Environmental Management
Environmental Management
Water Stewardship
Water is a precious resource as well as an essential component of our business activities. Our water stewardship practices are designed to be efficient, manage risk and promote long-term water security for the community. These practices include:
- capture and reuse of rainwater at Iona – no town or bore water is used
- water produced from operations is reinjected into Iona’s Waarre formation reservoir for the purpose of aquifer recharge
- regular groundwater sampling, with the results provided to Southern Rural Water in an annual report
- robust management procedures for stormwater water quality
- daily operator inspections of dam water levels and conditions
Biodiversity
Where possible, we will protect and enhance the natural environments and biodiversity of the land around Iona and its associated facilities, as well as any of our greenfield development projects.
Large numbers of native plantings have been made since the Iona site was first developed, to improve the landscape and provide shelter to native fauna. Major corridor plantings were undertaken in 2000 and 2009 to establish a vegetation buffer.
Our Vegetation Management Procedure describes how we manage the natural environment without causing harm to surrounding animal habitats.
Air Quality
We report under the National Pollutant Inventory (NPI) administered by the Environment Protection Authority (Victoria). The NPI requires the disclosure of emissions to air, water and land by substance categories and thresholds. Our
approach is as follows:
- conduct regular monitoring of non-GHG air emissions periodically throughout the year
- measure site emissions using National Pollutant Inventory guidelines
- report to the EPA as required
Waste Management
We are reducing our environmental footprint through the efficient use of materials. We encourage our people to follow the waste management hierarchy of avoiding, reducing, recycling and reusing before disposing.
Our waste management plan focuses on:
- segregation and recycling to reduce the quantity of landfill waste (segregation includes wood, metal, batteries, e-waste and cardboard)
- collecting waste in separate bins to simplify the waste treatment, disposal, or recycling process
- preventing waste materials from being scattered as a result of high winds, etc
- waste recovery initiatives
New Iona employees learn about waste management processes during induction, and they are also part of the Safety and Environment Competency Based Training Assessment program for operations personnel.
Our prescribed waste bins are inspected monthly in line with our Environmental Inspection Checklist. Prescribed waste contractors are EPA licensed and approved in accordance with our contractor management processes.