Environment
KIC is committed to environmental leadership and instilling the highest environmental values in all our members.
To achieve this vision, KIC will focus on excellence in environmental performance, build social leadership through community partnerships and demonstrate positive economic benefits through innovative environmental practices.
Air Quality Monitoring
Local industry is committed to lowering its emissions, and significant progress continues to be made in this area. The development of new technologies, renewable energy sources, and improved recycling are all helping drive change.
The growth of industry in Kwinana, combined with growing industry and community awareness about environmental issues, resulted in regional air quality becoming an important issue from the 1980s.
The KIC, on behalf of its members, currently undertakes air quality monitoring across the Kwinana Industrial Area, with the data shared with regulators. The data shows that industries in the Kwinana Industrial Area have a consistent track record of being below regulatory limits on air emissions. This is another example of how local industry is supporting, and working with, the community.
The quality of Kwinana’s air has improved considerably over the years and industry has a continuing commitment to lessen its environmental impact.
Synergies
The Kwinana Industrial Area is regarded as one of the world’s best practice examples of industrial symbiosis. There are around 150 commercial exchanges operating amongst the industrial companies located within the Western Trade Coast (WTC).
When two individual companies exchange a manufactured or waste product, usually on commercial terms, this is known as a synergy exchange.
Industrial symbiosis is where a whole cluster of industries have multiple exchanges. These exchanges grow over time as more companies move into the area.
The synergies help to make the participating companies more internationally competitive and efficient. It is also good for the environment because one company’s waste becomes the input for another.
Buffer Zone
Adequately protected buffer zones are a critical enabler of industry, put in place to protect the health and amenity impacts on nearby residential areas.
People often ask why heavy industry needs a buffer zone.
The first purpose of a buffer zone is to make sure that the community, such as nearby residents, are located far enough away from the emitting industries so that the health and amenity of those communities is not adversely impacted by the essential activities of industry.
The second purpose of a buffer zone is to prevent incompatible land uses encroaching on industry. It is critically important to industry that an adequate buffer zone is created by the State’s planners and that it is rigorously defended from the advances of residential property developers who would like to place more houses closer to industry.