Swinburne supports non-profit to go greener

Staff and students from Swinburne University’s Carbon Accounting course at the National Centre of Sustainability have donated their time and resources to create an Eco Report for Victoria’s largest food relief charity.

VicRelief Foodbank annually redistributes millions of kilograms of food to Victorians experiencing hardship, which both assists those in need and prevents food from ending up in landfill.

The Eco Report, produced by Lisa Shaw, from VicRelief Foodbank, with Carbon Accounting teacher Tony Hodgson and Swinburne postgraduate student Glenn Bailey, measured the organisation’s eco footprint.

CEO of VicRelief Foodbank Ric Benjamin said the report had ultimately allowed the organisation to become more sustainable in its operations.

“The Eco Report has encouraged us to instigate more sustainable practices in our workplace, which has led to an 18% decrease in our emissions per kilogram of food processed, a 7% decrease in our overall wastage and has also significantly reduced our energy costs,” Benjamin said.

VicRelief Foodbank has received substantial support for the past two years from Swinburne University’s Carbon Accounting course to draft and audit both the Carbon Report 2009 and the expanded Eco Report in 2010.

“We are so grateful to Swinburne’s Carbon Accounting staff and students for enabling us to take greater responsibility for our environmental impact, and we’re really looking forward to seeing the results of next year’s Eco Report to ensure we’re on track towards meeting our organisational commitment to sustainability,” Shaw said.