Sustainability Policy For Kingfisher Garden Center Head Office

Overview of the current situation at Kingfisher Garden Center head office and goals for improvement

This policy applies to both current and prospective Kingfisher Garden Center staff members at head office located in Fairfield, Victoria 3078 at Darebin City. The key stakeholders that shall be responsible for this policy and procedures include the head office manager, department managers, supervisors, team leaders and the organization’s employees.

The policy is focused on addressing the sustainability issues and challenges faced at the Kingfisher Garden Center head office, the issues are related to what the organization customers care about like healthy and toxic-free environment. These include the problems like air quality as well as chemicals in food products, cosmetics and in home environment. The policy also address the environmental issues including climate change,  water and waste along with social issues concerning health, safety and well-being of the organization customers (Farrelly, and Brown, 2011, pp.721-732).

It also meets responsibilities for compliance with the controls and procedures. Various organization stakeholders must take the following key responsibilities. The head office manager shall be responsible to ensure that all organization stakeholders comply with the sustainability policies and procedures, they shall also monitor changes in this sustainability policy and help the staff to keep up-to-date changes. Department managers are responsible for training as well as supervising the organization’s employees to ensure the correct use of the organization’s resources as documented in the policies and procedures of the organization.

Legislation mandating compliance is also observed in this document. The policy meets legislative requirements of state as well as local government in Victoria cited in the Environment protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. In doing so, this sustainability policy is in compliance with the legal requirements to protect environment and save resources for the benefit of its customers.

The program takes into consideration the vision of Kingfisher. Together with the organization’s vision, the program guides compliance and help in achievement of business objectives of the agency to ensure that the organization customers have a beautiful garden space and safety requirements as defined in Kingfisher Garden Center vision statement.

This program applies to the values of the organization which include working with the nature and act in a sustainable and socially responsible manner. One of the core values of Kingfisher agency is to stand behind health and safety to meet the needs of its current and prospective customers. 

Overview of the current situation at Kingfisher Garden Center head office and goals for improvement

1. Waste

One of the main target of the Kingfisher Garden Center organization is to reduce waste disposal. This is to be achieved through minimization of waste and waste recycling initiatives. The improvements have been recorded but not much due to low rate of improvement in proposition of wastes recycled within some operating organizations. However, according to 2017/2018 sustainability report, Kingfisher garden Center needs zero waste to land-fill as well as 90% wastes recycled by the year 2025. This shows the need for a robust sustainability policy in order for the organization to achieve the target.

Waste management

This issue can, however be mitigated by implementing a coordinated and comprehensive reuse and recycling programs within various facilities and service districts. The use of products which require special waste handling should be eliminated whenever practicable. All hazardous, biological or special waste can be handled according to the defined policies and procedures. The hierarchy of reduce, recycle, reuse and compost should be followed before incineration and land filling activities. It is the policy of the organization to establish a program in order to manage solid wastes as shown (Yellishetty, Mudd, Ranjith, and Tharumarajah, 2011, pp.650-663): the program should be aimed to reduce the solid waste amount in order to minimize the wastes from environment.

Another focus of the program should be to reuse the solid waste materials for its original purposes, this is essential as it is in line with the goals of Kingfisher organization to have a zero waste to landfill by the year 2020. Another critical thing that the program should give priority is to dispose the solid wastes that cannot get recycled and reused through landfilling or any other method that is allowed by DEQ, this method does not only eradicate harmful wastes from environment but it also help in filling large caves left during mining activities (Yeheyis, Hewage, Alam, Eskicioglu, and Sadiq, 2013, pp.81-91).

Lastly, the program should focus on recovery of energy from the solid wastes that cannot be recycled or reused given that the energy recovery process is environment friendly, this strategy is essential in the sense that the it does not only meet the objectives of Kingfisher but also benefits the society as a whole through the energy generated from the waste materials (Yan, and Chen, 2015, pp.155; Yellishetty, Mudd, Ranjith, and Tharumarajah, 2011, pp.650-663).

1. Energy

The data from six month examination of electricity bills demonstrate some financial incentives to save energy. Kingfisher Garden center is developing a climate change strategy including the target for greenhouse gas reduction. Various operating companies have also set their own climate change target (Kern, and Howlett, 2009, pp.391). The Kingfisher corporate is currently working with carbon trust to find out the foot prints of carbon and identify ways by which its impacts can be reduced. However, the energy bills are still high for customers. As stated in the 2017/2018 report, the customers need a comfortable home where there is enough energy with low energy bills, the organization thus needs a proper sustainability program to meet the needs of its customers.

1. Water

Energy management

Kingfisher Garden Center plan to decrease the water utilization of the items the association offer by extending its reaches and expanding offers of water sparing items. Kingfisher Garden Center will likewise be giving data and guidance to clients on water proficiency. Amid 2017, Kingfisher Garden Center revealed its new brought together scopes of kitchen taps which meet the water productivity best practice principles. Amid 2018, Kingfisher Garden Center has been concentrating on bathroom taps, toilets and showers.

Kingfisher Garden Center are additionally investigating new answers for help clients oversee water use over the home, including items that can enhance the gathering and capacity of water. Enhancing water proficiency can be for a few extents, for example, showers, where clients frequently lean toward high water stream items for solace (Sandoval-Solis, McKinney, and Loucks, 2010, pp.381-390; Markard, Raven, and Truffer, 2012, pp.955-967; Daniels, Lenzen, and Kenway, 2011, pp.353-370). Kingfisher Garden Center is investigating diverse solution to this problem.

1. Transportation

The organization accomplished a change in store vitality effectiveness over the previous year; gaining ground towards the five-year focus of a 10% change. Kingfisher’s working organizations have created vitality and transport activity intends to help drive change in productivity, except for two of Kingfisher’s most current working organizations which are required to do as such. Anticipated vitality requests and climate variances mean the 10% target stays testing. As a feature of the office program to make a cutting edge shopping condition, the business is taking a gander at inventive solutions to save.

1. Waste management

Kingfisher Garden Center agency take 5.5 cubic meters of waste per week into landfill per every fortnight. The organization needs to explore more ways of increasing recycling including raising awareness to the organization’s employees on the importance of segregating wastes materials as well as improving the data on wastes and recycling. Kingfisher agency is working towards centralizing waste management contract for the country. This will enable the organization to work closely with its waste management suppliers which will consequently increase recycling thus reducing the waste materials taken to landfill (Bulkeley, and Gregson, 2009, pp.929-945).

Goals and targets for improvement

The goals and targets for improving the sustainability program include (Meadowcroft, 2009, p.323; Kern, and Smith, 2008, pp.4093-4103):

• Help clients to live smatter by eradicating waste from environment through promotion of use, reuse and recycling.
• To help the customers to save more money by saving energy.
• To help the customers save money and stay healthier by saving water

Action plan for sustainability management at Kingfisher

Action step	Improvement	Person Responsibility	Action	KPI	Progress update
Waste management	Improvement of waste sorting	House staffs House managers	Ensure that all wastes are according to their materials including glass, plastics, and metals among others	The amount of wastes to landfill.	In progress
Energy management	Reduce air conditioner and heating	House staffs Grounds man	House managers will create awareness on switching off power in order to make staffs and other relevant personnel aware of the environmental and financial cost of heating and air conditioner.	Energy usage	Yet to be actioned
Water management	Reduce the usage of water	House managers House staffs Grounds man	Use a recycle water toilet system. Make use of the recycled water where possible.	The amount or the availability of water	Yet to be actioned
Transportation management	Conserve fuels	House manager House staffs	Reducing material use by 30% across the range and save packaging materials every year to transport more taps in each load and hence reducing fuel use.	The rate of fuel consumption	Yet to be actioned
Purchasing	Reduce purchase cost	House managers House staffs Grounds man	Avoid purchase of resources from controversial sources	Amount of  savings	Yet to be actioned

Communication review

1. Roles and responsibilities for waste management

The roles and responsibilities for this policy is coherent with the best practices for the organization to support compliance in the environmental performance as well as sustainability at all levels in accordance with the requirements of Kingfishers customers. The head of the organization may delegate authority but they remain legally responsible in accordance with health and safety matters.

Water management

Head office manager will be responsible for the following:

1. The head office manager shall coordinate the framework of guidance to the association on management of waste.
2. Head office manager shall ensure the integration of waste management and Health and Safety courses of action, where fitting.

• Head office manager shall ensuring that local waste management methods are set up as per this policy and related organization controls and procedures.

1. The head office manager shall oversee waste management in the association and for guaranteeing consistence with Duty of Care.
2. The head office manager shall coordinate all negotiated waste management of contracts for use by the organization clients.
3. Through the Support Services Division giving waste gathering by Kingfisher cleaners of “office waste” and “recyclables, for example, waste papers, cans, and cardboard and printer consumables and so on.

Department managers and other staff members will be responsible for the following:

1. The department managers shall ensure that every waste transfer notes as well as waste descriptions are accurately collected for disposal.
2. All department managers shall establish and keep up a statutory record keeping framework which conforms to the Codes of Practice with the end goal that wastes can be tracked.

• The department managers shall ensure that controls and procedures are examined at minimum every year and that any progressions that might be required because of these surveys are acted upon immediately.

1. Roles and responsibilities for waste management

The sustainability officer and the head office manager are assigned with obligation regarding the accomplishment of the agency’s intent to be sustainable. The Energy Manager shall be in charge of the improvement, starting usage also, along these lines the checking of the utilization of the vitality administration approach. The Energy Manager is bolstered by the department managers which has the following roles and responsibilities. The energy manager in coordination with the department managers shall:

1. Analyze longer-term vitality choices with regards to the estate methodology.
2. Create and direct the usage of a ‘spend to spare’ plan.

• Initiate studies which is meant for a better comprehension of vitality utilization.

1. Roles and responsibilities for water management

The Kingfisher organization shall be committed to help its clients to save money by saving water. Every individual should take every opportunity to save the save water and ensure that water is used efficiently. The following shows roles and responsibilities for some organization personnel.

The head office manager

The head office manager shall be responsible for the following:

1. Oversee management of water in the organization and ensure the compliance with client’s needs.
2. The head office manager shall appoint the a few personnel within the organization and assign them duty to ensure the organization employees are in compliance with the controls and procedures (Wolsink, 2010, pp.302-311).

• The manager shall supervise all the water management staff to ensure compliance with the policies and controls on good use of water.

Competence training and awareness

The department of training shall conduct or require the organization employees and contractors to go through an awareness program or a training for all employees and contractors of Kingfisher organization. Everybody will be needed to complete training on the sustainability programs before getting employed or starting any work activities in the organization.  The training program shall be composed of the following steps:

1. The importance of compliance with the sustainability policies of the organization. The critical environmental aspects and risks as well as related potential or actual impacts associated with violation of the policies and procedures.
2. The roles and responsibilities essential in achieving compliance of the controls and procedures.

• Potential repercussions of any deviation from the defined procedures.

1. Communication with stakeholders

Postings is one of the methods that can be utilized to ensure that the organization’s policy is communicated to all stakeholders in the organization. According to federal laws, the policies will be mounted in common areas where all stakeholders will see them. The potential barrier to this method, however, is that there is no guarantee that all stakeholders will read the policies and procedures when they are mounted on the bulletin boards. This limitation can be reduced by publishing the policies in hand books which are then given to every stakeholder in the organization.

1. Review and evaluation

Month	Bill ($)	Monthly usage (kWh)	Greenhouse emission (tones)
Oct	350	1190	1.9
Nov	330	1100	1.8
Dec	370	1102	2.1
Jan	399	1302	2.3
Feb	440	1140	2.5
Mar	400	1250	2.2

Table 1: energy bills after one year  

Month	Bill ($)	Water (kL)
Nov-Jan	140	29
Feb-Apr	135	28
May-Jul	135	28
Aug-Oct	120	25

Table 2: Water usage after one year

On basis of the tables and the figures above, it can be seen that there is reduction in the amount of bills paid and kilo watts of energy consume compared to the bills and energy before the program was implemented. The same happen in the water usage. The transportation emission has also met and exceeded the target with 60%. Landfill waste has also reduced from 5.5 cubic square to 2 cubic square. This is an indication that there is compliance thus the objectives of Kingfisher agency are met.

Transportation management

Compliance and Monitoring

The compliance and effectiveness of the sustainability control and procedures can be evaluated from the graph and table presented above. Key Performance Indicator KPI will be used at this point. The KPI refer to a measurable value that demonstrate how effectively an organization is achieving its key business objectives. The KPI will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of waste management sustainability. A high performance may reflect the overall performance of the enterprise with the implemented program while a low level KPI may signify the low performance of the organization with the implemented program.

The KPI in the waste management case is the amount of land fill waste. The decrease in land fill waste will show compliance of the sustainability control and procedures. Constant or increase in the amount of landfill waste, on the other hand shows that the implemented sustainability program has no effect on the business objective of the organization, thus the organization make decision on basis of the results.

The progress of the implemented sustainability program can, be measured through the performance measures. The performance refer to how the result expected from the implemented program moves over time towards the desired target. The progress of this program can be measured by calculating the average of the results from the key performance indicator after every week or month, by this we will be able to know if the program performs as anticipated or not on basis of which a decision will be made by the organization personnel.

Reference list

Bulkeley, H. and Gregson, N., 2009. Crossing the threshold: municipal waste policy and household waste generation. Environment and planning A, 41(4), pp.929-945.

Daniels, P.L., Lenzen, M. and Kenway, S.J., 2011. The ins and outs of water use–a review of multi-region input–output analysis and water footprints for regional sustainability analysis and policy. Economic Systems Research, 23(4), pp.353-370.

Farrelly, M. and Brown, R., 2011. Rethinking urban water management: Experimentation as a way forward?. Global Environmental Change, 21(2), pp.721-732.

Kern, F. and Howlett, M., 2009. Implementing transition management as policy reforms: a case study of the Dutch energy sector. Policy Sciences, 42(4), p.391.

Kern, F. and Smith, A., 2008. Restructuring energy systems for sustainability? Energy transition policy in the Netherlands. Energy policy, 36(11), pp.4093-4103.

Markard, J., Raven, R. and Truffer, B., 2012. Sustainability transitions: An emerging field of research and its prospects. Research policy, 41(6), pp.955-967.

Meadowcroft, J., 2009. What about the politics? Sustainable development, transition management, and long term energy transitions. Policy sciences, 42(4), p.323.

Sandoval-Solis, S., McKinney, D.C. and Loucks, D.P., 2010. Sustainability index for water resources planning and management. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 137(5), pp.381-390.

Wolsink, M., 2010. Contested environmental policy infrastructure: Socio-political acceptance of renewable energy, water, and waste facilities. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 30(5), pp.302-311.

Yan, N. and Chen, X., 2015. Sustainability: Don’t waste seafood waste. Nature News, 524(7564), p.155.

Yeheyis, M., Hewage, K., Alam, M.S., Eskicioglu, C. and Sadiq, R., 2013. An overview of construction and demolition waste management in Canada: a lifecycle analysis approach to sustainability. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 15(1), pp.81-91.

Yellishetty, M., Mudd, G.M., Ranjith, P.G. and Tharumarajah, A., 2011. Environmental life-cycle comparisons of steel production and recycling: sustainability issues, problems and prospects. Environmental science & policy, 14(6), pp.650-663.