Sustainability at Ausco in 2024
Ausco’s 2024 ESG Highlights
2024 was a year of growth and progress for Ausco, with sustainability and community initiatives taking centre stage. Our staff have continued to embrace innovative ways to improve our sustainability and strengthen partnerships with local community projects. These achievements reflect our ongoing commitment to making a positive impact across every aspect of our business and we’re incredibly proud of our achievements throughout the year, but also excited to share more with you next year too!
We are officially EcoVadis Certified!
Arguably one of the biggest achievements across our entire APAC team in 2024 was the EcoVadis Certification of Ausco, Portacom and NET Modular.
Our businesses were analysed on their sustainability in the environmental impact, labour, human rights, ethics and procurement categories, awarding an overall ranking and also category specific rankings to allow us to understand where we performed well and where we can improved.
We were incredibly proud to have achieved a Silver certification, ranking in the 92nd Percentile with an overall sustainability rating of 71 out of 100 points. We achieved high marks in the environmental, labour and human rights, and also scored strongly in ethics and sustainable procurement. This score demonstrates that we are on a good course when it comes to our ESG initiatives, however there is always room for improvement and we look forward to upholding and expanding our sustainability throughout 2025 to further improve our businesses.
Capturing Sunlight and Water: Perth Hire Yard upgrades
All of our service centres have made positive changes to reduce their environmental footprint throughout 2024, but our Perth hire yard has gone above and beyond, undertaking a number of projects to improve efficiency and offset the impact of their operations.
The centerpiece of this is a brand new 75kW commercial solar system which has been installed on the roof at our hire yard. As the majority of our work occurs during daylight hours, the energy produced by the system is self consumed first, with any excess energy being exported into the grid. In its early operation the system has already reduced the Perth yard’s grid power consumption by 25%, directly reducing our environmental impact and emissions.
To complement the solar system, the Perth hire yard has also become host to new water tanks, which capture rainwater from our enormous roof space and store it for yard use throughout the year. The non potable water is used for cleaning, washing down buildings and equipment and keeping our gardens healthy throughout the year, reducing the use of grid water for these less-critical functions.
These initiatives work together to reduce the environmental footprint of our Perth service centre by allowing us to capture and self consume energy and water, making our operations less reliant on external supply.
Giving back however we can: Ausco Volunteer Program
Our team undertook multiple initiatives throughout the year with the goal of giving back to the community in any way we can. Across the country our teams worked out ways in which we can support local charities or groups, and this has led to some truly great volunteer work.
Our Brisbane hire yard team have seamlessly implemented a recycling system, taking discarded furniture and other serviceable items that are left behind, collecting them up and donating them to charity, giving the items a new life while also eliminating these items going to landfill. While this was going on, Our Melbourne team rolled up their sleeves and engaged in some competitive blood donation, with the combined effort from multiple donations throughout the year resulting in enough blood being donated to save over 50 lives!
Our Adelaide manufacturing team rolled up their sleeves in a different way, braving bad weather getting their hands dirty to assist volunteers in rehabilitating a local bushland area, while some of our Brisbane staff participated in similar projects in the popular Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens, ensuring that the dedicated and unpaid bush care staff have a strong set of helping hands.
These are just some of many initiatives but they all have one thing in common – they are made possibly by our Volunteer Hours program, which allows our team to take time off and volunteer to give back to a local charity or community initiative.
A cold night in the botanical gardens: Vinnies CEO Sleepout
Australia is currently in the grips of a housing crisis, with many Australians being priced out – and sometimes forced out of their homes. A demand for homelessness services increases, awareness and funding increases are needed in return, and that is why Ausco was proud to participate in the Vinnies CEO Sleepout in Brisbane.
Heralded as one of the St Vincent De Paul’s most public and most popular fundraising activities, the CEO Sleepout is a way for businesses to raise money for homelessness services by nominating a senior staff member to spend a night in the cold. Ausco’s very own Managing Director, George Petrohilos, stood up to the challenge, and collectively the team raised $6358 in support of his ‘sleepout’ – enough to provide 20 support programs, 52 beds and 211 meals to those who need them.
The unique but impactful fundraising effort by Vinnies is gaining popularity, and with homelessness steadily rising across South East Queensland, demand for more funding and services are desperately high. While we are proud to take part in events such as the CEO Sleepout we’re always on the lookout for more ways to help.
Building Community through local grassroots sport: Garbutt Magpies.
One of Ausco’s proudest partnerships is the one that we have with the Garbutt Magpies, and more specifically, the Garbutt Magpies Cup that happens annually, bringing kids from across North Queensland together for a fun day of sport, inclusiveness and culture.
In 2024 our team were on hand to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the cup, a massive achievement for what started off as a grassroots social sporting event. We’ve supported the Magpies Cup for many years and this was no exception, with our team contributing a combined 365 volunteer hours to help bring the event to life, with one Townsville staff member dedicating a whopping 137 hours of their own time. As a special treat, our Townsville staff were invited to the grounds of Turtle Rock, an Indigenous meeting place west of Townsville CBD. As the name suggests, Turtle Rock is a large boulder that forms a cave below, dotted with preserved indigenous artworks that date back up to 4000 years. It was an incredible experience to be able to step onto this sacred ground, and one that made a deep impression on those staff who were able to attend.
Our partnership with the Magpies continues to go from strength to strength and we are looking forward to watching the Magpies Cup continue to grow over the coming years.
From our first EcoVadis Silver Certification to our social initiatives, our team has taken significant steps to drive positive change across our operations in 2024. Whether it’s giving back to the community through partnerships with clubs such as the Magpies or raising money by making our Managing Director spend a night in the cold, our 2024 achievements highlight our dedication to being a sustainable organisation. As we move into 2025 we are committed to building on these milestones and continuing to improve, exploring new ways to do even better as we work toward our ESG goals.
