Paint+ first small enterprise in NZ to be carbon neutral

Paint manufacturer Paint+ has become the first small enterprise in New Zealand to achieve carbon neutral certification through Landcare Research’s CarboNZeroCertTM programme.

Environmental safety has been a fundamental principle since Paint+ was founded in 1997. Becoming carbon neutral was a natural next step for the company.

The CarboNZero programme provides robust tools for organisations and individuals to measure and reduce their impact on global warming. Burning carbon fuel emits CO2 into the atmosphere, where along with other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, it acts like a greenhouse, trapping heat from the sun and raising the temperature.

CarboNZero certification involves three steps: measuring, managing (reducing) and mitigating (offsetting) greenhouse gas emissions.

Paint+ measured all our greenhouse gas emissions from 1 April 2007 to 30 April 2008. This covers all production processes, lighting, heating, vehicle use and distribution. At all these stages, directly or indirectly, the necessary energy comes from burning carbon fuels. We found that most of our greenhouse gas emissions come from shipping and business travel.

Once the sources and quantities of emissions were known, we identified areas where we could reduce our energy consumption.

“We realised we have to go even further than before in minimising every type of energy we use, reducing waste and wringing efficiency out of every process,” says Paint+ co-founder John Warman.

Paint+ aims to reduce electricity and all fuel consumption by 5%, improve shipping efficiency by 10% and reduce waste to landfill by 50% over the first year.

The third stage of the CarboNZero certification process is mitigation. Paint+ offset the greenhouse gas emissions relating to our activities by purchasing credible carbon credits from the TrustPower Tararua II PRE Windpower project.

“We are fully committed to being carbon neutral and will be working with our staff, suppliers and customers to assist with ideas for further reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions,” says John.