VECCI and EPA Victoria partnership program launched by Acting Premier and Minister for Environment John Thwaites

Acting Premier and Minister for the Environment John Thwaites will today launch a major materials and resource efficiency program at a manufacturing plant in Hoppers Crossing.

The State’s largest multi-industry employer group VECCI and EPA Victoria have put a patchy relationship behind them to create a program which combines the desire to improve profits while contributing to environmental improvement in Victoria’s business and industry sector.

Launching the program, Acting Premier John Thwaites said that the program brand – Grow Me The Money® – clearly captured the thinking that environmental sustainability represented an important business opportunity rather than a cost.

Grow Me The Money® is a one-stop shop program that enables business and industry to simplify their access to hundreds of programs and tools available from government agencies and corporations throughout Australia and overseas. VECCI and EPA Victoria, along with local government, water bodies, public utilities and major corporations have collaborated to produce a combined offering to busy, time-poor small and medium sized businesses in Victoria.

VECCI’s CEO, Mr Neil Coulson complimented the State Government for its investment in the not-for-profit Grow Me The Money® program.

"This program will be successful because it doesn’t rely on more red tape, more regulation or more bureaucratic processes imposing themselves on business. It will be successful because it helps business find solutions rather than problems, and because it will help industry to improve its profitability at a time when global competition is at its most intense", says Mr Coulson.

"This program will focus heavily on general manufacturing, food processing and CBD office buildings. This represents a substantial chunk of the Victorian economy – manufacturing alone is responsible for output of over $29 billion per annum. If we can add just 2% of efficiency to those totals, then the State economy’s bottom line can increase by more than half a billion dollars a year".

According to Mr Coulson, Grow Me The Money® will encourage business to participate by registering on a web portal and accumulating reward points as they progress through the program towards improved resource & materials efficiency. Grow Me The Money® will assist participating industries to develop their own resource efficiency programs and predict the likely benefits that will accrue. Active participants in the program will be eligible for accreditation and other recognition leading to greater support in their purchasing and supply chain environment.

The Chairman of EPA Victoria, Mr Mick Bourke, is proud to see EPA continuing to take an active role in supporting businesses as they move towards resource efficiency.

"This program has been some time in development, because we wanted to make sure that the relationship between VECCI and EPA Victoria was sufficiently robust to tackle the challenges of sending a new and joint message to business and industry in Victoria. Both organisations are in this for the long haul because we realise that business and the community are only at the start of a long process in re-thinking the way we produce goods and services, and the manner and volume in which we consume them" says Mr Bourke.

"Nobody really thinks that business starts each day with a decision to harm the environment. Businesses are run by people who have a commitment to the environment and to future generations, and organisations like VECCI and EPA Victoria have a very clear and serious responsibility to support business in this regard. We also accept that SMEs employ more than 60 percent of the private sector workforce and no sustainability strategy can ever have the necessary effectiveness if we don’t get business on board".

Grow Me The Money® will be launched at Redmond Repetition Engineers in Hoppers Crossing. Redmond’s has made a name for itself by producing components for export into the European automotive manufacturing sector and is regarded as a leading example of a materials and resource efficient manufacturer.

The program will commence activity in three pilot sites: Shepparton, Melbourne CBD and Western Metropolitan regions and will be gradually implemented across all of Victoria.

 

For further information on Grow Me The Money® please call the program office on (03) 8618 5605.

 

Media contacts: Chris James, VECCI - (03) 8662-5226

Tim Grech, EPA Victoria – (03) 9695 2703 or

Ruth Ward, EPA Victoria – (03) 9695 2704

Sue Davies, The PR Exchange – 0419 434 398