Progress Report 2013-14
Foreword
A liveable and prosperous Victoria is important to us all, now and for the future.
The Victorian Government, through its Environmental Partnerships strategy and Getting full
value: Victoria’s waste and resource recovery policy, aims to create the right economic and
policy settings to encourage innovative and sustainable practices and technologies.
Sustainability Victoria (SV) is the agency that delivers Victorian Government programs to
support households, schools, businesses and communities to improve the way they use
resources – using less energy, and reducing waste.
We have undergone a significant transformation since 2011, changing from an agency with a
diverse range of activities, to one targeting more substantial outcomes in targeted sectors.
This change came about following the Sustainability Victoria Review, which led to the
development of SV’s three year strategy, SV2015.
The review found that SV had lost focus over time. So in 2012, we started a transformation
to become an organisation more focused on outcomes and stakeholder needs. We chose to
focus on leading key integrated waste management and resource efficiency programs to
provide a clearer line of sight between our sources of funding and the outcomes we
achieved.
To do this, we re-aligned our business plans to the Getting full value policy, and through
SV2015, we know that the Victorian Government is well-positioned to meet the
environmental challenges faced by Victoria.
These reforms are moving us in the right direction as the results from our 2013 stakeholder
and engagement survey found that stakeholders believe that we have become a much more
focused organisation since 2012.
Early in 2013, the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Waste and Resource Recovery
Governance Reform recommended that our role be strengthened and focused toward
statewide strategic planning, leadership and support for waste and resource recovery in
Victoria.
Following on from these recommendations, we will support Victoria’s economic prosperity by
facilitating investment in waste and resource recovery infrastructure and industry, developing
the right conditions for resource recovery markets in Victoria, and preparing a statewide
waste and recovery education strategy for communities and businesses.
Through practical programs, and incentives including investment and support, we help
businesses and households adopt more sustainable practices to ensure a healthy
environment, community and economy, now and for the future.
Stan Krpan
Chief Executive Officer
1. Background
Created in 2005 from a merger of predecessor organisations focused on sustainable energy,
waste and recycling, Sustainability Victoria (SV) conducted its first comprehensive review
since its formation in 2011.
The review found that SV had lost its focus over time, so recommended that improvements
be made to provide better value for money from SV program outcomes.
SV’s response was to:
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Take the lead on statewide strategy and planning for waste management
Improve materials and energy efficiency within targeted sectors
Use evidence to make informed and transparent decisions
Align with the shared aims of the Victorian Government’s environment portfolio
Integrate with Whole of Victorian Government priorities
Engage with stakeholders in regional and rural Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne,
and
Strategically apply investments to deliver measurable outcomes.
Delivering on SV2015
This resulted in SV launching a new three-year strategic plan, SV2015, with a strong focus
on Integrated Waste Management and Resource Efficiency, to increase economic value and
improve Victoria’s liveability. SV2015 largely addressed the recommendations from the
review, and has helped SV to re-focus its efforts and effectiveness, by delivering on fewer,
but more targeted and measurable outcomes aligned to Victorian Government priorities.
SV is now re-establishing its statutory role in statewide leadership, planning, and strategy for
waste management, by providing guidance and support; and consolidating its contribution
through resource efficiency programs that deliver and demonstrate value for Victoria. We
now intervene only when government intervention is warranted, and when we’re the best
placed to do so.
Waste and Resource Recovery Reform
During this period, other important changes took place that further influenced SV’s role and
responsibilities. In April 2013, the Victorian Government’s Getting full value: Victorian Waste
and Resource Recovery Policy was released. The policy included a requirement to appoint
an expert Waste and Resource Recovery Ministerial Advisory Committee to advise the
Minister for Environment and Climate Change on the legislative and governance
arrangements needed to implement all the actions listed in Getting full value.
The Committee recommended establishing a statewide integrated waste management
system, where statewide agencies play a greater role in statewide planning for waste and
resource recovery infrastructure. At the same time, statewide planning must be informed by
regional and local priorities.
The Committee endorsed SV’s work on waste planning, and as a result, strengthened SV’s
role to lead in waste and resource recovery within the environment portfolio and across
government. The new legislative arrangements bring a much larger scope of work for SV
and a significant shift in its current focus, but will set SV up to make a significant future
impact for Victoria.
Our strategic framework
The framework outlines our two priority areas of integrated waste management and resource
efficiency
We also identified four areas we need to build our capability as an organisation to support
delivery
We continue to administrate the Sustainability Fund on behalf of the Minister and the
Sustainability Fund Board.
Delivering on our strategy will help us to achieve nine key outcomes:
Integrated waste management outcomes:
1. Development of new or expanded markets for recycled products that pose a risk
and/or are a valuable resource
2. Increased recovery of priority products and materials that contribute weight, that pose
a risk and/or are a valuable resource
3. Improved standard of infrastructure and its development
4. Increased uptake of waste minimisation practices in targeted sectors for maximum
gain
5. Reduced littering behaviour and litter
6. Waste strategy, statewide planning and support to waste management groups
Resource efficiency outcomes:
1. Increased energy efficiency of selected sectors in commercial office buildings and
households
2. Increased energy and material efficiency of selected stakeholders in medium
enterprises and schools
3. Increased uptake of technologies that reduce environmental impacts, as part of an
integrated approach to energy efficiency in targeted sectors
2. Conserve, Invest and Save
Conserve, Invest and Save is a major Victorian Government investment designed to help
business and households to manage waste and resources more efficiently.
In 2012, the Victorian Government announced more than $38 million funding for this
package, most of which is provided through the Sustainability Fund.
In 2012-13 $6.9 million was distributed to support programs that maximise the value of our
resources and help to create new and sustainable employment across Victoria.
The programs support investment in new recycling and waste processing infrastructure, the
development of new and expanded markets for recycled products and assist households
and businesses to make smarter use of resources. Successful outcomes from these
programs are already being reported, and will be covered in the next section of this
document.
While the allocations are made to Victorian Government agencies and departments to
deliver the Conserve, Invest and Save programs, most of the funding goes directly to
recipients in industry, local government and community through various grant programs.
Initiative
Regional Organics Support Package
and Regional Waste Management
Group Support Package
Driving Investment for New Recycling
(DINR) and Resource Recovery
Infrastructure Program (RRI)
Melbourne Metropolitan Organics Plan
Building Victoria’s Organics Recovery
Fund
Transition support to improve Rural
Landfill Infrastructure
Smarter Resources Smarter Business
Funding
$5.5m
Paid out / contracted
$3.4m
$11.5m
$4.28m
$3.3m
$500K
$1.1m
$500K
$3.87m
$3.32m
$10m
$5.39m
Total Victorian Government funding $34.67 million
3. SV’s 2012-14 funding spend
The spread of Sustainability Victoria’s funding contracts is 61 per cent in regional Victoria, 25
per cent in metropolitan Melbourne, and 14 per cent across the state.
From 1 July 2012 to 30 May 2014, SV has funded 305 projects across Victoria with a total
grants amount of $19.01 million.
Loddon
Mallee
$2.4 million
33 projects
Victoria-wide
$1.96 million
20 projects
Hume
$3.29 million
43 projects
Grampians
$1.62 million
29 projects
Barwon South West
$2.96 million
35 projects
Metro
$5.02 million
123 projects
Gippsland
$1.76 million
24 projects
4. Sustainability in Action: Victorian Government
Achievements
Integrated waste management outcome 1:
Development of new or expanded markets for recycled
products that pose a risk and/or are a valuable resource
The current focus on collecting recyclables rather than making sure there was somewhere
for them to go, has resulted in an industry more focused on waste management rather than
creating a recycled products market.
As a result, over the past 18 months, we have sought a greater understanding of the
recycled product market and defined our role and focus in supporting it. We’re looking to
drive greater recovery by looking at how we can grow demand for products made from
recovered materials (organic and non-organic).
To do this, we’re:
 Building and sharing evidence-based knowledge of market drivers, needs and
barriers
 Prioritising and coordinating efforts across government
 Developing and encouraging industry to meet product quality standards
 Adopting a partnership approach to support industry and government to use recycled
products.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
Organics
Organics projects totalling $9.4 million have supported the development of new markets for
end products from organic waste, helped councils find better, cheaper ways to deliver
kerbside organic collections and educated more people about the impact of organics in
waste.
We have also conducted key research to inform the prioritisation of organic and non-organic
priority materials for market development (tyres, flexible plastics, glass, brick and organics)
and are leading the development of a Portfolio Market Development strategy to provide
direction for government investment in this space.
Integrated waste management outcome 2:
Increased recovery of priority products and materials that
contribute weight, that pose a risk and/or are a valuable
resource
Incorrect waste disposal, lack of disposal options and poor waste separation by Victorians
results in the loss of valuable resources, and increase the amount of waste send to landfill.
So, we aim to increase the recovery of priority products and materials in households and
businesses.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
Household chemical collection program
The household chemical collection program was rolled out in the second half of 2013, and
we’re now conducting 31 annual Detox your Home mobile collections for hazardous
household chemicals.
The 12 permanent Victorian drop-off sites for the collection of low-risk products – paint,
household batteries and fluorescent lights – will be expanded to up to 18 sites over the next
12 months.
In 2013, the program collected more than 1000 tonnes of waste from almost 7000 Victorian
households.
Batteryback
We expanded Batteryback to 43 locations across Victoria, collecting more than five tonnes of
used batteries. We also developed safety guidelines for the collection of batteries via the
Australian Battery Recycling Initiative.
Zoos Victoria (Melbourne Zoo, Werribee Open Range Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary) will
further expand the Batteryback program after recently agreeing to house Batteryback bins at
all three locations.
In 2011-2012, six partnerships collected 2.8 tonnes of batteries, and in 2012-13, 10
partnerships collected 10 tonnes.
National Waste Paint Stewardship Scheme
We designed Australia’s first trade waste paint collection and processing trial – PaintCare.
Over a period of six months, 127 tonnes of trade waste paint were diverted to six PaintCare
sites.
Through strong partnership with the paint industry and support from all states and territories,
Victoria now leads the development of a national approach to managing waste paint.
Smarter Resources Smarter Business – Recycling
We’re providing $600,000 for eight projects to help commercial and industrial businesses
recycle. Alongside this, we’re targeting up to $10 million co-investment from business.
Integrated waste management outcome 3:
Improved standard of infrastructure and its development
Households create approximately 1.6 million tonnes per year of municipal solid waste, and of
that, approximately 682,000 tonnes is organic waste, which could be recycled, reused or
recovered.
Industry is also sending approximately 1.2 million tonnes of waste per year to landfill, which
also has the potential to be recovered, however resource recovery and landfill facilities are
often unable to deal with the amount and type of waste generated.
So, we’re aiming to increase the efficiency and standard of resource recovery and landfill
facilities by encouraging investment through grant funding.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
Driving Investment for New Recycling
In the second round of funding, we invested $2.4 million in seven innovative projects
(matched with $11 million in private investment) to help recover and create value from waste
products such as tyres, fluorescent light globes and silage wrap.
To date these projects have diverted over 29 kilograms of mercury from compact fluorescent
lighting, 185 tonnes of glass, 12 tonnes ferrous metals, 2.5 tonnes aluminium, 4.1 tonnes of
phosphor, 41 tonnes of mattresses (wood, material, foam, metal) and 4 tonnes of waste from
regional Victoria that would otherwise have been sent to landfill.
The fund identified a potential investment pipeline of $85 million, demonstrating the value of
these projects to the Victorian economy.
Building Victoria’s Organics Recovery
Through this fund, we’ve invested $2.5 million towards organics recovery in Victoria.
The program consists of a $2 million targeted funding round for large-scale infrastructure in
the four major regional provincial areas of Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and Gippsland, and
$500,000 for an open funding round which offered grants of up to $100,000 for small-scale
projects outside the targeted areas.
$3.8 million in funding was also allocated to support the Metropolitan Waste Management
Group’s organic strategy.
In 2012-2013, the fund provided $100,000 in grants, mainly to Cleanaway/TPI which has
diverted 165 tonnes of household organic waste from landfill.
Regional and Rural Landfill Support Package
In 2010, the EPA introduced tougher landfill standards, so many landfills operated by smaller
councils and shires needed to be upgraded in order to meet best practice standards.
As part of the Regional and Rural Landfill Support Package, the Minister allocated $3.87
million to help rural landfill operators to upgrade landfills, and avoid passing on extra costs to
ratepayers in those areas.
17 successful landfill operators from across Victoria received funding of up to $250,000,
which helped them to cover the costs of protective geomembranes – the material used to
line landfills to prevent ground and surface water contamination – and the associated testing,
installation and auditing of the lining.
Resource Recovery Infrastructure
We’ve allocated $6.5 million for Resource Recovery Infrastructure projects that aim to
recover waste that would otherwise go to landfill.
The fund encourages industry to invest in large-scale infrastructure, and project recipients
aim to process over 100,000 tonnes of waste per annum and secure 65 full-time jobs.
Integrated waste management outcome 4:
Increased uptake of waste minimisation practices in
targeted sectors for maximum gain
Victoria’s overall annual waste generation has increased from roughly 8 million tonnes in
2000, to 11.9 million tonnes in 2011, and over the last 10 years, each Victorian has
increased the amount of waste they generate by 29 per cent each year.
We’re trying to get businesses and households to minimise the waste they create and to
help businesses to explore ways that they can practically reduce their waste, and working
with retailers to pilot a campaign to influence households to reduce their waste.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
Beyond Waste
The Beyond Waste fund is designed to assist commercial and industrial, and construction
and demolition businesses to reduce the amount of operational waste sent to landfill by
supporting innovations that reduce, reuse or avoid overall waste generation.
This year VECCI (Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry), which is
undertaking one of our nine Beyond Waste projects, conducted waste assessments for 25
businesses. The assessments identified the potential for these businesses to reduce more
than 1300m3 of combined waste, and save more than $180,000 in direct costs.
Case Study: Burbank’s Zero Waste Home
In Victoria, each new house built results in an average of 5.8 tonnes of waste to landfill.
Construction and demolition waste is about 30 per cent of Victoria’s waste, and although the
commercial building sector has really led in recycling (about 83 per cent of this material is
recycled) there are particular challenges with volume home building in the residential sector
which has lagged.
With this in mind, Burbank Australia set out to build Victoria’s first zero waste home in
Melton’s new Atherstone Estate. The home was built using innovative construction
processes that reduced waste by 72 per cent, and diverted 99 per cent of its housing
construction waste from landfill.
The reductions were achieved through focusing on design strategy to minimise waste, the
selection of less wasteful building materials, and reusing on-site waste materials and
minimising off-cuts.
Get it Right on Bin Night
This campaign has run for two years. In 2013, our Get it Right on Bin Night campaign
reached 39 per cent of regional Victorians. Victorians who saw the campaign indicated that
they were more likely to recycle correctly, and from every room increasing, from 50 per cent
pre-campaign to 63 per cent post-campaign.
Integrated waste management outcome 5:
Reduced littering behaviour and litter
We’re trying to reduce littering behaviours and litter in three key ways:
1. By providing funding grants for infrastructure, education and communications
campaigns
2. By developing tools that gather information and provide insights on littering
behaviours and litter, and provide guidance, and
3. By providing support and information to the community.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
Victorian Litter Strategy 2012 – 14
Through the strategy, we have provided grants funding to councils, waste management
groups and Victorian Government agencies to help prevent litter throughout the state.
We also worked with the charity sector, commercial operators of clothing bins and local
councils to develop a Litter Prevention Toolkit to help prevent illegal dumping at charity
stores and a Best Practice Guide for managing donation bins.
With councils, we developed a toolkit to help them measure their illegal dumping and litter
data – the Local Litter Measurement Toolkit. This will help them to know the scale of the
problem, identify hot spots and target their litter and illegal dumping prevention activities
more accurately.
The latest measure for littering behaviours indicates a 20.3 per cent statewide improvement
in 2013 compared to 2003.
Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria
We have continued to deliver the Keep Australia Beautiful Victoria program to empower
Victorians to deliver projects in their communities.
Each year, we deliver the Tidy Towns and Sustainable Cities Awards programs to
encourage, recognise and support communities working locally for a better environment.
We also manage the “Stationeers” and “Adopt A Roadside” volunteer programs. In 2012-13,
Stationeers groups tidied 51 railway stations across the state, and Adopt a Roadside worked
with more than 100 community organisations to collect an estimated 62 tonnes of litter from
Victoria’s roadsides over the year.
Roadside Litter Prevention grants program
In our first round of funding, we invested approximately $160,000 in seven projects as part of
our Roadside Litter grants program.
The program helps local governments, waste management groups and Victorian
Government agencies to undertake a range of activities including education and awareness
programs, litter measurement, and monitoring and evaluation.
Public Place Recycling grants
In the first round of funding, we provided approximately $1.2 million for 24 projects to help
deliver public place recycling infrastructure and education across Victoria.
From the 24 Public Place Recycling grants issued in 2011, 12 projects were concluded in
2012-13. Through these projects, 1800 bins have been installed at locations including
metropolitan train stations, parks, sports grounds and thoroughfares. The projects were
successful in diverting an average of 49 per cent of waste materials from landfill (by volume)
for recycling.
Integrated waste management outcome 6:
Waste strategy, statewide planning and support to waste
management groups
The recovery of resources in Victoria isn’t as good as it could be, which is a missed
economic opportunity, strains the waste management system in parts of the state, increases
costs to Victorians and poses a threat to the environment.
However, we know that not all waste can be recovered and some must be safely disposed of
into landfill.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
Statewide Waste and Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan
We developed and delivered the draft Statewide Waste and Resource Recovery
Infrastructure Plan (SWRRIP), which involved a detailed analysis of Victoria’s current waste
and resource recovery system – something which had never been done before.
Developing the draft SWRRIP involved a detailed analysis of the current waste and resource
recovery system, including mapping the locations of more than 500 units of waste and
resource recovery infrastructure, and analysing the expected mix and volumes of waste.
The plan proposes an approach to develop the right infrastructure mix to manage Victoria’s
waste and facilitate an efficient and effective resource recovery system, providing Victoria
with a clear roadmap for future investment in waste infrastructure by assessing our current
capacity and future needs – including future land-use requirements.
In the plan, Victoria will have an integrated “hubs and spokes” network, where major facilities
(hubs) will process significant quantities of waste and provide specialised processing for
smaller quantities. A sequence of activities (spokes) will help the market consolidate the
volumes of waste and increase the effectiveness of these key facilities. We hope that this will
make investment by industry more attractive.
We worked with more than 350 stakeholders from local government, waste management
groups, the waste and resource recovery industry, consultants and other government
agencies during the consultation sessions, and over 45 submissions were received.
The plan will be finalised in August 2014.
Regional Waste Management Group Support Package
In 2012-13, we supported all 13 Regional Waste Management Groups, with each receiving
$125,000 in funding for projects that met one or more of the priority focus areas including
market development, infrastructure upgrades, organics and/or kerbside recycling.
Resource efficiency outcome 1:
Increased energy efficiency of selected sectors in
commercial office buildings and households
Combined, commercial buildings and households account for 19 per cent of energy
consumption in Australia and this is predicted to grow to 21 per cent by 2029-30 (ABARE
2010).
Energy prices have more than doubled in the last 10 years, and will continue to rise into the
future.
We’re working with a targeted group of commercial office building owners to improve the
energy efficiency of their buildings, and with local government, renovators and retailers to
encourage householders to reduce their energy consumption.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
Smarter Resources Smarter Business – Energy Efficient Office Buildings
In Victoria, commercial buildings account for nearly 10 per cent of energy consumption.
We’ve created the Energy Efficient Office Buildings program to provide funding for building
owners to carry out an Opportunities Analysis.
We’ve found that by making some simple adjustments to building system controls and
operations, building owners can expect to save an average of $10,000 per year in energy
costs (based on an average-sized office of 2500m2)
We’re providing $3.59 million in funding for owners of commercial office buildings to improve
their building’s energy efficiency.
Since the program opened in September 2013, three building owners have been approved
to undertake an opportunities analysis, and a panel of service providers has been appointed
to deliver building improvement works.
Smarter Choice
The Smarter Choice retail program has enrolled more than 500 Victorian appliances,
hardware, lighting and home entertainment retailers to influence Victorian consumers
towards the purchase of energy and water efficient products. Thrifty-Link Hardware and
Home Timber and Hardware are the latest to join.
Over the three years of SV2015, 390,000 households will be reached by the program. Of
these, 185,000 households will be influenced to purchase more efficient electrical and gas
appliances, achieving energy savings of $11 million.
The success of the Smarter Choice retail program has led other states to launch similar
programs. To support them, we are working to develop a common suite of training materials
for use by retail staff nationally.
Resource efficiency outcome 2:
Increased energy and material efficiency of selected
stakeholders in medium enterprises and schools
We’re trying to encourage and support Victorian schools and small to medium-sized
businesses to understand their resource consumption and to reduce it.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
Smarter Resources Smarter Business
We’ve reached 300 small and medium-sized Victorian businesses through information
sessions on our Smarter Resources Smarter Business program.
We’ve expanded the overall program to invest $14 million over five years to help Victorian
businesses reduce costs and environmental impacts by using their resources more
efficiently.
We’ve partnered with VECCI and the Ai Group to help build resource efficiency skills and
knowledge in over 300 businesses across the state.
Smarter Resources Smarter Business – Energy and Materials
With businesses under increasing pressure from rising energy and materials costs, finding
ways to create efficiencies and improve productivity is a major challenge.
The program provides practical, onsite support for businesses to identify energy and
materials cost saving opportunities, implement resource efficiency projects, and build
business capability. It also provides funding for capital upgrades.
To help build business capability and know-how, the program is partnering with a range of
industry associations and business networks, including the Ai Group and VECCI. In 2013/14
Building Business Capability will offer businesses onsite advice, site visits, workshops and
training in resource efficiency.
In the first two rounds of funding, we’ve awarded 76 grants totalling more than $2 million to
help Victorian businesses to implement projects, identify cost saving opportunities and build
business capability. In round two, the grants are expected to leverage around $2.21 of
business investment for every $1 of Victorian Government funding.
These businesses expect to save a combined $2.4 million a year in their material and energy
use.
Case Study: Welvic
“In these times when many find that resources are particularly scarce, having this type of
quality report undertaken can only be of benefit in better directing business efforts to reduce
waste and ensure resource efficiency … (and) assist Welvic with continuing to be a good
corporate citizen and to remain competitive in the global market.”
- Welvic Operations Manager, Michael Starcevic
ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic
More than 1000 Victorian schools have participated in ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic. These
schools represent over 400,000 students – nearly half of all school students in Victoria.
The initiative supports schools to create a culture of sustainability by minimising waste,
reducing energy and water costs, and improving biodiversity. It also recognises and rewards
the great work of schools through the ResourceSmart Schools Awards and Sustainability
Certification.
The initiative helps schools to reduce costs and build sustainability into their curriculum, and
190 schools have received grants of up to $10,000 each to help them implement energy
efficiency projects.
ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic now provides an online data management system to help schools
track their sustainability achievements, identify savings made and get formally certified and
recognised for their efforts.
ResourceSmart AuSSI Vic schools have collectively saved almost 31,000 tonnes of CO2
emissions, and $5.2 million in energy costs (an average of $1.3 million per year) in six years
(2008 – 2013).
Case Study: Ballarat Grammar – a 5 Star school
Although the school saves money by reducing energy bills and waste – around $3 million in
energy savings over 10 years – what’s really important is the cultural and behavioural
change it models, for the wider community and for the students.
Being a 5 Star school sets a high standard for students to aspire to. This environment not
only creates behaviour change on a personal level, but provides a holistic learning
experience that can lead to careers in the growth area of sustainability.
It’s also a great promotional tool for incoming families. Environmentally friendly schools are
rapidly becoming a popular choice with parents.
- Ballarat Grammar Sustainability Coordinator, Clarice Lisle
Resource efficiency outcome 3:
Increased uptake of technologies that reduce
environmental impacts, as part of an integrated approach
to energy efficiency in targeted sectors
We’ve done a lot of work in energy efficiency technology at a local level since 2010. Our two
key projects under this outcome, Solar Hubs and Smart Energy Zones, were completed by
July 2012.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
Solar Hubs
The Solar Hubs program was a $2.1 million initiative in direct funding from the Victorian
Government. It provided funding to Towong Shire, Mildura Development Corporation, the
West Gippsland Energy Innovation Co-operative, Goulburn Valley Community Energy
(GVCE) and the Bendigo Sustainability Group.
The program financially supported the establishment of five regional solar hubs across
Victoria, delivered over 6 megawatts of solar photovoltaic systems on houses, small
businesses and community buildings from October 2010 until December 2012.
Smart Energy Zones
We invested $3 million to support seven creative and innovative projects to help
communities install technology to reduce their environmental impact and save on energy
costs.
Installation of these new technologies saved more than 4300 MWh of energy in 2012–13.
5. Our corporate capabilities
Key capability 1:
Statewide engagement
Following on from the review, we realised that we needed to tell our story and improve our
communication with regional stakeholders.
After the review, we formed a statewide engagement team of strategic coordinators that
were located in five major, provincial towns. This network was recognised as a success by
our stakeholders, as they have helped us to increase our presence in regional Victoria, and
helped us to address regional and metropolitan needs more effectively. The results prove
that our strength is in our people.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
We undertook some brand research with stakeholders and staff, which found that our
stakeholders wanted us to be focused, knowledgeable, credible, helpful, practical and
energetic.
So, we’ve been monitoring our stakeholders’ perceptions to check whether we’re delivering
on our promises, understanding their needs and issues, and are easy to access and
communicate with by undertaking an annual stakeholder survey.
Stakeholder and Engagement Survey
In October 2013, we sent out a survey to more than 185 stakeholders across Victoria to help
us understand how effective we are at meeting their needs, and identifying areas that we still
need to work on.
The 2013 survey was a follow-up to the stakeholder survey sent out in 2012, and included
many of the same questions so that we can clearly see how we’re tracking.
We sent our 2013 survey out to stakeholder groups in all key Victorian regions and localities,
including Waste Management Groups, Local Government staff, Victorian Government
department staff, related businesses, and individuals representing Not-for-Profit
organisations.
The 2013 results found that we are broadly heading in the right direction, with improvements
on the 2012 results in most areas, although there is still work to be done to improve how
easy it is to access our services, and talk to us.
Stakeholder and Engagement Survey performance scorecard
Key capability 2:
Evidence-based investment and outcomes
We want to be an organisation that uses evidence to guide our investment, and clearly
demonstrate the impact that we’re making in targeted Victorian communities and sectors.
In 2013-14, we completed a mid-term review of SV2015 to see how we’re tracking against
our outcomes based on Getting full value, the SWRRIP and Ministerial Advisory Committee
recommendations.
The results show that we’re on track, but we will continue to make any necessary
improvements that would improve our outcomes.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
We’ve provided our staff with tools to plan monitor and evaluate their projects, and we’ve
coached them to reflect and use evidence when thinking about the progress of their work,
and what might need to change or stay the same.
Now, all of our large projects have a multi-year, results based plan. All priority projects are
reflected on quarterly, and we make some adjustments based on evidence.
We also developed a tool called Performance at a Glance that shows a snapshot of project
and organisational health once a month. It provides us with an opportunity to report progress
or raise issues regularly.
Our overall approach to providing tools and supporting staff to use evidence and manage for
outcomes was presented at an Australasian Evaluation Society meeting, and we were also
asked to be a case study in an international report on good practice in evaluation.
Key capability 3:
People and leadership
To deliver on our commitments in SV2015, we need to maintain and build on the capabilities,
skills, expertise and knowledge of our people.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
We regularly measure our culture to track our progress, and we’re implementing strategies
to make positive changes.
To shift our organisational culture to our preferred culture, we’re tracking our progress by
using an annual Organisational Culture Index (OCI) Survey.
Our 2013 survey results showed that there was an overall improvement in all the
constructive behaviours, and a reduction in counter-productive behaviours.
Knowing the issues to focus on, we can support and encourage our leaders to help our
people excel, and maintain progress toward our desired culture.
Part of this is the development and delivery of a 12 month targeted leadership program,
which aims to increase the capability and awareness of our leaders.
.
Key capability 4:
Governance and coordination
We know it’s important to increase our accountability, transparency, effectiveness and
efficiency in line with Victorian Government Standards, so we’re trying to adopt a customercentric view and improve government and coordination procedures.
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
To provide high standards of governance, accountability and performance, we are
establishing a Project Management Office to support effective project management and
delivery. We’re also expecting that by June 2015, we’ll have improved IT systems in place.
By investing in existing and new business systems, we’re aiming to improve our measures
and our training so we can do things more efficiently.
As a result we are seeing a reduction in costs across the organisation with a saving of nearly
$1.6m per year on IT costs, and we have identified more opportunities to increase
efficiencies.
We’re also working better with our portfolio partners, and have established an Information
Systems government forum.
6. Victoria’s Waste and Resource Recovery Reform
In 2013, the Minister for Environment and Climate Change, the Hon. Ryan Smith established
the Ministerial Advisory Committee to provide advice on the governance arrangements that
would be needed to deliver the Victorian Government’s new waste and resource recovery
policy, Getting full value.
The Committee recommended establishing a statewide integrated waste management
system, where statewide agencies play a greater role in statewide planning for waste and
resource recovery infrastructure
These reforms build on the significant work we’ve undertaken over the past two years to
implement the government’s review, refocusing much of our work on waste and resource
recovery.
Under the new arrangements, we will be the lead agency for facilitating waste and resource
recovery market development initiatives such as product stewardship, accreditation,
sponsorship of trials and research and development. This reform gives us a stronger role in
planning Victoria’s statewide waste and resource recovery infrastructure and service
delivery.
In order to successfully deliver on these reforms, we will also lead the development of a
statewide community and business education strategy for waste and resource recovery in
collaboration with local government, waste and resource recovery groups and the
Environment Protection Authority.
The new legislative arrangements mean that we have a much larger scope of work, and are
a significant shift in our current focus, but will set us up to make a significant future impact
for Victoria.
The increased role and responsibilities are a great outcome, showing that the Minister and
the broader Victorian Government have confidence in our ability to deliver, which is also a
great endorsement of the reforms we have already undertaken.
We know that implementing these reforms is a key pillar to achieving Getting full value, and
is a fantastic opportunity for us, with significant implications for our future role and work.
SV’s new roles
Sustainability Victoria
Statewide
education
strategy
Statewide
market
development
& investment
Data
collection &
dissemination
Procurement
support
services
SWRRIP
WMG
engagement
and support
framework