Sustainability Case Studies
Royal Life Saving case study
The Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) of WA provides pool safety services, training and assessment throughout the state of WA. The Society has 23 vehicles to assist with delivering these services, which on average, travel over 31,000km each per annum.
In 2010, RLSS commenced an environmental program to reduce its environmental impact with a key component of the program to review the vehicle fleet. Despite needing vehicles to travel long distances across the state, it was identified that a portion of 4WDs could be downsized to compact vehicles, reducing fuel demands and greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, this change is expected to deliver fuel savings of $8600 per annum.
Drug Aware Pro case study
The Margaret River Drug Aware Pro surfing competition sees over 200 men and women travel from around the globe to Margaret River to compete in this iconic surfing competition. In recent years, event organisers have worked to understand and improve on their sustainability performance. In the first year, it was about understanding what sustainable event management entailed with a focus on waste minimisation and energy conservation. This was achieved by providing recycling infrastructure, ensuring caterers used recyclable materials, the use of hybrid vehicles and changing the run patterns of on-site power generation (particularly for overnight lighting). Not only did this lead to an improvement in environmental performance, but the also reduced the event’s diesel costs by about $2000.
In the following year, organisers were looking to improve further and developed a sustainability policy to guide their actions; a sustainable procurement policy to assist with identifying like-minded suppliers; and chose to offset all competitors’ travel emissions to reduce the event’s greenhouse gas footprint.
Rowing WA case study
Rowing WA commissioned an event sustainability audit of the Rowing WA State Championships Regatta to gain an understanding of the event’s environmental impact and what could be done to improve it in the future. The audit measured the event’s carbon footprint, waste generated and water consumed.
Through the process of conducting the audit, the high energy and water efficiency of the newly developing Champion Lakes facility was noted and the positive affect this had on the event’s carbon footprint, emphasising the value of good venue selection.
Surf Life Saving WA case study
Surf Life Saving WA (SLSWA) undertook a sustainability audit of two of their surf life saving clubs to understand the environmental impact and identify possible improvements that could be relevant for all SLSWA clubs. The audit identified positive actions already undertaken such as dual flush toilets, a conscious effort to reduce printing at both clubs and encouraging all member to bring their own drink bottles to refill.
A series of opportunities to further reduce their environmental impact were identified such as installation of efficient lighting, the development of a sustainable procurement policy and encouraging car pooling where possible.
Triathlon WA case study
Triathlon Western Australia (TWA) wanted to improve sustainability within the sport and selected Ironman 70.3 Busselton to showcase sustainable sports management practices. A particular focus was on waste management. In the first year as a sustainable event, TWA identified a local waste management company who were able to provide bins to separate waste into different categories for recycling and to ensure that the separated waste was processed appropriately.
The next year, TWA further developed this partnership by inviting the waste manager to sponsor the event, further assisting them in achieving their waste management and sustainability goals.
Football West case study
Football West developed its ‘Black, Gold and Green’ program to raise awareness of environmental issues at community football clubs in WA. The program concentrates on three core components of a typical football club: 1) energy usage for heating showers, lighting training pitches and general club operations; 2) irrigation and chemical use to maintain grass pitches; and 3) recycling and waste management on event days.
The program was heavily sponsored and supported by a local solar provider, MySolar, which installed a large array of solar panels on the grandstand at Macedonia Park in Stirling. The system is expected to produce 20–25% of the energy required for the park, thus reducing energy bills and improving sustainability. From a greenhouse gas perspective, it will remove more than 14 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year – the equivalent to taking four cars off the road.
WA Football Commission case study
The Western Australian Football Commission (WAFC) is responsible for the management of Patersons Stadium in Subiaco.
With no ability to on-bill electricity charges to tenants, the WAFC needed to find alternative ways to improve energy efficiency. The commission installed real-time energy monitoring to help engage their staff, identify energy saving opportunities and improve sustainability. Within six months of installing energy monitoring, 5–10% worth of energy savings had been identified.
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