visy green office guidelines

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Walk the Talk VISY GREEN OFFICE GUIDELINES

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Page 1: Visy Green Office Guidelines

Walk the TalkV i sy G r een Off ic e G u i d el i n es

Page 2: Visy Green Office Guidelines

The Visy Green Office program is about improving the energy efficiency of our offices and creating a workplace that is environmentally sustainable.

The implementation of this program will result in positive impacts in your workplace, including:

• Beingenergy,waterandwasteefficient in line with our 10% challenge

• ReducingCO2 emissions through a reduction in waste to landfill and a reduction in energy consumption

• Makingourofficesasustainableworkplace

•UpholdingVisy’scommitmenttosustainability

•Walkthetalk:Livingourvaluesandworking together as a team for a

better world

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Visy Green Office – Energy Efficiency Guide: ideas to reduce energy consumption in the office through energy efficient lighting systems and equipment, and tips on the best way to use our office equipment.

PAPER USAGE

Visy Green Office –PaperUsageGuide:contains ideas on different ways to reduce paper use when printing, faxing and photocopying and tips to purchase environmentally aware office products.

WATER EFFICIENCY

Visy Green Office – Water Efficiency Guide: ideas that can be easily implemented around the office to help save water with energy efficient dishwashers, toilet systems and water tanks.

OFFICE RECYCLING

Visy Green Office –OfficeRecyclingGuide:ideas on how to reduce waste and recycle office equipment such as computers, cartridges and mobile phones.

TRAVEL

Visy Green Office – Travel Guide: ideas and techniques to reduce carbon emissions when travelling to and from work (including business travel).

SUSTAINABLE CATERING

Visy Green Office –SustainableCateringGuide: ideas to reduce your impact on the environment when catering for both small and large events, such as meetings and client functions.

By observing information within these guides, offices across Visy will improve their office’s environmental sustainability through a reduction in the consumption of natural resources, energy, and water, and improved recycling and reduction of waste to landfill. Every little bit of effort will help us meet our 10% target.

All the guides are available via the intranet under Environment/Visy Green Office Program. For further enquiries contact [email protected]

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WALKTHETALK The Visy Green Office program is comprised of six major components:

Page 4: Visy Green Office Guidelines

Energy consumption uses valuable resources and creates greenhouse gases.

Reducingenergyconsumptionaroundtheofficewillreduce electricity use and the associated costs, and alsoreduceCO2 emissions. Here you will find different

ways to reduce your energy consumption around the office to help you to reduce your impact on

the environment.

Areas to consider include:

•Energyaudits

•Lighting

•Computersandlaptops

•Airconditioningandheating

•Printers,photocopiersand fax machines

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Page 5: Visy Green Office Guidelines

Energy Audits

An energy audit will help you understand how much energy your office uses and determine how efficiently your office is using energy. An energy audit can identify where your office is performing well as well as find areas of opportunity for energy efficiency improvements.

An energy audit can be quite complex depending on the size of your office and how your office is billed for each of its energy sources such as electricity and natural gas.

speak to royce de sousa, General Manager of energy, or your divisional energy champion for more information regarding an energy audit in your office.

For more information about energy use in offices and buildings, visit the Green Building Council Australia website at www.gbca.org.au

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LightingPractices

1. Turn off the lights when you leave the office, bathroom or storeroom and there is no one else in the room. for large office spaces, install programmable light switches that switch lights off at a particular time each night.

2. Wherever possible, make use of natural light.

3. use task lighting, such as a desk lamp, rather than whole room lighting when a small amount of focused light is required.

4. regularly clean light fittings, reflectors and lampshades to ensure maximum lighting from existing fittings and limit the need to use additional light sources.

LightingSystemOpportunities

1. use the lowest wattage light bulb needed to adequately light up an area.

2. for general lighting, use compact fluorescent or fluorescent lamp lighting where lights are on for more than four hours each day.

3. ensure compact fluorescent or fluorescent lamps are used for security lights and outdoor lights that are on for long periods.

4. install sensor lights that automatically switch on or off depending on movement in bathrooms, hallways and meeting rooms that are only sporadically used.

5. use programmable timers or daylight sensors to control outdoor and security lighting.

6. Avoid using multiple globe fittings.

7. Avoid having several lights activated by one switch – use separate switches for each light.

ENERGY MYTh

MYTh: Screen savers save energy.

REALITY: Screen savers are energy wasters. Mostcomputersuseabouttwiceasmuchenergy lighting up the screen as they use for processing.

Originally,screensaversweredesignedtostop older screens being burnt by a constant image,buttheyaren’tneededformodernscreens.Notonlycanscreensaversuseasmuch energy as a full screen of work, but many require considerable processing energy as well. If you want to save energy you can setyourscreensaverto‘none’or‘blankscreen’viayourcomputersettings.

“USETHELOWESTWATTAGELIGHTBULBNEEdEdTOAdEqUATELYLIGHTUPANAREA.”

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ComputersandLaptops

1. switch off your laptop/computer whenever you are away from your desk for long periods.

2. switch off your monitors at the end of each day.

3. do not use a screen saver — this does not save energy! instead, adjust your settings to put your screen to sleep if it is not in use for more than five minutes.

4. switch off power points or pull out the power plug when switching off your laptop. By switching off your laptop or unplugging it at the switch point, you can save 4KWh annually.1 This may not seem like a lot but multiplied this by the number of computers Visy runs and this equates to over 14,400 kWh a year of wasted energy.2

1 www.upenn.edu. Guide to approximate desktop and laptop power usage.

2 Based on 3600 computers and laptops under the Visy network – as recorded by IT x 4 kWh per year.

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AirConditioningandHeating

1. Open windows and use fans – if you can – instead of using air conditioners.

2. set air conditioning temperatures to a moderate 25–27° in summer and heating to 18–20° in winter. This not only uses the optimal amount of power but also ensures a moderate temperature difference between outside and inside the office.

3. ensure all air conditioning units are switched off when not in use in areas of sporadic use i.e. meeting rooms or board rooms.

4. Make sure there are no losses of heating or cooling to the outside where air conditioning is in use (i.e. open passages, open doors, window gaps).

5. use blockout blinds/shades in areas exposed to sun to moderate heat and light in summer

6. Ask your service manager or building manager to program your climate control systems to turn off at the end of each day and on weekends – there’s no point heating and cooling empty offices.

7. don’t block up the vents above your desk to avoid draughts as this will only cause increased air movement through other vents.

Page 9: Visy Green Office Guidelines

“MAKESUREYOUREALLYNEEdAPRINTEdCOPYBEFOREYOUPRINTORPHOTOCOPYAdOCUMENT.”

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Printers,PhotocopiersandFaxMachines

1. Make sure you really need a printed copy before you print or photocopy the document. Otherwise, use the scanner to make an electronic copy that can be stored and read on screen. Before faxing something, think about whether you can communicate using email instead with a scanned attachment.

2. use the Print Preview function to check layout and style instead of printing.

3. Adjust your margins and type size to fit more on the page.

4. Turn equipment off at the power point at the end of the working day and during periods of inactivity.

5. set low power and off mode default times to the lowest available settings that suits your office usage. some photocopiers have small electric elements that operate continuously unless the photocopier is switched off at the power point.

Multifunctiondevices(MFds)

Multifunction devices (Mfds) are machines, which print and fax as well as copy. Most Visy sites now operate Mfds.

WhenselectingMFds:

1. evaluate the likely recurrent financial and environmental impact of the Mfd compared to individual pieces of equipment.

2. The advantages of Mfds include system integration, ease of use, office space savings and often significantly lower capital costs (compared to buying several equipment items performing the same range of functions).

3. choosing an Mfd over individual pieces of equipment can also create significant savings in embodied energy, materials and environmental impacts.

Page 10: Visy Green Office Guidelines

Australians use over 1.8 million tonnes of copy and printing paper each year.3 Paper waste is often the single biggest component of solid waste in the workplace.

Visy Green Office–PaperUsageGuidecontainsideason different ways to reduce your office paper use and

reduce your impact on the environment:

•Whenusingcomputers

•Whenprinting

•Whenphotocopying

•Whenfaxing

•Buyingrecycledcontentpaperand remanufactured toner cartridges

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3 ABARE Australian Commodity Statistics, 2009

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Page 11: Visy Green Office Guidelines

3. Think twice before printing documents, particularly drafts and emails. common default settings for computers are 12-point type and 3.75cm left and right hand margins. using 11-point type and 2.54cm left hand margins and 1.27cm right hand margins can increase the amount of information you can fit on a page by over 20%.

When Printing

1. Before you print, think whether you really need a printed copy.

2. Adjust margins and type size to fit more on each page.

3. use Print Preview function to adjust for correct layout and fit before printing.

4. use recycled content office paper.

5. Print double sided. Most printers should be set to default to double-sided for every print, but if not, you can do this for your computer through your printer options.

6. reuse paper that has been only been printed on one page whenever you can.

When Photocopying

Paper and photocopying is often the biggest cost for offices and has the most environmental impact. strategies that reduce the need for multiple copies of documents can save energy, money and the environment.

Strategies to consider:

1. reduce the number of printed copies you make by communicating through circulation lists, notice boards and email. storage of information can be saved either on your computer hard drive, the network or an external hard-drive like a usB memory stick for better portability.

2. reduce the number of sheets needed to print a given amount of information by using double-sided copying, reducing two pages to fit on one sheet, and loading paper already printed on one side into an extra paper supply bin.

WhenUsingComputers

1. Reducemarginsettingsandtypesizes so that the printer uses less paper.

2. Where possible, optimise electronic communication methods including email, secure electronic forms and transactions. This reduces the financial and environmental costs of paper manufacture and supply. It also reduces the cost of transporting hard copy documents via mail or courier.

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PAPER USAGE MYTh

MYTh: Printing double-sided and/or using recycled paper causes photocopiers to jam and makes you use more paper.

REALITY: While this may have been common with older copiers, this is avoidable in modern equipment. When buying photocopiers and printers, ensure that manufacturers and suppliers are prepared to guarantee effective performance with recycled papers.

“WHENFAXINGUSEPAPERTHATHASALREAdYBEENPRINTEdONONESIdE.”

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When Faxing

1. use electronic fax programs if available. These no longer require you to send paper through the fax machine but can be sent directly from your computer. A number of Visy offices already support these programs.

2. in many cases, faxes are transmitted with a separate cover sheet and individual transmissions or status reports are printed. This increases the amount of paper used by one-third. you can avoid the problem by using stick-on labels or rubber stamps for the front pages of faxes and writing in the name of the recipient, the date and the number of pages being sent.

3. use paper that has already been printed on one side.

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As part of the growing trend in green office programs, office suppliers have an increasing selection of recycled, re-manufactured and environmentally aware office products.

look out for products such as:

• Paper made from 50% or higher recycled content

• refillable printer and toner cartridges

• re-manufactured printer and toner cartridges made from recycled materials

Visy’s preferred stationery supplier, lyreco supplies a selection of recycled, re-manufactured and environmentally aware office products including recycled paper and remanufactured toner cartridges.

currently lyreco identifies products with sustainability credentials with the logo shown. This logo will help assist you to find more sustainable products when you next order your office supplies.

For further details contact the head office Procurement team at Freshwater Place.

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Saving water is a vital part of having a sustainable business. The long-term effects of drought along with an ever increasing demand for clean water is putting more pressure on the supply of freshwater to our cities, towns and agriculture.

WATER EFFICIENCY

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Page 15: Visy Green Office Guidelines

Along with saving water at home, reducing our water consumption at work is key to helping reduce overall water usage.

The following ideas can be easily implemented around your office:

1. lever or mixer taps (with a single lever or knob) let you find the right water temperature quickly. This means you won’t waste water trying to get the balance right.

2. When cleaning, use a bucket to wash and rinse where possible, instead of running the taps.

3. An easy way to reduce water wastage is to check for leaks in taps, pipes and hoses. fix leaks when they first become an issue. A slowly dripping tap can waste a couple of litres each hour, reaching almost 20,000 litres a year.4 To reduce leaks, turn your taps off lightly and replace washers as soon as they begin to leak.

4. Wait until there is a full load in the dishwasher before switching it on. This saves water and energy, and reduces the amount of detergent entering the sewer system.

5. When buying a new dishwasher, ensure that the product has at least a four-star water efficiency rating.

6. rinsing your dishes in a plugged sink or bowl rather than under a running tap saves water and is just as easy and effective.

7. installing dual flush toilets if your office doesn’t already have them. They use half as much water as conventional models.

For more information about ways to save water in the office go to www.savewater.com.au

“ASLOWLYdRIPPINGTAPCANWASTEACOUPLEOFLITRESEACHHOUR,REACHINGALMOST20,000LITRESAYEAR.”

WATER MYTh

MYTh: dishwashersusemorewaterthanwashing in the sink.

REALITY: dependingonthemodel,moderndishwashers can use much less water than hand washing if fully loaded. Efficient dishwashers can use around 14 litres of water to wash 12 place settings of dishes. Youwouldneeduptothreetimesthatamount to hand wash the same dishes. Also rinsing under running hot water can use even more water and energy.

SOURCE: www.saveenergy.vic.gov.au

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Visyiscommittedtorecyclinginitsday-to-dayoperations. As recycling is one of our core businesses, it is important that we ‘walk thetalk’andcommittorecyclinginall our offices.Recyclingisamajorweaponagainstclimatechange.Byredirectingrecyclablematerialsawayfrom

landfill, the amount of greenhouse gas produced through landfill is reduced.

Recycling:

•Savesnaturalresourcesbyreusing materials to turn back into new products

•Saveselectricitybyusingrecycled materials instead of virgin sources

•Helpspreventpollutionby reducing emissions from landfill

•Saveswatercomparedto processing of virgin material

OFFICE RECYCLING

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Recyclingcanbenefityouroffice(andathome)inanumberofways.

Did you know?

Every tonne of recycled cardboard used insteadofvirginmaterialssave6000kgofCO2 emissions,9.3GJofenergyand25kLofwater.

Every tonne recycled PET used instead of virgin PETresinsaves950kgofCO2 emissions, 48GJ ofenergyandover20kLofwater.

Every tonne of recycled aluminium cans used instead of virgin materials saves over 15,000kgofCO2 emissions, 181GJ of energy andover181kLofwater.

There are many ways to reduce waste and recycle around the office, and in doing so, helping you to reduce your impact on the environment.

• recycling office waste.

• recycling computers and mobile phones.

• Battery and printer cartridges recycling.

WHATCANYOUdOINTHEOFFICE?

RecyclingOffice‘Waste’

your office and/or employee kitchens and tea rooms should all have separate bins for waste disposal of:

• co-mingled recyclables; glass, plastic, cans and milk/juice cartons

• Paper/cardboard waste

• General waste

• Organic waste (food scraps)

contact your commercial cleaning services to add this to your service and Visy recycling to make sure separate collection of waste is effective. Waste audits should be conducted regularly to ensure all employees are using the correct waste and recycling bins.

RecyclingComputers

Try to keep computers and laptops in good condition through the life of the machine. All leased computers and laptops should be returned to the leasing team at the end of the agreement to be returned to the supplier. Visy owned computers should be disposed of at appropriate electronic recyclers or donated.

RECYCLING MYTh

MYTh: All glass and ceramics can be recycled.

REALITY: The type of glass used for the crockery has a much higher melting temperature than a single-use glass. In the melting down process, the glass remains solid andcontaminatesthebatch.Contaminationof as little as five grams per tonne can result in valuable glass going to landfill.

SOURCE: www.recyclingnearyou.com.au

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RecyclingPrinterCartridges

Our preferred office stationery supplier, lyreco, offers a free service to customers for the collection and recycling of printer cartridges in partnership with Planet Ark. lyreco will supply a collection box for empty toner and ink cartridges and will organise the collection of the box when it is full. registration forms for this service is available via the lyreco catalogue or visit www.cartridges.planetark.org

RecyclingMobilePhones

Mobile phones contain valuable materials such as plastics, gold, nickel and cadmium, of which 90% can be recovered to make new products like stainless steel, batteries, composite fence posts and jewellery. All Visy mobile phones should be returned to the leasing team to either be refurbished and redistributed or recycled.

MobileMuster is the official national recycling program of the mobile phone industry in Australia.

The program collects and recycles mobile phone handsets, batteries and accessories from a network of over 1400 mobile phone retailers, local council, government agencies and business drop off points across Australia. To find out more go to www.mobilemuster.com.au

BatteryRecycling

Batteries contain a range of environmentally hazardous chemicals including cadmium, mercury and nickel, all of which are toxic in high concentration. in particular chemicals like cadmium are a major pollutant when it enters the soil. recycling batteries is an easy way in which to prevent batteries from entering and contaminating landfill sites.

Transpacific cleanaway offers a national battery disposal service through a pre-paid recycling box. The service includes delivery of the box, return postage of the full box and recycling of the batteries. simply deposit your used batteries

“MOBILEPHONESCONTAINVALUABLEMATERIALSSUCHASPLASTICS,GOLd,NICKELANdCAdMIUM,OFWHICH90%CANBERECOVEREdTOMAKENEWPROdUCTS.”

into the box and, once full, tape the opening shut and follow the return instructions on the side of the box.

Contact Cleanaway at www.transpacific.com.au/ content/battery-recycling.aspx to arrange a battery recycling service for your office.

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Along with travelling to and from work, many Visyemployeesalsotravelforbusiness.ReducingtravelreducesfossilfueluseandCO2 emissions from

vehicles particularly cars. Here you will find ideas on different ways to reduce your carbon emissions when travelling for

work, such as:

•Consideringwhethertravelisnecessary

•Virtualmeetingsorphoneconferences

•Gettingtowork

TRAVEL

TRANSPORT MYTh

MYTh:Carsaremoreefficientthanpublictransport because they never run empty.

REALITY:Noteverytripinacarisvaluable.When one person drops off another and returns home, the car is equivalent to a public transport vehicle with no-one but a driver on

board. However if you average the amount of trips and the number of passengers on

board, then public transport is clearly more efficient than cars.

SOURCE: www.ptua.org.au/ myths

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VirtualMeetings

A virtual meeting is one where travelling to the meeting is replaced by using communications technologies, such as phone, computer or video-conference to run the meeting at a distance.

These meetings can be run in many different formats, such as:

• teleconference

• videoconferencing

• email

• skype or other web-based applications

Visy has teleconference lines available to most sites and video conferencing facilities available at some of our larger sites. These meetings will not only help to reduce your carbon emissions (through reduced travel), but they will also save you time and money.

VideoConferencingLocations

Video conferencing is available at the following locations:

head office, freshwater Place; Business solutions, coburg; Plastics, clayton; Plastics, thailand;

Pet, kings Park; fibre Packaging, dandening; fibre Packaging, Gepps cross; fibre Packaging, O’connor; fibre Packaging, wodonga; fibre Packaging, yatala; fibre Packaging, coolaroo; fibre Packaging, wiri; Pulp and Paper, tumut; Pulp and Paper, coolaroo; recycling, Onehunga; recycling, smithfield

contact the Business solutions Helpdesk on 1800 004 088 to have them schedule a video conference for you and for any other technical support such as meetings between three or more sites.

IstheTravelNecessary?

consider whether the travel is necessary. can the meeting be conducted by phone, video conference or through other electronic means? if the travel is needed, can other activities be added to the itinerary to reduce travel in the future? This is particularly important when travelling interstate and air travel is required.

“CONSIdERWHETHERTHETRAVELISNECESSARY.CANTHEMEETINGBECONdUCTEdBYPHONE,VIdEOCONFERENCEORTHROUGHOTHERELECTRONICMEANS?”

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Getting to Work

CarpoolingtoWork

carpooling can often be the easiest and most convenient way to shift to a more sustainable form of transport. Here are some ideas to get carpooling system started in your workplace.

• ask around your office to find out if anyone lives near you.

• an easy way to co-ordinate carpooling is to start a list on your noticeboard so all employees can add their names and suburbs.

• Get together the people close to you and organise a schedule of times and days for sharing the driving.

carpooling is a great way to get to know your work mates and encourage better team relationships. finding someone to share the driving with you also means less wear and tear on your own vehicle and can also save money on fuel and parking costs for all involved.

At some Visy sites, a Visy carpool car is provided for those who need to travel during their working day and don’t have a company car available. Ask

your office manager or administration for details on how to book and use this car.

Public Transport

using public transport not only saves money (compared to the total costs of running your car) but it also avoids the stress from driving in peak-hour traffic.

Here are some ideas to get you to consider public transport:

• find a map showing public transport routes to and from your work site

• share this information with workmates by displaying on noticeboard

• consider using public transport use for business travel

• negotiate with public transport providers to provide better services to your work site

Walking to Work

One of the healthiest and cheapest ways for you to get to work is to use your feet.

Thirty minutes of walking to and from work each day can help to:

• reduce the risk of heart attack

• lower blood pressure and cholesterol and

• help to control weight

Walking also has the lowest environmental impact of all forms of transport. it produces no pollution or greenhouse gas emissions.

RidingtoWork

cycling helps keep us fit and reduces both stress, and the chance of heart disease. People who ride to work arrive invigorated and can work off the day’s stress on the way home. cycling to and from work also reduces local road congestion as well as air and noise pollution and helps Australia reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Healthy employees are more efficient, more productive and take less time off work. employers can improve access to their site and have a greener image. for longer distances, staff can combine cycling with other forms of travel, such as public transport.

if you choose to cycle to work, remember to find out where the bicycle parking is located on site and how to get there safely.

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Cateringcanhavealargeenvironmentalimpact through the type of food and drink consumed, the use of packaging and the amount of food and drink ordered.

The following ideas will help you to reduce your impact when catering for corporate events such as staff

meetings and customer functions.

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FoodandBeverage

• try and use local/australian food and beverage products at your event.

• ask whether vegetarian, organic and fair trade choices are available.

• cater for the right number of people, don’t over order as this will only result in food waste.

• ask whether caterers and event providers have an environmental/sustainability policy and for details of their environmental programs.

• try to source products packaged in visy recyclable packaging such as PeT drink bottles or aluminium cans.

Cutlery,CrockeryandPackaging

• try to serve food and drinks on reusable plates and glasses.

• if you need to use disposable cutlery and crockery use alternatives that are recyclable, degradable or made from renewable resources.

• if you use disposable cups ensure they are of PeT plastic or a paper makeup approved by Visy recycling.

• have recycling facilities in place for the disposal of recyclable materials.

Recycling

ensure that all recyclable materials from catering are recycled using the appropriate recycling bins. if your site does not have recycling, contact Visy recycling to organise them on 1300 368 479.

LinksforSustainableCatering

Event Suppliers:

TheGreendirectory– event suppliers, food and drink products and catering services. www.thegreendirectory.com.au

“CATERFORTHERIGHTNUMBEROFPEOPLE,dON’TOVERORdERASTHISWILLONLYRESULTINFOOdWASTE.”

RecyclingServices:

VisyRecycling– www.visy.com.au/recycling

Cutlery,CrockeryandPackaging: GoingGreenSolutions–Catering and Packaging ware. www.goinggreensolutions.com.au

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level 11, 2 southbank Blvd, southbank Vic 3006T: 13 Visy (13 8479) | F: 03 9247 4743 | W: www.visy.com.au