The majority of our material use is within our corporate offices, where we can make the most impact by minimising materials used and maximising the amount of recycling.
An initiative to encourage customers to view their bill online rather than receiving a paper copy is saving 6,400 reams of paper a month, or 76,800 reams of paper a year.
We have streamlined supply chain management processes for printer and toner cartridges to eliminate double counting and unnecessary over-stocking. In addition, Optus has been involved in printer and toner recycling program ‘Close the Loop’ since 2004, and provides cartridge recycling at all Optus sites.
All e-waste, such as computers, monitors and printers are collected and recycled.
We recognise that the social and environmental performance of our business plays a significant role in our long-term success. This extends to the procurement of products and services. We expect our suppliers to adhere to a minimum level of social and environmental standards set out in our SupplierCode of Practice (SCoP). We have also specified leadership qualities for these areas.Suppliers that have adopted these leadership expectations will be considered favourably. The six critical areas detailed in this code of practice are:
- Governance
- Performance reporting
- Environmental management
- Energy Efficiency
- Labour
- Supplier Management.
Our Environmental Management System outlines a number of environmental principles that are considered when purchasing telecommunications goods since most of this equipment is not manufactured by Optus. For ‘rebranded’ equipment distributed through our retail stores, the primary packaging materials are paper and cardboard, shrink-wrap and blister packs.
General waste bins are available in all kitchen and common areas. To prevent staff from throwing recyclables in the wrong bin, we have no general waste bins at office desks.
All general waste is sent to the WSN Alternative Waste Treatment facility. A mechanical sorter recovers any additional recyclable materials, with the remaining waste processed through a biological treatment that isolates and processes the organic fraction from the general waste to make compost.