Australia discards an estimated 4.06 million tonnes of food every year. That is about $8 billion worth of food1. Food and other organic waste decaying in landfill generates large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
New waste and recycling signage in centres helps retailers identify which materials can be recycled.
Objectives
Our objective is to reduce waste going to landfill and increase recycling in our shopping centres. To achieve this, we work closely with our waste and cleaning service providers, but engagement with our retailers is crucial to our success.
In 2016 Scentre Group worked closely with the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to implement the Bin Trim program. This $11.1 million program is designed to help businesses to reduce waste and recycle more. The program has helped our centres educate retailers on how to divert more waste from landfill.
Success factors
Here is what makes Bin Trim so successful:
Retailer awareness of and engagement around waste strategy, waste reduction objectives and site recycling facilities
Retailer and broader asset team training on waste and recycling
Retailer waste assessments undertaken by trained waste experts
Collation of baseline data on waste tonnage, waste streams and contamination
Identification of practical actions focussing on avoidance, reuse and recycling
Access to a 50% rebate for recycling equipment
Reducing food waste
We know that restaurants and food tenancies in our centres have challenges around reducing waste. There are also significant opportunities to reduce waste by collecting organic materials from these tenancies. Diverting organic waste from landfill can reduce the release of harmful greenhouse gasses like methane into the environment. To help achieve this, the EPA has helped to fund quality waste experts to implement the Bin Trim program, targeted at food tenancies in our centres.
The collaboration between the EPA, our centre teams, waste experts and retailers has had positive results. Program actions have included:
Encouraging reverse supply chain processes to minimise packaging
Providing food tenancies with recycling bins for waste segregation
Ongoing education on waste and recycling facilities available in centres
Improving signage on waste stream recycling
Considering on-site organic recycling equipment
Next step
The next phase of the project is to review our progress against implemented actions. We are committed to continuing to work with the EPA and our retailers to meet our recycling objectives, and making a positive contribution to our local community and the environment.
More information about the Bin Trim grants program is available on the EPA’s website.
