Category Overview

The Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards would like to promote Gold Coast organisations and businesses that have implemented good environmental practises in their business operations. It is about rewarding through recognition, those who have taken the initiative to find improved ways to assist in managing our precious environment.

The category is open for businesses across all sectors. The GCBEA are aiming to promote environmental responsibility of businesses generally, not just those in the environmental industry specifically.

Criteria to address:

General Environmental Measures

Some things to consider when preparing your submission:

• Do have an industry recognised environmental accreditation or are working towards one?
• Do you look at / make purchasing decisions based on the environmental credentials of your supply chain?
• Use of measures such as Environmental Management Systems; eg. Do you have an environmental policy, and/or procedures for managing the environmental aspects of your business? 
• Training and involvement of staff to achieve waste, water or energy reductions.

Waste Avoidance

Some things to consider when preparing your submission:

• What change in practises have you undertaken to reduce / avoid generating waste?
• How have you reduced office paper wastage?
• Have you managed to increase recycling rates? what do you now recycle and what proportion of your waste do you now recycle?
• Have you explored opportunities to on sell or recycle your waste to other businesses as material inputs?
• Have you undertaken any work to determine exactly what is thrown out (a waste audit) 
• What Financial benefits have you realised?

Water Avoidance

Some things to consider when preparing your submission:

• Reduction in water consumption and wastewater production due      to conservation measures;
• Financial implications of the water saving measures including capital cost, operating costs, payback periods and financing methods.
• Energy Avoidance and Greenhouse Reduction
• Reduction in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions due to the abatement measures;
• Financial implications of the energy and greenhouse saving measures, including capital cost, operating costs, payback periods and financing methods.

Some things to consider when preparing your submission:

• What initiatives have been undertaken to reduce energy use in your business?
• Have you undertaken an energy audit? (ie determined how much energy and what plant and equipment makes up your energy use)
• Have you tried to determine your greenhouse gas emissions?