An Auckland company is going all out to celebrate World Environment Day tomorrow with car-free day competitions and an in-house expo on sustainability.
James Hughes, senior environmental engineer for Maunsell Ltd, said the firm wanted to use the day to launch awareness among its staff of environmental issues.
"We are undertaking a raft of initiatives and activities designed to raise our employees' awareness and stimulate discussion regarding climate change, sustainability and how we should consider these issues in our work."
The firm, with offices in New Zealand and Australia, specialises in the design of buildings, infrastructure, power supply, and transportation.
Its 200 staff are being encouraged to take public transport, walk, cycle or share cars tomorrow to get to the Newmarket offices, with prizes to the department that achieves the best result.
A week-long expo will be run on sustainability issues including the launch of a sustainability plan.
A lunchtime discussion will be held to debate issues surrounding climate change and the Al Gore movie An Inconvenient Truth screened.
Mr Hughes said it was a challenge for the company to take the issues seriously with robust and credible outcomes.
The northern region director, Dean Kimpton, said it was essential to take the best sustainable route for the sake of future generations.
He said the company recognised the opportunity to implement initiatives that went beyond everyday working operations and could be implemented around the office.
The company was using environmentally friendly cleaning products and tissue and toilet paper produced from sustainable forests in New Zealand, purchased Fairtrade coffee, had a worm bin for organic waste, used a mobile phone recycling service and had acquired a hybrid electric car.
