One degree
The Herald and Weekly Times publishes the Herald Sun, Sunday Herald Sun, The Weekly Times and mX from its head office at Southgate in Melbourne. More than 1,300 people work at HWT and more than 4.5 million newspapers are printed each week at its Port Melbourne facility.
In the year to June 2007, HWT had a carbon footprint of 34,783 tonnes.
The Westgate Park Print Centre underwent a comprehensive energy audit in early 2008, with initial estimated energy savings across the site of 5.2%, with the potential for much more. Since the launch of One Degree, energy savings have already been made at the print centre through the installation of power factor correction equipment, chiller load shedding and energy efficient air compressors. Options to reuse water are being.
The administration building in Southgate has actively investigated the consolidation of file servers and printers, and the introduction of wake-on-LAN technology, along with an overhaul of purchasing policies. More bike cages and energy efficient showering facilities have been installed to encourage walking and cycling to work. Staff can now also receive discounted yearly public transport tickets or join the HWTBUG Group (Bicycle Users Group). HWT is also actively involved in a fuel efficient car trial, with results to be rolled out to the rest of the News Limited Group.
In late 2007 the Herald Sun gave away a free 4 minute ‘Shower Timer’ to readers with a purchase of the Herald Sun. The great success of this campaign was used as the springboard for the give away of 500,000 low energy light bulbs to readers in early 2008. In conjunction with Sustainability Victoria and Bunning’s and supported by an editorial lift out packed with energy saving tips titled ‘Get Smart’, the promotion was an overwhelming success with an estimated saving of 300,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases over the lifetime of the globes. The Herald and Weekly times is now also partnering with the Department of Sustainability and Environment to look at further giveaways such as door draft stoppers to encourage people to save energy over winter by reducing the amount of waste heat escape.
Leader Newspapers publishes 33 titles and reaches almost two million readers across metropolitan Melbourne each week. Leader has 15 offices in the communities it serves and 580 employees across Melbourne.
Leader Newspapers’ carbon footprint in the year to June 2007 was 4,638 tonnes.
With many of Leader’s offices across metropolitan Melbourne operating from leased premises, Leader Newspapers have focused on making behavioral rather than facilities changes their first goal. This has lead to the introduction of the ‘switch it off and turn it down’ campaign – with every light switch across the Leader offices now accompanied by a “Switch it off” sticker. Toner cartridges from the offices are now recycled via the Leader Chapel Street building, and paper and can recycling facilities are now available at all offices.
Leader has already bought its first two hybrid cars and embarked on investigations to power its papers with green electricity. Its new Blackburn HQ was built and fitted-out with a view to being green. Leader has begun switching to energy-efficient light globes across the entire group of newspapers and energy-efficiency is now considered alongside cost when the group makes purchasing decisions.
Emissions will be further reduced during 2008 with the installation of 52 multifunction devices to replace 180 photocopiers, faxes and printers.
At the launch of One Degree last year, Leader produced a ‘Green living Poster’ with hints and tips for an achievable greener lifestyle. 1.5 million copies of the poster were distributed across the 33 Leader titles, as well as being linked to Leader’s wider education poster series and used in teacher workshops. Readers and advertisers can look forward to further eco-friendly promotions, along with special supplements and energy-saving tips
Leader General Manager Sylvia Bradshaw commented that “Leader is passionate about this initiative; it will impact on the way Leader does every thing, every day.”
The Geelong Advertiser Group publishes The Geelong Advertiser in the Barwon region of Victoria, along with weekly community newspapers, Geelong News and echo.
The Group’s carbon footprint was 1,081 tonnes in the year to June 2007.
In late 2007, The Geelong Advertiser sponsored the Geelong Community Business Awards where members of the Geelong Business community were taken through the One Degree program and briefed on how energy efficiency and carbon reduction strategies could be applied at their sites. The event was a resounding success with The Geelong Advertiser receiving a great deal of positive feedback.
In September 2007, the Geelong Group made a commitment to source their electricity needs from 100% accredited Green Power sources. The goal of this was to practice what they were preaching as a company and to set an example for both corporates and households in Geelong by reducing their own carbon footprint. To combat the increased cost, the Geelong group has set benchmarks to become more energy efficient, thus lowering overall energy consumption to offset the cost. Snooze functions, timer switches, lights and duplex printers have all been employed in this drive to efficiency.
Additionally, The Geelong Advertiser vehicle fleet has already been reduced from 35 to 28 vehicles and standard fleet models are being replaced with hybrid and fuel efficient options.
Leader Newspapers Carbon Council 2007
The Herald and Weekly Times One Degree launch
