Sustainable practices triumph for Bayfair

Sustainable business practices have saved Bayfair $300,000 in the last five years - and now they've seen the company named Bay of Plenty's Sustainable Business of the Year.
The Mount Maunganui shopping centre won the top prize at last night's Sustainable Business Network awards, at a retro-themed ceremony at the Sebel Trinity Wharf.
Bayfair won the Large Business Trailblazer category before beating six other category winners to the top prize.
Bayfair operations manager Steve Ellingford said embracing sustainable business practices, including recycling and energy-efficient lightbulbs, had been a no-brainer.
"In the current situation right now when the economy is tight, I could be using the same power I used five years ago and pay the power company more, or I can put the money back into the company. We've knocked down our waste costs by 43 per cent in five years - it's a no-brainer.
"Ultimately if the business can make money doing the right thing by people and the right thing by the environment, it's a win-win all round.
"Even in tough times it pays to be sustainable."
With over 90 tenants and more than a million shoppers every year, Bayfair's sustainable practices have a huge impact.
Mr Ellingford challenged other Bay businesses to make sustainability a priority.
"We manage 90 different businesses and clients - any business with staff under their own control should be able to match what we do."
The mall is jointly owned by AMP Capital Investors, which plans to use Bayfair as a sustainable business model for all of its New Zealand properties.
Mr Ellingford said the award was an achievement for the entire Bayfair staff.
"It comes down to the right team, who do it day in, day out. The processes we put in place are part of our day-to-day business, it's just what we do.
"We do live and breathe it. With everything we do, there's a sustainable element. It doesn't matter whether it's just gift-wrapping at Christmas, we use the right paper and we recycle."
The centre's next big project was a rainwater-collection scheme.
The judging panel was impressed with Bayfair's "commitment to continuous improvement, ensuring high levels of resource efficiency and accountability."
The shopping centre integrated sustainability into all aspects of the business, supporting the paper4trees programme, hosting the Sustainable Information Expo for Earth Hour 2009, and sponsoring the Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind.
"It is good to see a business, with a significant interface with the public, which is actively and publicly taking a sustainable approach," Environment Bay of Plenty chairman John Cronin said.
The Sustainable Business Network Awards aimed to recognise businesses that demonstrate leadership by embracing innovation, sustainability and regenerative practices in their day-to-day operations.
The network's Bay of Plenty manager, Jo Wills, said this year's winners had set the bar extremely high:  "Not only do we have representation from across the Bay of Plenty, we also have excellent examples of sustainable business development throughout many different service sectors."
Other category winners were: Not For Profit, Trailblazer - Energy Options Ltd, Whakatane; Small Business, Emerging - BOP Apparelmaster, Tauranga; Small Business, Trailblazer - Landscape Design Company, Katikati; Large Business, Emerging - Sharp Tudhope Lawyers, Tauranga (Judges' commendation); Sustainable Design and Innovation - Devan Plastics Ltd, Tauranga; Productivity Award - Trevelyan's Pack & Cool Ltd, Te Puke.