Bunnings and Sustainability

Sustainability is important to us because fundamentally, it's the right thing to do and customers and our Team Members expect it. We make no claim to be perfect and we understand that our operations have an impact – both on the communities we live in and more widely. As such, we’re committed to reducing that impact and building a more sustainable business.

This is not a new approach – we have a history of taking real actions and if you would like to know more about these, click here. In 2007 we stepped up our commitments with a substantial investment to retrofit rainwater harvesting systems into existing stores. We also set about trying to materially reduce our carbon footprint. Other areas of ongoing focus include responsible sourcing, reducing packaging waste, water conservation and active education and awareness programs.

Over the past three or so years we’ve made good progress in reducing our energy usage, cutting down on waste and becoming more self sufficient with our water supply. And we are substantially advanced in our efforts to ensure that all of our timber and wood products come from legal, well managed sources.

We do a lot to help customers learn to adopt affordable sustainable living practices in their homes and gardens. This includes providing a wide range of products, expert advice in-store, free workshops, D.I.Y. “how to” guides and information kits.

The 2012 Community Report Card and the 2008 Sustainability Update provide additional information on Bunnings ongoing sustainability commitments.

• Community Report Card 2012
• Case Studies
• Sustainability Update April 2008

The Wesfarmers Sustainability Report provides a detailed insight into the heart of our day to day business practices covering our health, safety and environmental performance as well as our community involvement activities. What we do in these areas is a very tangible part of "who we are". This reporting is voluntary and publicly demonstrates our commitment to continually improving our performance in these areas. By reporting in this way, we make ourselves accountable to achieve improvements.

• Wesfarmers Sustainability Report 2012

Climate change is widely recognised as one of the most pressing challenges we face today and the main cause of climate change has been attributed to human generated greenhouse gas emissions.

We believe we can play a positive role in tackling climate change by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

Over 75 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions come from the electricity we use to power our stores. The remainder is largely from our own vehicle use and the waste generated from our operations.

We have active strategies to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in all areas where they are generated.

Our major focus is on lowering our energy use through a number of initiatives including energy efficient lighting systems and night-switching devices. We now also procure 15 per cent of our grid power in mainland Australia from renewable generation sources and we are trialling micro-renewable power generation at three stores.

In other areas, we are achieving a reduction in waste to landfill by a number of recycling and packaging optimisation initiatives and since 2007 we have been actively converting our vehicle fleet to hybrid vehicles.

The effects of widespread drought and severe water shortages are impacting many communities in which we operate. Regulations are in place to restrict water consumption and many individuals and businesses are taking further steps to collect, reuse and recycle water. We are also playing our part in preserving Australia’s water resources by becoming more self-sufficient.

The primary uses of water in our business are the irrigation of our nurseries, evaporative air-conditioning, and kitchen and toilet facilities. What we’re trying to do is both reduce our usage and harvest our own supply.

To that end, we've introduced rainwater harvesting systems in almost all of our warehouse stores across mainland Australia (excluding the tropics).

We've also cut down on our water usage by reintroducing hand watering in many of our nurseries and installing water efficient devices in our stores and offices.

As a retailer, we source our products from literally thousands of different suppliers, from all parts of the globe. In rough terms, about 40% of the products sold in our stores is sourced from businesses who manufacture in Australia and New Zealand. The countries and communities from which we source our products are very important to us and we’re committed to ensuring the products we sell come from legal and sustainable operations, with good working conditions and fair treatment of people.

An important area of focus for us is timber and we have a zero tolerance approach to illegally logged timber. Our goal is to ensure all timber and wood products supplied to Bunnings originate from legal and well managed forest operations and we have made excellent progress in this area, with more than 99 percent of our whole timber product now sourced from low-risk plantation or other legally verified forest operations.

Our work in this area is ongoing and we continue to work closely with our suppliers, environmental organisations and government in order to achieve our goal. We actively seek advice from WWF and Greenpeace to maintain a robust timber sourcing policy.

In June 2009 Bunnings was the lead signatory to the joint industry, wood product sector and conservation group statement led by Greenpeace which called for a federal government ban on the importation of illegally logged timber into Australia. Bunnings also supported the Common Platform which was presented to the Federal Government in April 2011.

Find out more about what we are doing:

• Timber and Wood Policy Statement
• Joint Statement on Illegal Logging
• Common Platform April 2011

Look for FSC® Certified Products in our Range

 

The FSC® logo identifies products from forests that are certified against a set of strict environmental, social and economic standards in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council®.

We're in a unique position to help our customers by making it easier and more affordable for them to adopt sustainable living practices in the garden and around the home.

We do this in two ways. Firstly, we aim to provide our customers with the widest range of products and solutions to meet their sustainability needs. We then back up this product offering with expert knowledge and sound advice available in-store and online. Our aim is to help customers learn how to care for the environment and live sustainably in and around the home.

We also work with suppliers and government regulators to develop new and more affordable sustainability products and solutions.

This also helps to implement effective government policy. We combine the knowledge we have of environmental issues and sustainable practices, with the insights we collect on consumer behavior – our customers' needs and wants. We then work with suppliers to develop new products to meet customers' sustainability needs, thereby making sustainable living easier and more affordable.

We make no claim to be perfect , but we are sincere in our efforts to do the right thing.

If you have an idea that you think could help us in the area of sustainability, or you think we could do something better, please tell us.

Let us know what you think - we can take it!

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