Environmental Sustainability Project
Converga’s Environmental vision is to develop revolutionary solutions that improve our clients’ impact on the environment, and sustainable practices internally and with our partners to improve our impact on the environment.
Internal Practices
We are committed to a successful and sustainable future for our people, our business, our environment and the community in which we operate. We participate in the Corporate Responsibility Index under the umbrella of our parent, NZ Post, and have a growing number of programmes and initiatives across the Group which reflect this commitment, such as:
- An Environmental Management System consistent with AS/NZ 14000, and Environmental Management Policy available to all employees, contractors and other stakeholders, as well as the general public
- Active participation in the Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW ‘Sustainability Advantage Program’
- Corporate sponsor of Rainforest Rescue, developing employee and customer reward programs to regenerate precious rainforest
- Member of The Centre for Volunteering to develop a national corporate Employee Volunteering Program
- Working with Energetics Pty Ltd to measure our greenhouse gas emissions and constantly assess opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint
- Managing a national recycling and waste minimisation program at all Converga Technology Centres
- Implemented initiatives to successfully reduce our paper consumption by approximately 30%, and purchasing copy paper that contains recycled content, is Australian made and accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council
- Purchasing Green Power and conducting business process re-engineering projects to reduce our energy consumption
- Integrated environmental awareness programs into our staff training process to promote a culture of social awareness, and we reward staff members who are actively engaged in creating positive environmental impacts that will assist our environmental goals
Revolutionary Solutions
Intelligent Imaging
The focus of our core business is supporting the movement of paper-based and digital information flows within a business, with a focus on paper to digital document conversion and intelligent imaging solutions. Our customised e-business solutions include:
- Digital mail
- Electronic records management systems
- Forms automation
- Paperless accounts payable
- Procure to pay
Our paperless accounts payable solution has resulted in one client reducing the amount of paper invoices it receives by 400,000 sheets each year, which equates to approximately 55 trees.
We have engaged expert consultants from Hatch Pty Ltd to complete Comparative Life Cycle Analysis Studies of paper versus digital images to ascertain the environmental cost of a physical document. This enables the tangible environmental benefits of moving to a paperless environment to be documented and realised by clients that receive our imaging services.
Off-site Mailroom and Logistics Re-engineering
Converga provides off-site mailroom services from our technology centres in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. This initiative has resulted in several environmental benefits for our clients, including:
- Greenhouse gas emissions resulting form mailroom operations (electricity, waste, transport, equipment etc) are measured as part of Converga’s carbon footprint rather than our clients’
- Reduced transport (i.e. one courier collecting mail from the GPO and transporting it to our CTC, rather than five couriers transporting mail to five on-site mailrooms)
In addition, Converga manages third party courier contracts for the majority of its mailroom clients. Part of this service includes logistics re-engineering to remove multiple carriers, design efficient route models and manage consumption. These services have achieved cost savings for some clients in the order of 22%, whilst at the same time reducing our clients’ impact on the environment.
Converga Technology Centre Sydney
The following design aspects and product selections are being considered for our new off-site facility in Sydney:
- Energy efficient lighting systems
- Environmental Choice Australia ticks and 3 Star Green Ratings for office furniture
- Eco panel for workstation partitions and wall panelling
- High Environmental Rating on carpets
- Low VOC paints
- Recycling stations
- Inclusion of bicycle racks to encourage alternative transport
To Converga, being sustainable means thinking about tomorrow. We believe that we are heading in the right direction and are confident that our ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability will ensure we continue to make significant inroads and progress on this critical issue.
18 August, 2008
