Wellington Regional Council gets Gold

The Wellington Regional Councils’ Parks and Forests and Flood Protection departments have achieved a New Zealand first by attaining Enviro-Mark NZ™ GOLD certification for its environmental management systems.

Jim Watt, Enviro-Mark NZ™’s manager at Landcare Research, says that the Parks and Forests and Flood Protection departments have proven in an independent audit that they are operating in line with the Council’s environmental policy.

This is the first time in New Zealand that Enviro-Mark NZ™ Gold has been awarded and was presented to Rob Forlong, WRC Manager, today (Tuesday 19 November) by Jim Watt, Enviro-Mark NZ.

“Ensuring that we operate in an environmentally responsible way is the key to sustainable parks management and delivering flood protection to the community. We’re really pleased to have our work in environmental management systems recognised,” says Mr Forlong.

“Staff worked hard developing the systems and are now monitoring objectives that ensure the departments’ environmental performance continuously improves. As part of this process Parks and Forests have completed an investigation into environmentally friendly construction techniques and Flood Protection’s Environmental Code of Practice was successfully reviewed”, says Mr Forlong.

Corporate Environmental Policy objectives include: Demonstrating legal compliance and leading by example Reducing waste, conserving resources and reuse and recycling initiatives Encouraging suppliers to be environmentally responsible.

The Enviro-Mark certification process has five steps and is marketed and supported in New Zealand by Landcare Research. More details about Enviro-Mark NZ™ are attached.

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