The business community must embrace more responsible work practices. To assist this uptake, TNZ is a foundation member of the NZBCSD which promotes business leadership as a catalyst for sustainable development.
www.nzbcsd.org.nz
TNZ is also a member of the SBN. This network helps promote sustainable business practices. We are a foundation member of the GreenFleet programme which promotes more environmentally responsible transport choices.
In October 2007 we sponsored the ‘Trailblazer – Large Business’ category at the NZI National Sustainability Business Awards held by the SBN. These national awards celebrate the efforts made by businesses to reduce their environmental footprint. Category nominees are taken from a short list of regional finalists and participants to the SBN ‘Get Sustainable Challenge.’
Design Mobel was the winner of the Trailblazer category as well as the overall 2007 winner.
www.sustainable.org.nz
Government agencies
We regularly consult with government departments – such as the Ministry of Transport, Ministry for the Environment and Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority – and industry forums on issues related to vehicle impacts on the environment.
Community activities
It is important for Toyota to actively contribute to the quality of life of the communities in which we operate and where our customers and employees live. We engage with local communities at each of our sites in NZ and through many of our dealers. As well as supporting activities which improve local neighbourhoods and quality of life, it also provides an opportunity for Toyota staff to get involved and add value outside their normal roles.
On average, each New Zealander produces about 900kg of waste each year and a significant proportion of this is discarded illegally as litter. Since 2001 TNZ has supported Clean Up NZ week by tidying the roads around its head office in Palmerston North. Each September staff join forces with pupils from the Whakarongo Primary School in an effort to tidy the local neighbourhood.
A number of staff also give up a Sunday morning to collect roadside rubbish, which are then sorted for recycling.
www.knzb.org.nz
Environmental Education
Every year we host students at our head office from the nearby International Pacific College. Toyota features as a best practice case study in their ‘Business and the Environment’ course. We welcome them to our boardroom where we present an overview of our activities before touring the building and showing them some of our hybrid vehicles up close. In 2007, students joined in our e-waste collection campaign, bringing in old mobile phones and computers from the College.
We have a long-standing relationship with Massey University, based in Palmerston North.
