Posted on 20 May 2010 by Hurol 1 Comment

Our commitment to sustainability

At Bienalto, we take sustainability seriously. From the way we get to work to the way we do our work, our goal is to reduce our footprint.

A recent survey by McKinsey Quarterly found that “more than 50 per cent of executives consider sustainability – the management of environmental, social, and governance issues –‘very’ or ‘extremely’ important in a wide range of areas, including new-product development, reputation building, and overall corporate strategy.”

The findings of this survey resonate strongly with Bienalto; and we have implemented a range of environmental initiatives that guide our everyday work practices.

In and around the office

• Secure storage and showers make it easier for staff to ride bikes to work. On any given day, up to 20% of the team ride.
• Full kitchen facilities encourage staff to bring their own food, rather than relying on takeaway products.
• We use Alternative Waste Technology (provided by WSN Environmental Solutions), which diverts waste away from landfill, recovers more resources from the waste stream, and minimises the impact on the environment. As a part of this, we recycle all batteries used in the office.
• Natural fibre floor coverings were used in our recent office fit-out.
• Fans are used for airflow and cooling wherever possible. Air conditioning is only used in extremes.

The way we work

• Staff can work from home, using remote desktop applications and the wiki – to avoid lengthy commutes.
• Where clients’ offices are far from our office, we use virtual meetings to reduce the amount of long distance travel. Through online services such as Skype and dimdim, we hold conferences between team members and clients in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne.
• By implementing a wiki, there is now less reliance on paper collaboration. All documentation is stored online, and is client accessible (and editable). There are less paper revisions, and multiple team members can have input into the same document at the same time.
• Client projects can be carbon offset through the purchase of carbon credits. These would be purchased through a third party and charged at cost.

In addition to environmental initiatives, broader sustainability issues around culture and community are important to us, too. We actively support the arts community, offering at-cost services to three arts organisations; and we constantly strive to create a place of work that our people feel proud to be a part of.

It goes without saying that we like working with companies that also take sustainability seriously.

If you want to share some ideas – or are looking for good ways to promote what you’re doing from a sustainability standpoint – have a chat to us today or leave a comment below.