Environmental Policy

Sydney Community College supports practices that contribute to a sustainable future and encourage awareness of environmental responsibilities. We aim to ensure our staff and our students are supported to be environmentally responsible and show respect for the environment.

Our approach is a "whole of business view" tailored to best match the College's operations, obligations, and outcome objectives and is developed through:

engaging with Board members, staff and stakeholders to analyse operations and agree on actions
deploying a framework for performance informed by ISO 14001 as the international standard, as well as other industry and locally specific standards to inform best practice
measuring performance through collection and evaluation of information to ensure continuous improvement to reduce environmental and social impact
remaining up to date through information gathering on issues impacting on medium-sized businesses such as the College to remain innovative and adaptive in terms of our approach.

Focusing on operations and energy efficiency, the College follows practices that:

minimise materials use through digital information dissemination (including student course notes), storage and by recycling, reusing where paper is required
reduce waste by facilitating the use by students and staff of their own drink containers (including the installation by the College of freshwater bubbler systems), reusing materials where possible and buying recycled stationery supplies
recycle what cannot be reused and ensuring plentiful and well-located recycling bins are located in areas where staff and students will use them. Encourage use of the staff and student swap and drop off system for books and clothing
turn off lights and appliances at the powerpoint when not in use to prolong their life and reduce power bills
use outsourced virtual office services to cut power costs and obviate the need to expand office space
reduce energy consumption by restricting heating and cooling use and temperatures, installing automatic lighting sensors where security is not a risk, fixing equipment such as leaking taps and hot water systems
buy green through the purchase of sustainable products and services, including high energy-efficient equipment with a long shelf life
reduce staff travel time and costs through the use of teleconferencing for other than priority meetings and cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.

Last reviewed March 2019

College policies