Making your business sustainable
On this page:
In business, sustainability refers to doing business without negatively impacting the environment, community, or society as a whole.
Business can move toward sustainability in a range of ways.
Reducing energy usage
This can include initiatives such as
- Switch your lights to LED
- Install solar panels
- Draught proof your building
- Insulate your building
- Switch to GreenPower
- Turn off your coffee machine
- Install a fridge timer
For more information on available support and subsidies go to the Zero Carbon Merri-bek website.
Reducing single-use plastic
We want to encourage Merri-bek businesses to join us in continuing to reduce particular single-use plastic items. The State Government's 2023 ban of plastic straws, cutlery, plates, polystyrene take-away containers and polystyrene cups went a long way to reduce the impact of plastic pollution.
However, there are still ways to reduce the amount of single-use packaging your business uses. The following information sheets have tips and advice for reducing certain single-use plastics from your hospitality business.
- Plastic Free Food Businesses information sheet (PDF 214Kb): this document provides information to help your business’s reduce single-use plastic.
- BYO Containers information sheet (DOCX 10Mb): this document provides advice on how to support customers with reusable. containers, including related Food Standards Code requirements.
Reducing waste with Responsible Cafes
Does your business want to reduce the impact of single-use coffee cup waste on our environment, or promote other waste initiatives you're doing?
Then add your café to the Responsible Cafes map, run by a non-profit organisation fighting the war on waste. The map promotes cafes with sustainable initiatives; whether your business offers a discount for BYO coffee cups, supports customers to use reusable containers, uses organic produce or other initiatives.
To join Responsible Cafes
- there is no cost
- join online, and be placed on their online map
- download posters for your cafe or be part of Responsible Café’s campaigns.
Reducing single-use plastic at cafes on Sydney Road
As part of our work supporting hospitality businesses reduce single-use plastic, we partnered with Boomerang Alliance in 2021 to trial the Plastic Free Sydney Road initiative. The program supported businesses along Sydney Road in Brunswick and Coburg find more sustainable solutions to single-use plastic.
Over the 14 months trial, more than 370, 000 pieces of plastic were eliminated. Read more about the trial outcomes on our Reducing Waste page.