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Ridley Corporation is committed to minimising any adverse environmental impacts while continuing to meet our customers' expectations of quality and service.
Ridley operates a range of diverse operations across Australia and Indonesia that by their nature have the potential to affect the environment. This can occur in a variety of ways including:
The use of energy and water in our operations; Alterations to marine environment, either directly or indirectly as a result of our operations; and Waste disposal.
To manage these impacts proactively, Ridley Corporation sets and achieves targets that promote efficient use of resources and includes preventing pollution.
Energy
Ridley Corporation uses energy to produce stockfeed and to refine salt. We are constantly reviewing our operations to reduce energy use in the business. Cheetham Salt, the largest domestic supplier of value added solar salt in Australia, produces salt using the sun to evaporate water rather than relying on energy intensive machinery.
In Ridley AgriProducts, energy audits were conducted on their sites and the opportunities for improvements were largely around 3 main areas namely: improving the efficiency of boilers, pellet presses and compressors. Further information on Ridley's initiatives can be found in the public report which has been published on Ridley's website.
The Federal Government's National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Bill (NGER), introduced in August 2007, established a national reporting framework for carbon and energy consumption. To comply with this legislation, which has now been finalised, Ridley was required to report energy usage in 2009. Compliance with this legislation will be critical as it will be the basis for the eventual carbon pollution reduction scheme, and will develop baseline data and ultimately the targets for emissions reduction.
Carbon pollution reduction scheme
Ridley Corporation has been actively involved in discussions about the implications of a carbon pollution reduction scheme on the agricultural sector. We participated in the Australian Farm Institute Round Table on agriculture and emissions trading and continue to play an active role in influencing the position the sector will take. We are also studying the potential impacts of the scheme on our business, particularly in terms of identifying opportunities to reduce energy use and identifying opportunities to assist our customers reduce their emissions through innovative feed offerings.
Water
Ridley Corporation continues to look for opportunities to reduce our water usage. Water management plans have been implemented at some of the key sites. These plans identified a number of solutions to reduce water consumption at the mills and refineries.
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Reducing potable water has been the focus for most sites. All sites are now monitoring and tracking their water consumption. Many have formal water management plans that have been lodged with local/state authorities. Some of the initiatives being used or investigated are: the collection, treatment and use/reuse of rainwater, storm water run-off and boiler blowdown.
Waste
Ridley AgriProducts and Cheetham Salt continue to reduce waste through improved efficiencies at feed mill and refining sites and by diverting as much waste as possible into recycling streams. The two businesses do not generate a significant amount of waste, however both demonstrate a real commitment to their recycling program. Ridley Corporation continues to be a signatory of the National Packaging Covenant and submitted a compliant plan for 2009.
Flora and Fauna issues
Salt fields provide important ecosystems for a variety of flora and fauna. Many Cheetham sites contain birds or plants of State, National or International significance, in fact, a number of our wetlands are listed as RAMSAR sites, a treaty aiming to conserve the biological diversity whilst maintaining the wetlands ecological character. Ridley continually reviews the biodiversity issues at the sites, and the implications for site management. Currently the most significant issues exist at the Dry Creek and Bajool sites.
At the Bajool site there is a population of the Capricorn Yellow Chat, which is a bird listed as Critically Endangered under the Commonwealth Environment and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). Work being supported by the site has shown that the local population of these birds is larger than originally thought.
Both the Price and Dry Creek sites are listed as sites of International Significance for Shorebirds. 208 species of birds have been recorded at Dry Creek with the total recorded faunal biodiversity being 375. There are seven shorebirds listed as having international significance and three others having national significance. From a fauna perspective, 361 plants have been recorded with 54 having conservation interest. These include one nationally vulnerable species that is listed under the EPBC ACT and two species that are protected at the State level.
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