Donations to Sustainable Organisations

Donating $5436 to three organisations. This is $2 per organisation, sourced from each of our members annual fees.

Southern Lakes Sanctuary: The Southern Lakes region is an iconic destination for skiing and snowboarding in New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere. Many of our members consider it a second home, returning year after year. In the spirit of “manaakitanga” (hospitality/care), we’re supporting the Southern Lakes Sanctuary, a collaboration of six local businesses. Their mission is to protect and restore the region’s biodiversity, aiming for a predator-free environment by 2050. Whether you’re on the slopes or exploring the area, consider getting involved with this important cause.

Trees That Count: Partnering with Trees That Count allows us to sponsor the planting of 1,140 native trees across New Zealand. What sets Trees That Count apart is its community-driven approach; they match all trees gifted, effectively doubling the impact of donations. This not only creates vital carbon sinks and enhances local ecosystems but also supports our memberships’ environments all across the country. Join us in supporting this initiative and make a lasting impact on New Zealand’s environment. Fun fact: When roughly calculated according to the carbon emitted for Auckland to Tokyo return flights, 1114 trees planted today and growing for 50 years offsets 98.5 direct return flights over fifty years. It’s a step in the right direction amongst others.

Gold Medal Nurseries: We’re excited to support the Gold Medal Nurseries’ dry slope facility in Cardrona Valley. This initiative not only contributes to environmental conservation but also provides year-round training opportunities for high-performance snow sports athletes. By reducing the need for international travel, it benefits both nature and our beloved sport. Join us in supporting this innovative project for the betterment of our athletes, community, and environment. If you also wish to donate, 1 native tree is just $25.

Ski Gear Sustainability Focus

We’re proud of our ski gear sustainability efforts, featuring Flylow and Burton gear known for durability and environmental responsibility. Flylow uses sustainable materials and supply chains, while Burton offers a lifetime warranty and ambitious sustainability goals. Both are leading sustainable brands in the industry.

Ski uniforms recycled

The ski uniforms from the last 3 years have been replaced. The previous uniforms have had all division logos removed and are now repurposed for smaller divisions with new logos added. Additionally, the remaining uniforms are being donated to Turoa to provide an alternative source of ski uniforms.

E-manuals

Recycling Uniforms

We had some uniforms in storage from a few years ago with embroidered logos. To prepare them for recycling, we covered all the logos with waterproof patches. These patched uniforms were then sold at cost during the local ski sale and to the community.

NZSIA Vehicles

We have acquired two new Nissan Xtrail hybrids for our managers and trainers. These eco-friendly vehicles will be used for traveling up and down the mountains.

Sustainability Fund Initiatives

The sustainability fund generated from the membership subscriptions is to be used for two projects in 2022; 1) Planting natives on the Treble Cone access road, 2) Pine Oil initiative at Coronet Peak with profits going to Happiness House charity.

Recycling Uniforms

New uniforms – recycling the old ones! 2021 will see all NZSIA divisions in sparkling new uniforms. The old uniforms with logo patches instead of embroidery have been recycled or sold at the local ski sales.

NZSIA Vehicles

At the start of 2021 we chose to sell our Toyota Prados, due to the effect they were having on the environment and the lack of use over the summer months. We will move forward with leasing the most suitable vehicles we can find each winter until a suitable 4WD Electric Vehicle comes on the market.

Office Location

Early in 2021 we chose to move on from our lease in Frankton to a new collaborative work space in Arrowtown. This not only reduces overheads, but also the distance travelled by our key administration staff on a daily basis throughout the year.

Carpooling App

NZSIA encourages all candidates on courses to use the Carpool World App for getting to and from courses.

Digital Contracts

NZSIA typically employ around 60-70 Examiners annually. That’s a lot of paper! In 2020 we moved our contracts to a digital format to minimise paper usage and allow our staff to sign contracts remotely. 

Digital Membership Cards and $5 towards Sustainability Fund

We now only provided printed cards on request and we put the $5 printing cost (per member) into a sustainability fund which we can allocate to a different sustainability project each year. So if you’re happy to have a digital version of your membership card on your phone, you can take comfort knowing that you’re contributing $5 each year to the planet.

Digital Manuals

We know what you’re thinking… digital versions of the Ski and Snowboard manuals were created years ago right? Well yes, but we also kept the cost of a printed copy included within the Level One fees. This has just changed and now we offer the option to new instructors if they would prefer just to use the digital version or pay extra for a printed version. It’s a small detail, but everything counts!

Carbon Offset for Domestic Operations

We do a lot of kilometres driving from resort to resort throughout the season and quite a few air miles flying staff to the North Island and back. We have always put a big emphasis on car pooling and fitting as many staff in the NZSIA vehicles as possible however, as of 2019, we will be taking this a step further by carbon offsetting our vehicle KMs and domestic flights by donating to the EKOS Rarakau Rainforest Conservation Project. This project produces 2,458 tCO2 carbon offsets annually, certified to the Plan Vivo standard  confirming that the carbon benefits are real, measured, reported, verified, additional and with no double counting occurring. Its carbon offsets are issued by Markit Environmental Registry in London (the world’s leading environmental registry). To put it into perspective: 2,458 tCO2 roughly equals 8304 Auckland to Wellington return flights for 1 passenger.

Logo Patches on Uniform Outerwear

It may seem like a small gesture, but as an organisation we go through 70-80 uniforms every three years or so. In the past we have always embroidered this outerwear with the relevant logos, however this completely limits the ability to reuse them after their life with NZSIA. As of 2018, all new uniforms will use a rubber patch logo sewn on and thus easily removable. This allows us to re-purpose the outerwear and donate them to an organisation in need.

Staff Resources & Water Bottles

As the first step in our sustainability programme, we focused on changing our paper usage and turned as many resources as possible in to electronic documents (a process that is on-going). We also issued all staff with NZSIA water bottles; encouraging hydration without single-use plastics.