What is LivingOn?
LivingOn is our commitment to sustainability and the environment.
The result of more than a year’s worth of research and development, this key project aims to ensure that the way Living Edge conducts business is as responsible to the planet and our communities as possible.
From green power to emissions reduction, the process so far has resulted in us looking at every part of our business and considering new and better ways to conduct ourselves.
You can read about our efforts to date below, or by dropping into a Living Edge showroom and grabbing a copy of our latest publication, LivingOn, An Open Book on Our New Way of Doing Business.
Measuring our footprint
When it comes to the environment, one of the most important things a company can do is measure, reduce and offset their greenhouse gas emissions.
We have undertaken this challenge by working with Coomes Consulting and the Swinburne University National Centre for Sustainability.They looked at all aspects of our international transport, warehousing and operations, right down to the energy expended by our staff to come to work.
The result?
They measured that Living Edge generates around 3,500 tonnes of greenhouse gas every year... that’s the equivalent of driving your car around the world 428 times.
Some of this is avoidable but most of it is not. So while we can look at ways to reduce the impact of our sales, showroom and marketing operations, the only way to clean up the cost of our shipping is to buy carbon offsets.
Living Edge is delighted to announce that we are the first Herman Miller dealer in the world to carbon offset the freight emissions on all Herman Miller products travelling to Australia from Asia and the United States. The freight emissions were calculated from the point of freight (sea/air) to all Living Edge warehouses. The Swinburne University National Centre for Sustainability then independently verified the methodology and accuracy of the carbon data collection and offsetting strategy.
The carbon offset programme is in accordance with procedures established under the ISO14001 Standard for an Environmental Management System. Living Edge will become a certified organisation by early 2009.
Carbon Offsetting
We are using the ISO14001 Environmental Management System standard to measure, monitor and reduce our impact on the environment. We are using the ISO9001 Quality Management System to help us supply the highest quality of products and services to the Australian marketplace.
In 2009 we will have gained full certification. SAI Global will be performing routine external audits to ensure we maintain this certification.
Carbon offsets have been purchased through a broker using only accredited providers who maintain registers to ensure the authenticity of carbon offsets and the owners of these offsets. The offsets purchased were registered, transferred and surrendered on an exchange that is highly regarded by world standards.
In the first instance these are two local organisations including NSW State Forest and Energy Developments.
This forestry project is a large, Government backed and ISO14001:2004 certified forest which has Ecologically Sustainable Forest Management (ESFM) plans developed in the context of the current regulatory environment to provide a framework for forest management for future generations. Each ESFM plan sets out broad strategies, performance indicators and measureable outcomes for forest management in the relevant region over a five year period, and includes sustainability, local heritage, social and economic development and also consultation, monitoring and reporting standards. In December 2006, this project was certified as compliant with Australian Forestry Standard 4708 (AFS4708) by NCS International (NCSI).
The second offset provider is a methane destruction project which utilises mainly small and efficient power generation units which primarily collect and employ waste fuels that would otherwise cause disposal and emissions problems. Both coal mine waste methane and landfill gas make up approximately 70% of the company’s generation capacity and as such, the use of these fuels result in reduced emissions of waste methane into the atmosphere and a reduced need for electricity from coal fired generating sources.
It is Living Edge’s commitment to progressively carbon offset further items in the Living Edge range. For now, we are making it easy to identify the products that have had their freight emissions offset by attaching a Carbon Offset label to each of them in-store and online.
Improving recyclability
We’re looking at ways to ensure our products are increasingly made out of materials that are more likely to be recycled and less likely to end up as landfill.
The impact of this is twofold. First, it reduces landfill. More importantly, it means less new materials are pulled out of the ground and less greenhouse gases are created in the process.
According to www.geca.org.au:
“The Good Environmental Choice label is the only environmental labelling program in Australia which indicates the environmental performance of a product from a whole of product life perspective for consumer goods.
The label is awarded to products that meet voluntary environmental performance standards, which have been created and assessed in conformance to international environmental labelling standards”.
By working with suppliers to make our furniture out of more energy efficient materials and designing each piece to be easily recycled, we can now offer Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) accreditation on much of our furniture. So far, over 60 designs are already GECA certified, with more to come.
Environmental Labelling
Over the coming months when you go into a Living Edge showroom you’ll see that all our GECA approved and Herman Miller products now feature either a LivingOn or a carbon offset label, or both.
On these labels you can see information such as material content, GECA certification and whether it is carbon offset.
And if there’s anything you think we missed, just ask. We’ll be glad to tell you. Please send any questions to maryh@livingedge.com.au
Working with our partner brands
It doesn’t take long to figure out that if we’re going to solve the world’s problems we’ll have to work together. Fortunately, those who make the key pieces in our range have environmental programs of their own.
In 1995, Sedus was the first manufacturer of office furniture in Germany to operate a certified environment management system under the then current EU ECO-Audit-Law (today EMAS II). Since 2001 Sedus is also certified under the international standard ISO14001.
At last count Woodmark had over 50 products certified and approved by Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA).
Markant is already ISO14001 certified and now aims to achieve Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) certification for their key workstations. And, with a recyclability content of 95%, they are already well on the way.
At Howe, high ethical and environmental standards are viewed as crucial to corporate success. In 2008, Howe took the step of employing a manager whose focus is to implement an environmental management system (EMS).
Plywood is sourced from renewable forestry operations and hides are tanned with Chromium III crystals which are neither harmful to the environment or health. Walter Knoll adheres to the German Environmental standard RAL-GZ 430.
Herman Miller call their environmental program ‘Perfect Vision’. The name is based on the goal of reaching their sustainability targets by 2020, including:
- Zero landfill
- Zero hazardous waste generation
- Zero air emissions
- Zero process water use
- 100% green energy use
- Company buildings constructed to a minimum LEED™* Silver certification
- 100% of sales from DfE-approved products
Read more about Herman Miller’s commitment to sustainability at
http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Category/0,1564,a10-c382,00.html
*LEED™, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a division of the US Green Building Council established to assist organisations whose goal is to promote environmentalism in the building industry. The rough Australian equivalent is the Green Building Council of Australia.
Emeco chairs are made from 80% recycled aluminium.
Half of that content is post-consumer waste (that’s soft drink cans in everyday language), the other half is post-industrial material. Using recycled aluminium in this way saves up to 17 times the energy which would be required using virgin materials.
Staff workshops
Nobody knows the Living Edge business like the Living Edge employees.
That’s why, in November 2008 we ran a series of workshops to gather the best environmental ideas from staff and start putting them into action.
Water, waste and energy
We are working towards having all of our waste recycling handled by Visy.
We are switching all our operations to accredited GreenPower suppliers and aim to install water saving devices across our operations wherever possible.
We’ve trained our staff on how to be more efficient with all these things. And employed a person to oversee these things and more. Her job title? Manager: Product, People, Planet.
If you’d like to talk with her, send an email to maryh@livingedge.com.au
The future
The way we see it, being more environmentally responsible is not a destination, it’s a journey.
Every year we’ll be looking at new ways to continue to reduce our waste, water and energy usage.
Every year we will continue to find ways to reduce our emissions then offset what’s left in the most responsible and ethical manner.
Every year we will be doing what it takes to have more of our products GECA certified.
After all, the way we see it Living Edge has always been about furniture for life and that means doing what it takes to protect the planet, the very source of life itself.
LivingOn book
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