McCallums Apparelmaster earns environmental recognition
Southland’s leading laundry and commercial dry cleaning business has had their commitment to the environment recognised with a gold level certification in sustainable practices.
McCallums Apparelmaster, based in Invercargill, has earned the Gold Certification in the Instep Carbon and Sustainability programme.
Instep, a New Zealand-based company that provides a range of carbon and sustainability programmes, uses international standards to measure environmental impacts including carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions monitoring.
McCallums Group Sales and Marketing Manager Paul Harrington says the achievement is fantastic recognition for the work the team had put in over the past 12 months.
“Environmental sustainability is something we are incredibly conscious of. As a laundry business we have always been aware of the potential impacts our operations might have on our environment.”
They achieved the certification after completing their third annual greenhouse gas emissions profile, which revealed a 12.2 percent reduction in total emissions from the 2014/15 year, and a 16.27 percent reduction in standardised emissions for the same time period.
“Since joining the Instep programme three years ago, we’ve made tangible environmental gains across the board, improving measured outputs each year,” Mr Harrington says.
“In 2014/15, we set a target of maintaining standardised emissions against the previous year’s levels. To not only meet, but exceed that target is a fantastic outcome.”
Instep calculates emissions based on a range of predetermined measures, depending on an individual business’s activity.
For McCallums, this included direct emissions under their control, such as equipment fuel and company vehicles, indirect emissions produced by electricity, and all other indirect emissions that may fall outside their footprint boundary. These are things such as distributed energy, third party freight, air travel, landfill waste, and paper and publications.
To reduce their direct emissions, McCallums switched from using LPG to a more environmentally friendly Wood Waste fuel source.
Mr Harrington says their work is far from done however.
“The Apparelmaster Group has long recognised we need to be proactive in looking after our environments. As technologies evolve we will too – this is just the beginning.”
Instep director Peter Birkett says McCallums is a well-respected leader in sustainability, both in the Apparelmaster group and the wider business community.
“McCallums’ commitment to finding efficient, environmentally friendly practices, particularly in the crucial area of fossil fuel use, means they can justifiably claim to be a leader in the area of sustainability and efficiency.”