Green ambition driving garage
THE environmental impact of the automotive industry was not sitting easily with Gareth Toddun when an emissions scandal erupted in 2015.
German car maker Volkswagen intentionally rigged its emissions controls to perform only in laboratory testing and not in the real world, where its turbocharged direct injection diesel engines produced air-polluting nitrogen oxides at a far higher rate.
The scandal further fuelled Mr Toddun’s approach to sustainability, now being embedded in his new Geelong West service garage, South West Autohaus.
“I am proud of my skill set … but unfortunately the industry I am in has started to get a bad look to it,” he said.
Mr Toddun said that he decided that if he was going to stay in the automotive industry it had to be more on his terms.
“I was going to make sure that my footprint was as minimal as possible,” he said.
Launching the new business a month ago, South West Autohaus has a triple interceptor water filtration system to stop pollution from trade waste such as grease, oil, silt, sand, sludge and other substances entering the general wastewater and sewer systems.
An oil recycling program involves keeping oil taken from vehicles separate from other fuels, coolants or contaminants so that it can be refined and be re-used as industrial oil.
All cleaning products are either pH neutral, biodegradable or both; car wash is pH neutral, glass cleaner is ammonia-free, tyre shine is silicone-free, mechanic hand-wash is microbead-free and engine and wheel degreaser is non-caustic.
Accessing the Barwon South West Waste and Resource Recovery Group’s free Rethink Your Footprint waste self-assessment tool addressed areas that he needed further help with to ensure that all waste was separated into its rightful stream and was processed to cause the least environmental impact.
In addition to paper and cardboard recycling, soft plastics are now returned to a supermarket recycling bin, hard plastics go to GT Recycling in Moolap, and batteries and metals are separated for recycling.
Mr Toddun said he was driving better environmental outcomes anywhere he could across the business. In the administration side, he is aiming to be as paperless as possible.
“Technology in automotive is progressing. I don’t see why we in the service side of it should be doing any differently,” he said.
“All my bookings are digital, my quotes are all emailed, invoices are all emailed … everything is in the customers’ inbox rather than in their hand.”
Mr Toddun has 18 years’ experience in the industry with roles including product training manager and after sales information and communications technology training manager at BMW Australia and technical trainer for Porsche Cars Australia.
South West Autohaus specialises in servicing German vehicles.