Netherlands Embassy
Netherlands Embassy
Worlds apart on waste: working with the Netherlands Embassy.
When Xiaoling reached out to us at the beginning of 2018 our initial response was what could we possibly teach the Netherlands Embassy about waste management?
To us, the Netherlands is one of the key players in the waste management world. We’ve studied their practices, been in awe of their forward-thinking waste management structure and (on the most part) agree with the principles of ‘Lansink’s Ladder’.
At the Embassy, they were already using misprint notebooks and had their own coffee machine so they could reduce coffee cup waste and had some pretty big ideas on what an environmentally friendly workplace meant for them. So the problem wasn’t that they weren’t motivated - the problem was that they needed help figuring out why a ‘copy and paste’ of what they do in the Netherlands wasn’t working in New Zealand.
Unlike the Netherlands, New Zealand doesn’t have stringent laws on regulating waste management. Our national systems are very different. Our onsite assessment confirmed our suspicions. Despite good intentions, their current waste processes were not set up to minimise waste in New Zealand and a lot of waste was ending up in landfill unnecessarily.
Following the assessment and based on our recommendations, the Embassy went on to upgrade a number of their waste systems and practices, including: improved waste stations, removing any obstacles to good practice, and introducing recommended signage. The Embassy also improved both waste and energy efficiency by removing all unnecessary printers (previously, everyone had a printer) and replaced them with two efficient printer copiers that were set up specifically for increased efficiency and reduced paper usage.
A Green Team was formed with five staff members who actively participated in the introduction of the new systems, and all staff attended an education session led by our team to engage them in the changes being made . In doing so this ensured that the investment made in improving waste systems was adopted wholeheartedly by all staff members, helping to create a culture of sustainability throughout the Embassy.
We also worked with them to help the cleaning staff understand the changes, ultimately figuring out a system that worked for everyone. A system that is reviewed every six months to maintain integrity.
We returned to the Embassy in October to conduct a reassessment and found that, amongst other successes, the staff had reduced their landfill waste from 80% of their total waste to just 24%! With the staff’s combined efforts and support from us, the Embassy’s waste culture grading took a huge leap from an ‘E’ to an ‘A-’ in just eight months.
The Embassy staff were so inspired by their sustainability successes that they ended up partnering with Sustainability Trust to launch a pilot battery recycling bin in September 2018 - the second public batteries collection point in Wellington, the other being at Sustainability Trust. The bin is available to all Embassy staff and to customers visiting the Netherlands Embassy.
Two years on, the Embassy continues to explore different avenues for minimising their environmental impact. They have now included a worm farm in their carpark for all their green waste, and have sold the Embassy’s official car, so that staff are predominantly travelling by bike or public transport. They are also in the process of replacing all light to LED lights at the Embassy and the Ambassador’s residence, and are looking at other options to make the residence more sustainable.
