Sustainability

Progressive Group Sustainability

Progressive group has a strong commitment to environmental sustainability and has been practicing zero waste since 2001. Sustainability is a core business value for Progressive Group: continually improving our environmental performance, and contributing to our local community is a key consideration in all our operations and decision-making.

We incorporate sustainability in to all our activities and operations:

  • Resource efficiency is a founding principle of our product designs, manufacturing processes and general day-to-day activities;
  • Lowering our environmental impacts, such as our carbon and water footprints has steered many procurement choices, building design features and on- and off-site initiatives; and,
  • We promote the adoption of environmentally sustainable behaviours to staff, other businesses, and the wider community. 

Here are a few examples of sustainability at work at Progressive Group:

  • We incorporate sustainability into the design and purpose of our products, with systems that have low energy consumption, operating costs, and ecological footprints, and a long life. Our Wood Weta is designed to divert biomass material from landfills to reduce methane. We also provide systems specifically designed for the renewable energy, recycling, forestry, construction and manufacturing industries.  
  • We have a waste management system that minimises the amount of waste we generate and the volume of waste sent to landfill. We recycle 100% of recyclable materials, have a worm farm for all our biodegradable waste, minimise the generation of waste through careful purchasing decisions and always look for opportunities to re-use rather than dispose of materials. This includes avoiding using excessive packaging and non-recyclable materials, and giving our (safe) non-recyclable plastics to a childcare centre.
  • We support our community in a number of ways from raising money for causes and charities, to offering internships and programmes to young people that are seeking work experience. We also encourage our staff to get involved in their community, and support them in doing so where possible.
  • Our building has been optimised for maximised energy efficiency to reduce our carbon footprint. Some of our energy initiatives include:
    • wall, ceiling and floor insulation;
    • heating our building through a carbon-neutral pellet fire in winter and use natural ventilation to cool the building in summer;
    • solar tube lighting in the warehouse and skylights in our offices to make use of natural light.
  • We have transformed part of our site into a vegetable garden which is cultivated and used by staff, and have planted another part of the site in native vegetation providing habitat for local birdlife.
  • We have received a number of awards for our sustainability efforts and innovation at Progressive Group:
    • 2005 BP Pounamu Award for Environmental Management
    • 2005 Fulton Hogan Award for Waste Reduction
    • 2005 Degussa Award for Innovation
    • 2013 NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards Judges commendation Renewables Innovation Award (Wood Weta)
    • 2013 SBN finalist for the manifolds designed and manufactured for several hydo power stations.

If you’d like more details on our sustainability actions and initiatives, feel free to get in contact with either Rodney or Angela Sharp.

Click here to view the Progressive Group Sustainability Policy >