The green bit….

We have spent a considerable amount of time, effort and money to help reduce our carbon footprint. All our efforts have been undertaken for money saving, sustainability and environmental reasons, what have we done?

In 2008 we undertook a Sustainable Business Program with the Yarra Ranges Council. This program outlined the importance of an efficient sustainable workplace, there were many aspects to the program we took on board and are continuing to evolve the way we build & run our business. YVCM are Lean & Green – minimal waste

At YVCM our factory lighting has light meters to minimise electrical use, our toilets are fitted with push button lights. We use and recommend Eco bins for collection of our landfill, paper recycling and mixed recycling. we have an operational worm farm for our scraps (excess scraps go home with David for the chickens). We recycle paper and cardboard and  plastic films. The conscientious of us use our own cup for the mobile coffee guy. We are almost the only factory along Canterbury Rd to use the councils yellow recycling bin for the lunchroom. We use recycled toilet paper (no we don’t make our staff recycle their own toilet paper ew!) We have paper towel made from bamboo in our wet areas and the big one… our cutting and optimising equipment produces minimal waste – less offcuts = less waste = happy environment.

Landfill in our business is a huge part of our rubbish, in February 2013 we joined with D&R Henderson to undertake a “Recycled Wood Waste Initiative” we build 1200x1200x1200 chipboard boxes out of our coversheet waste & throw all our particleboard offcuts (whiteboard, carcase, door etc) these then get taken back to D&R Henderson where they get placed into the chipper, box & all, to turn into more whiteboard.

By the time we build the boxes & pay for this service, it costs the same as if we were to tip it in landfill, but we like the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing we are doing the right thing. What’s in the box? Wood waste from YVCM. How many boxes have we sent back? At the end of June 2022, we have sent back 833 boxes, which is 1000 cubic metres of recycled board. We are pretty proud of ourselves.

Late in 2014, YVCM installed a 67.5kw AC Inverter Grid Connect Photovoltaic System, yes that’s right… we have 270 micro inverter solar panels, on our factory roof. 270! Thats a lot of panels! We are pretty excited to be generating our own power to run some of our equipment.