The VEC's commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its activities is formalised by the inclusion of an environmental sustainability objective in the VEC Corporate Plan 2007-2012. By developing and implementing an Environmental Management Strategy, setting key objectives and implementing action plans to achieve its goals, the VEC is making real progress in meeting this objective.
Staff ensure that sustainability is a factor in planning operations and policy decisions and have devised and introduced sustainable practices into individual, team and organisation-wide projects including:
- the use of technology to ensure that document content dynamically fits pages, halving the paper needed for State election ballot papers and ticket books;
- the collection and provision of information in electronic format wherever possible; and
- the introduction of online training modules for election officials.
Large projects, such as electronic roll mark-off at elections, are continually being considered, and the VEC makes recommendations to Government on a regular basis about other innovations that require legislative change, such as the expansion of electronic voting for specific groups of voters. Other activities include encouraging the use of reusable coffee cups, refillable pens, double-sided printing; and ensuring that suppliers are aware of our sustainability objective.
- The VEC's improvement in print processes and commitment to reducing our environmental impact has been recognised in a case study (external link) by the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability. The full 2011 Strategic Audit Report (PDF, external link) is also available.
- The VEC has achieved a Waste Wise Silver Certification with the Metropolitan Waste Management Group (external link).
