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5 Environmental Report
The Ministry for the Environment's Environmental Report provides an update on our environmental performance for the 2004/05 financial year. The Ministry's environmental performance is measured using the following key parameters: materials use, waste, and energy (including transport and the Ministry's carbon footprint).
Highlights and Challenges
The 2004/05 financial year yielded some significant highlights and some areas to focus improvements for the 2005/06 year. The major outcomes of the 2004/05 environmental performance include:
- the relocation of all Wellington staff into a new building (Environment House) that features a number of sustainability measures
- 98% of publications used chlorine free paper and 65% of paper content was recycled
- Office paper usage decreased by 6% per staff member
- 97% of total waste generated by Ministry staff is recycled
- Recycling increased by 19% per staff member
- Waste to landfill decreased by 22% per staff member
- Our offices continued to perform well against the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority low usage benchmark
- Domestic and international air travel decreased by 33% and 20% respectively
- The Ministry's hybrid vehicles contributed to a 30% decrease in petrol usage, despite a 15% increase in kilometres travelled
- The Ministry's carbon footprint decreased by 32% per staff member.
While the total amount of waste recycled increased over the 2004/05 period, so did the Ministry's total waste (including recycling and waste to landfill). The major challenge for the 2005/06 year will be to address our increasing waste stream.
Office update
In June 2005 Ministry staff in Wellington (then accommodated in three separate buildings) moved into the new Environment House on Kate Sheppard Place. The new building features environmental measures such as:
- a state of the art air-conditioning system that utilises heat transfer and the latest low impact refrigerants
- sustainable materials used wherever possible (eg, Environmental Choice certified paint and carpets)
- integrated recycling facilities on all floors for food, paper and non-recyclable waste
- occupancy sensors on lights in the corridors and bathrooms
- open plan seating to allow high natural light
- showers, lockers and bike racks to encourage and support staff in cycling and running.
An assessment of the environmental footprint of the Ministry's accommodation arrangements, including staff arrangements for getting to work, was undertaken in June 2005. This assessment will be repeated in June 2006 in order to assess the improvement from moving to the new building. The results will be reported in the 2005/06 Environmental Report.
| Key targets and commitments | Progress at 30 June 2005 |
|---|---|
| Assess the environmental footprint of the new building in 2005/06 | The Ministry's Wellington staff relocated to a single building. |
