sustainable business

Good Business Sense

Like the Sustainable Streets program, the Sustainable Centres program is also about reducing our environmental and carbon footprints on the planet whilst creating valuable ‘social capital’.

Green Sunshine and ecoBiz

The Sustainable Centres program is aimed at the region’s business communities and has the Queensland State government’s ecoBiz program at the heart of it. The ecoBiz program encourages businesses (no matter how large or small) to audit their business operations, services and/ or products to determine where environmental savings can be made. An action plan can then be mapped out to make the necessary adjustments towards more sustainable business practices. Again, there are often associated economic benefits by reducing costs for resources (energy, water and materials) and waste disposal, for example.

While the ecoBiz program assists businesses to become more sustainable on an individual level, the Sustainable Centres program expands the idea further by getting businesses in village centres to work together collectively to create an identity and ‘destination’ for their customers. The idea being, that people tend to be drawn to places where there is a ‘vibe’ and a chance to socialise.

Again, there may also be opportunities for businesses to share costs for certain resources and materials. Business owners can also get together to organise village events such as evening markets or negotiate different trading hours.

Focus: Noosa Junction

Green Sunshine is focusing their Sustainable Centres program on the Noosa Junction to begin with. Preliminary work has already begun, with an economic and social study being commissioned by the Sunshine Coast Regional Council to determine where opportunities lie to revitalise the business precinct. Details of this report are yet to be delivered to Green Sunshine. However, once the recommendations from the reports are considered, Green Sunshine will work with Council representatives, the Noosa Traders Association and the Junction business owners and operators to start implementing the Sustainable Centres program.