How You Can Help Restore Australia and Plant Trees with Your Purchases

Kira Simpson

In partnership with Officeworks

Our native forests are home to some of the most unique wildlife and plants on earth, but the Australian bush has never been under more pressure. As the driest inhabited continent in the world, Australia is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Did you know that in some regions in Australia, up to 85% of the natural landscape has been lost?

In addition to providing a habitat for our unique wildlife and being essential to our well-being, trees play a critical role in storing carbon to help mitigate the effects of climate change. But we’re losing them at an alarming rate.

Officeworks Greening Australia

Planting more trees is a vital part of restoring Australia’s natural landscapes.

That’s why Officeworks has partnered with Greening Australia on their Restoring Australia initiative, working together with landholders to restore land and help reduce the impact of climate change.

How Officeworks is Restoring Australia

Launched in 2017, the Restoring Australia initiative is Officeworks’ partnership with Greening Australia and part of their long-term commitment to making a positive difference to the environment.

Greening Australia partners with values-aligned businesses that are committed to sustainability. Partners like Officeworks provide vital funding for Greening Australia’s on-ground work, enabling the organisation to achieve far more than they could on their own.

Officeworks Restoring Australia

The Officeworks team at a tree planting day in Monaro

How does it work?

Officeworks, like many of us, recognises the impact paper and wood-based office supplies can have on the environment.  So it’s thanks to you, through the paper you buy, Officeworks plants two trees for every one used, based on the weight of paper products purchased.

To date, more than 1,622 hectares of land in Australia has been restored and over 863,000 trees have been planted in 18 sites across Australia as part of the Restoring Australia initiative

The initiative helps threatened species, increases biodiversity and supports local landholders and communities.  And with the help of customers, Officeworks has a goal to plant two million trees across Australia by 2025.

Who is Greening Australia?

Greening Australia has been restoring Australia’s unique landscapes and protecting biodiversity at scale through collaborative, science-based programs for almost 40 years.

The organisation works with landholders and communities to help regenerate land across diverse sites around Australia. Their vision: healthy and productive landscapes where people and nature thrive.

“We believe that people thrive when nature thrives. Our personal, social and economic well-being are all inextricably linked with our land and sea. A healthy environment provides us with fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, healthy soils for growing our crops, and medicine to heal us. Resilient ecosystems help to mitigate the effects of climate change.”

From managing sediment runoff issues with the Great Barrier Reef to rewilding Australia’s barren farmlands, Greening Australia has some ambitious goals to tackle Australia’s biggest environmental challenges.

But they can’t do it alone.

Officeworks Restoring Australia

The Monaro region is an iconic farming district on the NSW southern tablelands.

Making a Positive Difference

Restoring Australia is just one part of Officeworks’ long-term commitment to making a positive difference to the environment.

The plan is working on their product circularity, reducing emissions, using renewable energy, adding more recycling initiatives, and supporting local community and environmental programs.

“Officeworks is committed to supporting people and the planet. Not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it’s important to you and us.”

Being a conscious consumer is not just what you’re buying that has an environmental impact, it’s also about spending with companies who have made a commitment to not just decreasing their negative impact on the earth, but to making a positive contribution as well.

You can read more about Officeworks commitments here. 

Kira Simpson

Kira Simpson is an environmentalist and sustainability expert. She started The Green Hub as a blog in 2015, which has since grown to become one of Australia’s largest education sites dedicated to helping people live a more sustainable lifestyle.