Since the program began, there have been 5000 attendances.
“It’s a community effort,” says Ray Herbert, CEO of MPMSAA, “We get assistance
from the government, and support from the local community where the training is
being provided. Manufacturers provide the technical information and materials
and the plumbers themselves volunteer their day.”
Small business owners like Peter Lawson have volunteered
more than a day’s revenue to participate in the training. “I thought it was a
good initiative, it’s at the forefront of everyone’s awareness,” says Lawson.
“In terms of caring for the environment, it’s the only one we’ve got – so
anything we can do as an industry is important.”
According to Herbert, the industry responded well to the
idea of Green plumbing.
“It was very clear that we really needed to be called
green,” says Herbert. “We didn’t know whether plumbers would be prepared to be
seen as greenies and we were amazed that the plumbers themselves actually saw,
once they came to the classes, how important their role was in telling the
green story.”
Having finished training in the Northern Territory, the concept of the
Greenplumbers program is nation-wide and has now been taken offshore. “We’ve
taken the green message to America,”
says Herbert. In California
they have now scheduled their first 100 training programs. While the goal in Australia is to achieve 10,000 accredited
plumbers over the next 5 years, the goal in America, due to its greater
population, is to train up to 40,000 Greenplumbers.
Photo: Esther Turnbull – Peter Lawson of Lawson Bros
Source South Sydney Herald September 2007 – www.southsydneyherald.com.au