Workplace of Policy and Procedures for Sustainability

Requirement

You have been hired as the new environment officer at Tiny Opera Company. You will need to review the Tiny Opera Company case study including their sustainability policy. You need to determine the shortfalls between the sustainability approach and the practices required of Tiny Opera Company and develop the sustainability policy to reflect those requirements.
You will need to present draft policy documents to the Business Manager (your assessor) to agree on the final policy document.

Solution

Introduction

The term sustainability is majority of the times, associated with issues pertaining to environmental impact. Though, “eco” can be synonymous with the concept of sustainability, achieving such in the performing arts and theatre industry is much more than mere “greening” of the practices and spaced (Caird, 2012). In order to achieve sustainability – all the three pillars of the concept must be considered – the environmental aspect, the economic aspect and the social aspect. 
For the purpose of this report, the case study of Tiny B Opera House has been carefully analyzed and it is the aim of this report to develop on its existing sustainability policy and construct a new and improved one with three specific agendas. Throughout this report, it will be aimed to build such policy keeping in mind the best practices of the industry, and attempts will be taken to align such with the regulations and legislations of New South Wales State.

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Analysis 

Legislative & Regulatory Documents 

New South Wales has in existence two modes of environment and sustainability protection and promotion legislations. These are – Protection of the Environment Operations Act (POEO) of 1997 and the other being NSW environmental legislation. The POEO consists of the following aspects – Clean Air Act 1961, Clean Waters Act 1970, Environmental Offences and Penalties Act of 1989, Pollution Control Act of 1970 and Noise Control Act of 1975 (NSW EPA, 2018). 
The NSW EPA or the Environment Protection Authority has its core regulatory position statement – to reach on a common understanding of risk based and responsive regulatory approach and the outlining of risk management principles used by EPA. The compliances are under six broad genres under EPA. Licensing has protocols to follow while calculating the assessable loads of pollutants. Waste Management has its own waste classification guidelines and notice under the 143 section of POEO Act of 1997. Approved methods for modelling as well as assessment of Air Pollutants and Sampling and Analysis of such including Water Pollutants are present under Approved Methods. Use of chemicals is as per the Environmentally Hazardous Chemicals Act of 1985. There exists a solid guideline for the burning and disposal of bio materials as well (NSW EPA, 2018). 
As Tiny Opera House was built on a heritage hall, the NSW Heritage Act of 1977 also pertains to the sustainability policy along with the Heritage Regulation of 2012. Along with such, the Energy and Utilities Administration Act of 1987 and Local Government (General) Regulation 2005 are also applicable under the Office of Environment and Heritage of NSW Government (NSW Government, 2018).

Best Practice Models 

Sydney Opera House has been considered as the epitome of inspiration and beauty amalgamated with the liberating powerhouse of artistic innovation and art. It was recognized in 2007, as the “masterpiece of human creative genius” by UNESCO not only for its iconic stature is arts but also due to its environmental sustainable policy. Hence, focusing on its sustainability policy and framework can be considered as the best practice in this industry. As per Sydney Opera House the sustainability framework consists of four pillars – culture, community, economy and environment. The framework is committed to – conserving the natural resources, minimizing the waste and the pollution and lastly, enhancing the natural environment (Sydney Opera House Trust, 2018).

Changed Sustainability Policy 

Tiny B Opera already has in existence a sustainability policy, but intends to make it more improved, effective, economically viable for the sustenance of the theatre. The existing sustainability policy of Tiny B Opera is: Lowering of the environmental impact by – wise utilization of resources, encouraging visitors to consider sustainability and lastly, focusing on appropriate principles of management. Though this policy appears to be robust, it is ineffective in bringing specific operational changes. This is the reason why, the need for a new policy was in place. 
As per Nic Tan, the new sustainability policy should ideally focus on – minimization of resource usage; efficient usage of resources; reducing the toxic and hazardous chemicals; employing lifecycle management approaches and implementing a continuous improvement strategies. 
Based on this the main principles which needs to be implemented in the new policy are – Efficient resource usage in terms of resources like electricity and water (the resource usage spreadsheet was analyzed and it was found the bills of these two resources have been steadily increasing); ensuring strategies by which the carbon footprint of the company operations be effectively reduced; recycling of resources wherever possible is conducted; periodic review and focus on continuous value addition and improvement. 
Based on these main principles the following Sustainability policy is created; 

  1. -  Strategy 1 - Using and implementing Solar Panels on the roof of the Theatre Hall, to generate solar energy, which can be used to power the lights, the air conditioning, the           ventilation, office spaces, production machinery, rehearsal rooms and theatres 

  2. -  Strategy 2 - Developing and implementing a rainwater harvesting system by which water usage costs can be reduced greatly 

  3.  Strategy 3 - Using LED lamps instead of regular lamps, which will significantly reduce the electricity bill and will be functional for a longer period of time 

  4. -  Strategy 4 - Wherever possible, green operational policies must be followed by the production team to effectively reduce, reuse and further recycle across the production             schedules. The supplier guidelines can be developed which will help in choosing ecologically safer products and processes and throughout the construction 

Constructing a year review process and setting up of specific metrics by which electricity usage, water usage, electricity savings, water savings can be identified and quantified and based on this one can find out about the improvement if any, and how much to achieve in future.
Strategy    Effectiveness    Time Frame    Cost of Implementation    Metrics to check
Implementing solar panels on roof – Strategy 1     Moderate effectiveness    Timely procedure    Moderate to high ( to achieve high effectiveness, the cost of implementation has to be increased as implementation has to be done in bulk)    Electricity Bill
Implementing Rain water harvesting system – Strategy 2    Highly effective    Moderate time taken    Moderate pricing    Water usage metrics
Using LED Lamps – Strategy 3    Highly effective    Immediate    Moderate Pricing    Electricity Bill
Reduce, reuse and recycle in every production operation including suppliers

Effective    Gradual time taken process    Some supplier switching may have to be done, which can result in initial high switching cost. But pay off of this is huge    Green consciousness – reduction of carbon footprint

Final choice of policy options

From the above mentioned four key strategies, selected, it was found that Implementing solar panels immediately is a tough strategy to put in, as the cost associated will be high and the effectiveness cannot be measured immediately. To obtain the full effectiveness, large scale solar panels will have to be put which further increases the initial investment costs. Tiny B Opera hence, should keep this strategy as a future option but now focus on immediate, low cost, highly effective solutions – therefore, Strategy 2, 3 and 4 are selected as the final Sustainability Policies.

Sustainability Policy – Procedure

The final sustainability policy is proposed to be; 
Tiny B Opera’s primary sustainability focus has been in the areas of energy savings, water and resources savings, implementing green operations and continuous improvements; Hence, the three options selected are as follows; 

  • 1. Implementing rainwater harvesting system to capture 80% of the rainwater which falls on the roof of Tiny B Opera which shall capture and provide non – potable water to all        the main artistic companies. This will be highly effective, and the cost required for them is moderate, and the time taken is also optimal. 

  • 2. Implementing and using LED lamps in regular office hours as well as in the theatre during performance which will significantly reduce the energy bill and give more value for        money. The cost involved in moderate, and policy will be highly effective and the time taken is immediate. 

  • 3. Implementing a green design for all production operations including suppliers who will provide eco-friendly choices of products and processes at the very design and pre-design stage and throughout the set construction. The effectiveness of this is high, the time to implement this is long and the cost might be higher, but the payoff for this  will also be tremendously effective.

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Scope of Policy

The target set for the three policies chosen are – reduction of water usage units by 30% in the first year, and 50% by year 2 and finally 70% by the third year; 40% electricity bill reduction in the first year itself and a gradual transformation to a more eco-friendly company and reducing the carbon footprint by 20% in the first year. 
Alongside with this mentioned policy, the commitment of every aspect of the management of this theatre and leading internal stakeholders would be in making conscious decisions to reduce resource wastage. Annual monitoring and evaluation would be conducted to understand the effectiveness and efficiency of the sustainability policy. If required, bi-annual monitoring can also be done. 
Specialized focus should be presented on lessening of resource wastage and recycling and reusing of such wastage. 
The legislations which are to be taken care of, of New South Wales are – focusing on saving of energy (which is done through using LED lamps); be water wise (which is done through setting up a rainwater harvesting plant); taking smarter choices (implementing solar panels can be a smarter choice and a future strategy for Tiny B Opera in the coming years) and lastly, recycling and waste management (which is hopefully to be achieved through greening up of production operations) (NSW Government, 2018). It is worth mentioning here that, while implementing a rainwater harvesting system, care must be taken so that the roof of the heritage structure is not destroyed and be in accordance with Heritage Regulation of 2012. Therefore the policies constructed are in accordance to the Sustainability Legislations of New South Wales Government.   

Meeting with business manager

The sustainability policy is taken in this form and presented to the business manager. The following are the points which are discussed with him, and the final draft policy is created; 

  1. - The typical barriers to such policy implementation are primarily, the approval of the costs required. Secondly, communicating such sustainability vision to all the employees          and  management, and also the suppliers. If the suppliers are willing and are capable of supplying such eco friendly products then it is beneficial for the company, or else new    suppliers have to be found. This can be a challenging task, as this might be against the goodwill and reputation of Tiny B Opera. Thirdly, making every employee aware and        conscious of individual actions and adopting change can be a difficult process and lastly, proper sources to purchase LED lamps or setting up of the rainwater harvesting can      be difficult to find. 

  2. - Primarily, the approximation of costs must be done, to understand that whether the setting up of water harvesting and implementing LED lamps can be conducted at the first go. If not, improvements can be done in a phased out fashion so that, the cost does not become a burden for Tiny B. Next, the vision of sustainability has to be showcased to the suppliers and it has to be communicated to them that choosing such sustainable choices can prove to be so beneficial for them as well. This might change the cost of the products taken but the effectiveness can be felt for both the parties. If on an occasion, the suppliers are absolutely against this, then Tiny B will have no other option but cancel their contracts. Lastly, every employee must be asked to make a self report on how they can reduce the resource usage and wastage in their individual tasks. Only making this will help them consciously about how they can focus on adopting the new sustainability processes. 

  3. - The process of developing the policy is analyzing carefully the past resource usage and understanding where Tiny B Opera was going wrong, and then focusing on the NSW sustainability policies and combining both and developing the final policy suitable for Tiny B. 

  4. - The above written policy is drafted to gain approval.    

Draft policy

Tiny B Opera’s primary sustainability focus has been in the areas of energy savings, water and resources savings, implementing green operations and continuous improvements; 

  1. - Implementing rainwater harvesting system to capture 80% of the rainwater which falls on the roof of Tiny B Opera which shall capture and provide non – potable water to all the main artistic companies 

  2. - Implementing and using LED lamps in regular office hours as well as in the theatre during performance which will significantly reduce the energy bill and give more value for money 

  3. - Implementing a green design for all production operations including suppliers who will provide eco-friendly choices of products and processes at the very design and pre design stage and throughout the set construction. 

Stakeholder Involvement 

The key internal stakeholders of Tiny B Opera are – the employees, the suppliers, the actors and directors and the main external stakeholder are the audience. 
For Tiny B to effectively promote and implement its sustainability policy, it first needs to make everyone aware about the importance of sustainability and about how taking small steps go a long way in reducing the carbon footprint. The policy and individual strategies would be explained to the key stakeholders and Tiny B should take extra means to make their audience involved in the process as well. How it is to be done, is going to mentioned in the later sections of this chapter. 

  1. - After promoting awareness of the sustainability policies, the key internal stakeholders can be asked about how they can individually help reduce and recycle resources so that maximum value is derived and wastage is reduced. 

  2. - Every recommendation will be collected and discussed and major brainstorming will be done to find out the most effective strategies to utilize in the every day operations. Namely, using recyclable toilet paper, can be one such strategy. Though it is an apparently minor one, still it shows a conscious and environment friendly operation. 

  3. - If the key stakeholders are involved in the process and their recommendations are sought after they feel empowered and it is more likely for them to follow such eco-friendly tactics in their workplace. 

  4. - The audience can be involved in the manner that, Tiny B Opera can distinctly move away from a paper based ticketing system to mobile booking and e-booking system, so that paper usage is greatly reduced. For the older generation who are yet not comfortable in using digital media, paper ticketing can be kept but only recyclable paper and it should be printed at the back of the ticket about the importance of going eco-friendly and paperless. 

  5. - After taking care of such sustainability means, Tiny B Opera can finally market in its website its focus for going green and this will bring a eco-friendly reputation and brand image in the industry and attract the right target market and artists who too believe in the importance of going green. 

Submission of Report / Conclusion 

This is the last stage of the report, and this involves in submission of such with the top management of Tiny B Opera. It is expected that this report would bring about the much required change which was aimed for so long and enhance the sustainability of the theatre along with increasing its profitability.

Bibliography

  • Caird, J. (2012). Theatreland - achieving sustainability means more than going green. UK: The Guardian.

  • NSW EPA. (2018). About the POEO Act. Retrieved March 10, 2018, from NSW EPA: http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/licensing-and-regulation/legislation-and-compliance/about-the-poeo-act

  • NSW EPA. (2018). Notices and other regulatory documents. Retrieved March 10, 2018, from EPA.NSW: http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/licensing-and-regulation/legislation-and-compliance/notices-and-other-reg-docs

  • NSW Government. (2018). Legislation. Retrieved March 10, 2018, from Office of Environment & Heritage: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/policy-and-law/legislation

  • NSW Government. (2018). Sustainability. Retrieved March 10, 2018, from Office of Environment & Heritage: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/households/sustainability.htm

  • Sydney Opera House Trust. (2018). Environmental Sustainability Policy. Retrieved March 10, 2018, from Sydney Opera House: https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/content/dam/pdfs/policies/SOH_Environmental-Sustainability-Policy-Statement-20121.pdf

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