standards Conference: The Future of Trust (ISEAL Conference)
The 8th Global Sustainability Standards Conference took a look into the future of trust: with the emergence of new initiatives, new technologies, and new expectations, how are standards and certification systems rising to the challenge of doing more while maintaining credibility? How are businesses, producers, and other stakeholders playing a role in meeting new commitments and achieving positive impacts?
APEC GSCNET Conference
In July 2017, the annual APEC Green Supply Chain Network (GSCNET) conference was held in Beijing, China. As one of the early members of GSCNET, GECA co-hosted the event.
Representatives from various countries in the region, including GECA as a representative of Australia, presented developments in their respective countries and shared best practice with others for creating more sustainable supply chains.
The establishment of the APEC Green Supply Chain Network, and subsequent developments in the area, have been “very encouraging,” according to Divakarla, “particularly as so many global supply chains extend into Asia.”
Welcome to GECA: Greenspeed
Microfibre cleaning solutions company, Greenspeed, are now with GECA! Greenspeed offer a wide range of quality, specialty microfibre products for all surfaces and a variety of applications: interiors, sanitary facilities, kitchens, laundry, floors and walls. They are committed to providing smart cleaning solutions with a positive impact on people and the environment.
Sustainable Procurement and the Chain of Responsibility
Interested in improving the sustainability and responsibility of your organisation’s supply chain? The Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ACCSR) is offering a brand new course in sustainable procurement, which will provide you with the knowledge and skills to develop a sustainable procurement policy and plan, and improve supply chain visibility.
The course is supported by GECA and is suitable for sustainability, procurement, and business professionals. It covers supply chain risks and offers extensive case studies to illustrate examples of pro-active supply chain management.
24 October, Melbourne.
GECA becomes a member of the United Nations 10YFP Sustainable Public Procurement Programme
GECA is pleased to announce that it has been selected to participate in the new multi-stakeholder advisory committee for the United Nations 10 Year Framework for Sustainable Public Procurement Programme.
GECA will provide important input and guidance on the development and operation of the Sustainable Public Procurement Programme. "We're very pleased to have been recognised and look forward to collaborating with other likeminded organisations to further promote sustainable public procurement," said GECA's Standards and Technical Manager, Dr Shaila Divakarla, who will also be joined by Kim Andrews from GECA in the program.
Read more about the recent meeting of the UNEP 10Yfp SPP Working Group
Randwick Eco-living Fair
If you missed out on seeing the GECA 'Materials in Mind' pod at Sydney Indesign, make sure you head to the Randwick Eco-living Fair to celebrate all that's green and sustainable!
Held at the Randwick Community Centre, the Eco-living Fair will be celebrating its twelfth year and will continue to provide a range of new and popular activities for local residents and their families.
3 September, Sydney
Melbourne launch: ISO 20400 Standard
After four years of development involving 52 countries and 11 international organisations such as the UN and OECD, ISO 20400, the first international standard on sustainable procurement, was published on 20 April 2017. Join Sustainability Victoria at the launch of the new standard for sustainable procurement and learn from the experience of ISO 20400 early users through a speaker line up from the private, public and non for profit sectors. Register today.
6pm, 29 August, Melbourne.
International Green Interior Awards Winners
Congratulations to the winners of the International Green Interior Awards! Find out more about the winning entries for each category here.
Global Purposeful Leadership Summit
Leaders who are purely focused on the market value miss the chance to drive even greater business value by utilizing purpose to bring meaning to employees’ work, a key driver of employee engagement. Identifying this gap presents an opportunity— and responsibility—for leaders to approach purpose more holistically, to optimize value for employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders.
The Global Purposeful Leadership Summit will inspire and support leaders in creating purposeful organisations - use the promotional code 'GECA' for your 10% discount!
20-22 September, Sydney
Green Heart Fair
The Green Heart Fair, Brisbane’s biggest bi-annual sustainability festival, is back for its 16th year, bigger and better than ever before, with a free action-packed day out for all the family.
Running at Carindale Recreation Reserve, the fair promotes innovative and easy sustainable living around the home and beyond with activities for home owners and renters alike, fashionistas, foodies, green thumbs and recyclers through to budding energy savers, cyclists and young eco-warriors looking to make a difference.
8am - 2pm, 10 September, Brisbane
Freshly recertified with GECA
This month, five of our valued licensees have renewed their GECA certification, demonstrating their continued commitment to making products with lower environmental, health and social impacts. Click the links below to view their full GECA certified ranges and check out what they have to offer!
Artmatrix Technology offers a range of workstation and desk systems for the modern office. Systems are flexible, functional and stylish.
CSR Gyprock manufactures and supplies a wide range of building products, with a particular focus on energy efficiency and sustainability in the built environment. The majority of their Gyprock plasterboard range is GECA certified.
Arper SPA is an Italian company that manufactures and distributes designer chairs, sofas and tables for contract, home and work sectors worldwide. Designs are innovative and beautiful.
R.E. Batger is one of Australia’s largest privately owned educational and commercial furniture suppliers. Their furniture is ideal for any situation that requires space-conscious design and style.
Siam Fiberglass Co., Ltd.(SFG) is a leading manufacturer of high-quality glasswool insulation for the Australian and Asia Pacific markets.
TAKE2 Business Roundtable: recap
Sustainability Victoria's TAKE2 Business Roundtable event was held on 11 August to engage and inspire organisations to take action on removing climate risk from the supply chain. GECA's Kate Harris was involved in the event, and said it was "a fantastic demonstration of leading government, industry and independent bodies coming together to drive sustainable supply chain solutions".
"GECA is proud to support the TAKE2 initiative," said Kate. "We saw a great demonstration of what to do thanks to Qantas, Supply Chain Sustainability School, and many others who attended the event."
"Sustainability Victoria also welcomed GECA's call for action for the global trend of green public procurement policy. Positive procurement really does help sustainability through supply chains - so watch out and get ready to sign up for GECA's Positive Procurement Pledge!"