Charging ahead into a sustainable future
How The Warehouse is making it easier and more affordable than ever for Kiwis to go green
Shopping and living sustainably can seem like a minefield at the best of times. But The Warehouse is making it easier and more affordable than ever for all Kiwis to live more sustainably, with an expanding range of products and convenient initiatives that are better for the environment and your wallet.
Harnessing innovation, ingenuity and its scale, the New Zealand retailer is committed to influencing change and helping Kiwis live better every day. And while recognising that sustainability is a long-term challenge, the company has already made significant changes to what it sells and how it does things in its efforts to make a meaningful impact on caring for the environment and communities.
RESPONSIBLE SOURCING
Like its customers, The Warehouse cares about doing the right thing – not only here in New Zealand but everywhere it operates and takes seriously its responsibility to protect workers in its supply chain.
That’s why for 17 years, The Warehouse has had a comprehensive ethical sourcing programme in place to actively monitor its supply factories and ensure the people who help to make its products are cared for.
The retailer is also a member of global sustainability programmes such as The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), the world’s largest cotton sustainability programme, and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) a non-profit organisation that promotes the responsible management of the world’s forests. The Warehouse also partners with HERproject in Bangladesh – an initiative educating female workers through workplace-based programmes on feminine and family health, and financial literacy.
This means customers can confidently choose quality and affordable products that have been sourced ethically.
CARING FOR THE PLANET
Customers can now find around 8000 products, each with at least one sustainable feature, like certified sustainable materials or packaging with reduced plastic and improved recyclability and reusability.
Sustainable materials such as recycled polyester, a durable material made from recycled used plastics, features in ranges such as The Warehouse’s men’s winter puffer jackets – a great example of a product delivering on quality while also being both gentle on customers’ wallets and kinder to the environment.
It’s not just the products on the shelves that showcase the company’s commitment to doing the right thing by the planet, but also how they are delivered. Since becoming the third major retailer in the world to go carbon neutral in 2019, The Warehouse customer deliveries are carbonneutral too.
Adding to this is the introduction of four customer electric vehicle (EV) trucks to The Warehouse Group’s home delivery network, the first in the market to deliver whiteware and general appliances. The trucks operate in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, and Christchurch.
The Warehouse has also increased public access to EV rapid charging with the expansion and upgrade of its charging station network. A total of 28 The Warehouse stores around the country now offer free EV charging.
By providing greater access to fast-charging for Kiwis, The Warehouse is playing an important part in removing a common barrier to the uptake of electric vehicles in New Zealand - a crucial step to a carbon-free country.
INVESTING IN SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
The Warehouse’s commitment to helping communities throughout New Zealand thrive, and to contributing to a more sustainable future, drove the retailer’s decisions to call time on the sale of fireworks.
The announcement last month that The Warehouse would discontinue the sale of fireworks from this year onwards, followed research showing community support for the move and the fact it was aligned with its sustainability efforts and the desire of pet owners throughout New Zealand.
The Warehouse has also been helping to tackle the issue of period inequity since 2019, introducing a range of affordable $1 period products. For every 10 packs sold, one is donated to Women’s Refuge and The Period Place. Already through the initiative, the retailer has donated more than 75,000 products to New Zealand communities.
A trial of customer donation bins carried out with The Period Place last year across ten The Warehouse stores saw a positive response from the local communities. As a result, 16 additional stores now have the bins introduced.
For more information about The Warehouse’s sustainability journey, visit thewarehouse. co.nz/sustainable.
performance level,’’ she says. She lives in a central Wellington house with two friends and a 3-year-old. None of the flatmates has a car; instead, they choose to walk, take public transport or ride either an electric bike or a tandem (nicknamed Ruby). They also contribute to their community compost patch near the city’s botanic gardens.
‘‘It’s made me think a lot about housing and how so many people are locked out of places they work or play,’’ she says.
‘‘For the group of us here, it works well, but so many people [are] having to spend a large majority of time, money and energy commuting, because you can’t afford to live near the places you’re spending the most time in. That has an impact on the environment in terms of planet health and mental and physical health.’’
It’s tough for those with disabilities too, she says, with many relying on personal transport because they aren’t catered for properly when it comes to public planning.
‘‘It’s not that the technology is unavailable to make public transport and infrastructure really friendly and inclusive for everyone. It’s because people organising or planning those [things] haven’t been people with lived experiences, so they’re not a representative group,’’ she says.
‘‘Then there are the groups saying, ‘No disabled people came to our event, so obviously they aren’t interested’, without thinking, ‘Was there something that we didn’t think of, or talk to the disabled community [about], that would allow them to come?’
‘‘Twenty-five per cent of New Zealand’s population identify [as] living with a disability, so there’s that ambiguous discrimination that flies under the radar.’’
For Fisher, it’s important we think about how we can keep a healthy population while also ‘‘being in harmony’’ with the environment.
She grew up in Hutt Valley doing lots of day walks with her parents. Engaging with different species of flora and fauna gave her an appreciation that humans ‘‘are just one species, and we have this monopoly over the built environment’’.
‘‘Being a child and being exposed to Aotearoa’s biodiversity really made me think about how do we keep Earth a safe place for humans and all the other species,’’ she says.
‘‘Everything is a delicate balance, and if human acts are causing something that can put that out of balance, it will mess up everyone.
‘‘Do we want our future generations to have the same wonderful experiences I had as a kid? Or do we want to try and do our best to change that to ensure everyone can experience that, no matter where they live on Earth?’’
Her top tip for doing your bit for the environment is to ask the big questions and hold those in power accountable.
‘‘So there’s the individual, ‘What can I easily change?’ . . . Not buying stuff new, or seeking more sustainable providers of services,’’ she says.
‘‘Also, the biggest thing we can all do is look at places collectively we can have an impact in terms of big corporations – if we could change those emissions and the way capitalism is having the biggest impact on the planet.
‘‘Let’s all try to understand what collective power we can have.’’
PETER BURLING AND BLAIR TUKE Champion sailors and co-founders of Live Ocean
When Peter Burling and Blair Tuke aren’t on the water winning the America’s Cup or Olympic medals for New Zealand, they are championing the environment through their marine conservation charity, Live Ocean.
The duo established the charity in 2019. Their focus is on the restoration and protection of marine environments, and on identifying globally significant marine science, innovation and public education, Tuke says.
‘‘We have the fourth largest ocean in the world, so that means what we do here in New Zealand and the health of our ocean in New Zealand is globally significant,’’ he says.
‘‘We’ve learnt a huge amount. And while some of it’s really worrying, like the fact that 90 per cent of our seabirds are threatened with or are at risk of extinction, we then meet the amazing people who are out there trying to make a difference and that’s really encouraging. Ultimately, we want New Zealand to be a world leader in ocean health.’’
Burling says New Zealand is 93 per cent ocean, so as a country ‘‘we need to start looking beyond the shoreline and understanding what a huge part of a healthy ecosystem the ocean is’’.
‘‘For us, one of the real issues we have around ocean health is people’s knowledge. People don’t realise
that two out of every three breaths come from the ocean; 90 per cent of the heat gets absorbed by the ocean. The ocean really is the life support system of the planet and we need to look after it like that,’’ he says.
Using their sport as an environmentally friendly vehicle for ‘‘getting these messages into the mainstream . . . is definitely a massive opportunity’’, Burling says.
The duo, along with their New Zealand SailGP team-mates, went one step further by signing the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework in April. They want to be innovators when it comes to the climate and sustainability.
‘‘Climate change is placing our planet at risk, and meeting the scale of this challenge requires action from everyone. As a team, we have an opportunity to step up to the challenge of climate change and inspire our fans to do the same,’’ Burling says.
‘‘By signing this framework, we are taking responsibility for our actions and joining a movement that will set the path for our sport to play a winning role in achieving
the goals of the Paris Agreement.
‘‘We’re incredibly proud to be the first team in New Zealand to sign the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework and hopefully a few more teams will follow us.’’
But Burling says it doesn’t have to be grand gestures that can help make change – sometimes it’s small things, too.
‘‘Definitely be curious and try and take people on the journey with you.
‘‘We both ride our bikes as much as possible and generally try to make the best choices we can,’’ he says.
‘‘Sometimes I think it’s easy to get caught up in not doing things until we can do it perfectly, but there are massive gains we can all make in our lives.’’