infonews.co.nz
INDEX
WATER

Just Water International Lead The Way In Environmental Awareness

Thursday 24 March 2016, 3:00PM

By Beckie Wright

498 views

Not everyone will be aware that Just Water pioneered the New Zealand  water cooler industry nearly 25  years’ ago, and has been leading the Australasian market  ever since. From these auspicious beginnings Just Water has developed a comprehensive environmental programme, evidence of their commitment to the environment.  Just Water is working to minimise the direct environmental impact they have as a company and are very aware that their operations will always have some environmental footprint.  With this in mind, they have named this conscientious reduction programme ‘Environment Plus’.

New Zealanders throw away 3.6 million tonnes of rubbish every year and if we were to measure this in nine tonne buses it would equate to 400,000 buses of rubbish - that's more than 1,000 buses every day.  Around 65% of our rubbish could be recycled or composted instead, and over 50% of rubbish thrown in landfills comes from businesses and eight out of every ten plastic drink bottles end up in landfill. 

The ‘Environment Plus’ programme was developed and contributed to by staff across both Australia and New Zealand, continually and actively exploring ways to reduce our carbon footprint. JWI staff have submitted some terrific ideas on areas where carbon reduction could be made which spanned basic areas of office, transport, electricity, communication, recycling, sales, and community.  All ideas were then evaluated on cost to implement, practicality, innovation, and savings potential.  The first phase of ‘Environment Plus’ focused on low cost to implement, practicality and the potential of savings to the company.

 At JWI they take their commitment to sustainability and the environment very seriously and consider that their operations are sustainable when they are socially safe and responsible, environmentally sound and economically viable.   JWI has systems in place to manage their environmental impacts. These are integrated into their business through management and reporting, and responsible commercial business practices. The company ‘Environment Plus’ programme focuses on the 3R rule - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and an absolute policy of Refill, not Landfill.

 JWI are committed to reduce, reuse and recycle where possible. The main waste produced by their  call centres’ service and delivery operations are paper, printer toner cartridges, packaging material and IT equipment and they provide recycling points in their offices to encourage employees to recycle, and promote double-sided printing to save paper.  They also separate organics such as food scraps into compost and a worm farm, and collect non-organic items for recycling.   All of their 15 litre water bottles are fully recyclable, and serve the business with a life measured in years. Bottles are then recycled again by being manufactured into road barriers, cones and playground safety mats.

For a long term commitment to the environment, go to JWI for your water cooler needs at http://www.justwater.co.nz .