Jeffries counts the carbon from composting

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Compost company Jeffries has for the first time measured its environmental footprint, aiming to set a baseline for its emission reductions and saying such action will “business as usual” in the future. The South Australian company emitted the equivalent of 2,316.7 tonnes of CO2 last year, about one-tenth the reporting threshold of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act.

“This is our first environmental footprint assessment and we did it for a number of reasons,” company MD Lachlan Jeffries told Environmental Management News. “[But] really it was just to get out there and measure and get some base ground, and then work out what to do from there.”

“Most businesses should [do it] for proper due diligence [and] to understand this measurement that will become more and more part of everyday business.”

The assessment, carried out by Carbon Planet, was to determine “where we are”, allowing the company to now move on to the next stage: “We’re analysing what does that mean, all the risk issues that we need to address, but also what are the opportunities.”

While Jefferies said he had expected the company’s emissions to be lower than the NGERS reporting threshold, he added that “as with most people, it’s a very steep learning curve we’re going through”.

The company receives, processes and markets recyclable organic material, turning it into compost, soil and mulch for horticulture and viticulture, major landscape projects and home gardens. It sells about 100,000 tonnes of material annually.

Jeffries says the company is “very much in the green sector business”.

“You’ve got to practice what you preach … We promote the benefits of our service both in recycling organic material and the benefits of using compost soil and mulch. Because we promote the benefits of our service, we need to then live that belief in all factors of how we operate the business.”

Carbon Planet found the company’s major emissions were from stationary and transport fuels, which accounted for 79% of the total. The company has been researching ways to convert its diesel-powered engines to more sustainable electrical alternatives.

“We have been planning to implement a range of initiatives to reduce primarily our use of diesel,” Jeffries said, with the assessment now providing a baseline to show the impact of any improvements to the process.

The company sources its organic waste from customers in the commercial and industrial sector - including supermarkets, hotels and restaurants – as well as from municipal kerbside collections, activities Jeffries points out that help reduce their customers’ carbon footprint and emissions.

He said there were also benefits beyond reducing carbon emissions compared with putting waste into landfill, nominating water savings as “one of the biggest reasons for people to purchase the product”. He claims vineyards save “on average 20-30% depending on which product and what sort of application, how much product you put on”.