Sustainable Environmental Impacts
At FastAid, Sustainability is about always getting
better at doing the right things. And part of that is
accepting our responsibility to do what we can for
a more sustainable environment. Our Environmental
Sustainability Strategy is built on three principles;
measure, reduce and offset.
Whilst we appreciate the fact that we are a small
business operating in a very large landscape, we
understand our responsibility to do what we can to
minimise our impact on the environment.
We have engaged a 100% carbon neutral energy
provider, accredited under the government’s Climate
Active Carbon Neutral Standard, who also has been
awarded Australia’s greenest power company in 2020
by Finder and previously recognised by Greenpeace
for three years running. (1)
We are proud of the fact that our third-party
warehouse and distribution centre in Eastern
Creek, New South Wales is a five-star certified
building by Green Star, an internationally recognised
sustainability rating system for buildings. Green Star
rated buildings use 66% less electricity (2) and 62%
fewer greenhouse gas emissions (2) than average
Australian city buildings, contributing to reducing our
environmental impact whilst also improving the health
and wellbeing of occupants. Our distribution facility is
also nearing achievement of a 100% electrified forklift
and manual handling fleet, contributing to a cleaner,
safer and more efficient work environment.
By the end of CY2021 we are aiming for 100%
alignment with the 2025 National Packaging Targets
including: 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable
packaging, and 70% of plastic packaging being
recycled or composted. (3) We are serious about
our journey towards a circular economy for
packaging, ensuring our packaging is sustainable and
contributing towards reducing landfill. We are also
actively working on our new LOOP concept, a cyclic
first aid waste diversion program to recycle first aid
kit cases, consumables, and consumable packaging
waste, offering Australia a more sustainable way to do
workplace first aid.
Our Environmental Sustainability Strategy is built
on three principles; measure, reduce and offset.
It is a cyclic process of identification, change
and improvement to enable better environmental
outcomes. The old saying applies; what gets
measured gets managed.
1. Measure
We work closely with our environmental sustainability
partners at Carbon Neutral who conduct complex
assessments to measure our carbon footprint and
evaluate where energy is consumed.
2. Reduce
From the assessments conducted by Carbon Neutral,
ways to improve our carbon footprint and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions are identified, and carbon
reduction programmes established.
3. Offset
For our unavoidable emissions we will compensate
through carbon offsets by supporting carbon projects
that benefit both the environment and sustainable
development for local communities.
Our goal
Through applying our measure, reduce and offset
principles, we will achieve 100% Carbon Neutral
status by 2022.
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Carbon Neutral was established in 2001 as a nonprofit
in response to the growing global concern of
climate change.
In the years following, an increasing demand grew
among large businesses for carbon advisory and
reforestation. A new entity emerged in 2013, which
as a profit-for-purpose organisation allowed Carbon
Neutral to cater for the gap in the market provided
and deliver corporate advisory services to larger
organisations.
Carbon sequestration with associated habitat
restoration benefits were sought after by
organisations, this interest funded the revegetation
project at the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor and
allowed for it to become a large-scale program.
In 2009 Carbon Neutral’s parent company Auscarbon,
was the first company in Australia to produce carbon
credits within the Federal Government’s Greenhouse
Friendly™ accreditation framework. Since then
they have been innovative in developing their
own reforestation carbon offsets and Plant-a-Tree
Program.
Carbon Neutral’s Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor
reforestation project was the first in Australia to
achieve premium Gold Standard certification, a
significant achievement reached through the ability
to demonstrate carbon storage for 100 years. The
project delivers measurable direct environmental,
social, economic and heritage benefits.
Together they have established more than 14,000
hectares of biodiverse plantings, equivalent to 2,250
Melbourne Cricket Grounds, making it the largest
biodiverse reforestation carbon sink in Australia.
Carbon Neutral is a market leader with a global
reputation, and one of the longest standing carbon
offset providers in Australia. Their services include
energy and water auditing, and carbon consulting and
reduction programs. They are the developer of a Gold
Standard certified reforestation project.
Carbon Neutral is a recognised offset entity under
the Federal Government’s Emission Reduction Fund
and are a signatory on the Australian Carbon Industry
Code of Conduct.
We are excited that Carbon Neutral has partnered
with FastAid to measure, reduce and neutralise our
organisational carbon footprint. They are working
closely with us to improve efficiency and reduce our
costs to deliver positive sustainable outcomes and
minimise our impact on the planet.
Through applying our measure,
reduce and offset principles,
We will achieve
100% Carbon Neutral
status by 2023.
Reducing waste and
supporting recycling
Reducing waste is a global concern that is important
to both FastAid and our customers. We are
passionate about promoting a circular economy to
reduce landfill and use resources wisely.
We are passionate about designing packaging that
supports a circular economy to reduce landfill. We
also understand that we need to make it easy for
consumers to recycle our packaging whilst ensuring
our products are protected suitably during transport
to prevent product damage, leading to waste.
FastAid is an active member of the Australian
Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), who is
responsible for delivering the federal government’s
2025 National Packaging Targets.
We are undertaking a packaging reviews to ensure
we are aligned with APCO’s Sustainable Packaging
Guidelines, which provide 10 principles for packaging
design:
1. Design for recovery
2. Optimise material efficiency
3. Design to reduce product waste
4. Eliminate hazardous materials
5. Use recycled materials
6. Use renewable materials
7. Design to minimise litter
8. Design for transport efficiency
9. Design for accessibility
10. Provide consumer information on sustainability
We are working closely with our suppliers on creative
and innovative ways to reduce packaging waste, from
manufacture right through to distribution and final
delivery to the consumer to ensure alignment with
APCO’s 10 principles.
A key initiative to reduce waste is replacing our
existing plastic retail packaging with recyclable
FSC Certified cardboard packaging. Through our
APCO membership, we are committed to removing
problematic plastics from our packaging in entirety by
the end of 2021 as part of a global effort to reduce
landfill.
We are utilising APCO’s PREP tool (Packaging
Recyclability Evaluation Portal) to assesses packaging
recyclability in the Australian and New Zealand
recovery systems. PREP empowers us to understand
whether our packaging is recyclable, non-recyclable,
or conditionally recyclable – provided consumers
follow a set of instructions during disposal.
We are planning on adopting the ARL (Australasian
Recycling Label). The ARL is generated using the
evidence supplied by PREP. Only once a business
has conducted a PREP assessment can the ARL
be used on pack, which is one easy label on our
packaging. The ARL is enabling and making it easier
for many Australians and New Zealanders to correctly
recycle packaging.
We are also investigating other innovative ways to
reduce the amount of packaging used in the shipping
process, all contributing towards our target of 100%
carbon neutral status by 2022.
Procurement Policies
Our Ethical Sourcing & Modern Slavery Policy
ensures that we only engage suppliers that act with
environmental responsibility. The policy ensures that,
as a minimum, suppliers comply with all applicable
laws and regulations relating to the environmental
impacts of their business and that waste is minimised
and items recycled whenever this is practicable.
Energy Efficiency
We understand the impact that energy production
has on the environment and a proactively engaging in
initiatives to reduce energy consumption and support
renewable energy.
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We have engaged a 100% carbon neutral energy
provider, accredited under the government’s Climate
Active Carbon Neutral Standard, who also has been
awarded Australia’s greenest power company in 2020
by Finder and previously recognised by Greenpeace
for three years running. (1)
By purchasing 50% of our electricity requirements
as dedicated GreenPower we are displacing our
electricity usage with certified renewable energy that
has no net greenhouse gas emissions, which is done
in the form of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).
The government-managed GreenPower Program
independently audits our energy provider each year to
ensure this is the case.
We are pleased to have installed solar power to
our head office premises, resulting in up to 60% of
electricity for the site being delivered by a renewable
energy source. We are actively investigating ways to
improve our solar power capacity.
We are proud of the fact that our third-party
warehouse and distribution centre in Eastern
Creek, New South Wales is a five-star certified
building by Green Star, an internationally recognised
sustainability rating system for buildings. Green Star
rated buildings use 66% less electricity (2) and 62%
fewer greenhouse gas emissions (2) than average
Australian city buildings, contributing to reducing our
environmental impact whilst also improving the health
and wellbeing of occupants.
Our distribution facility is also nearing achievement of
a 100% electrified forklift and manual handling fleet,
contributing to a cleaner, safer and more efficient
work environment. This is resulting in drastically
reduced carbon emissions
1): Powershop 2020
(2): Value of Green Star: A decade of environmental benefits, Green Building Council of
Australia (2013).