Bourke Place, Melbourne
| Client: Bourke Place, Melbourne | Date: 2018 |
| Problem: Inefficient Recycling | Savings: 29% reduction |
With a large food court and an office tower of over 60,000m2 NLA, strong engagement and clear communication were key factors in ensuring success at Bourke Place.
Through the successful implementation of a new recycling program, working closely with all stakeholders, the weekly tonnage of waste to landfill was reduced by 29%.
Bourke Place, Melbourne
| Client: Bourke Place, Melbourne | Date: 2018 |
| Problem: Inefficient Recycling | Savings: 29% reduction |
With a large food court and an office tower of over 60,000m2 NLA, strong engagement and clear communication were key factors in ensuring success at Bourke Place.
Through the successful implementation of a new recycling program, working closely with all stakeholders, the weekly tonnage of waste to landfill was reduced by 29%.
Bourke Place is a 51-level office building located at 600 Bourke Street in Melbourne’s CBD, with 24 retail tenants and 37 office tenants.
AMP Capital engaged Great Forest Australia to undertake a building-wide waste audit to assess the effectiveness of the site’s recycling systems and develop an ongoing program to increase recycling output and reduce landfill.
The initial audit consisted of a one-day audit looking at 24-hours’ worth of waste being generated at the site, as well as a separate audit of all confidential paper destruction from tenants.
The audit found the following:
- The site was recycling 61% of waste by weight
- There were many different systems in place for recycling in the office tower ie no consistent program for all tenants
- No organic recycling was in place for retail tenants
- Retail tenants were recycling 25% of their waste, with less than half the commingled containers being recycled
- Composition of the waste to landfill from the site showed 73% was made up of recyclable material (paper, cardboard, commingled containers and organic waste). This showed a huge potential for improvement.
After discussions with AMP, office and retail tenants and cleaners, a new program was proposed and approved.
Implementation of the new program included:
- removal of individual landfill bins from each workstation in office and replacing them with mixed recycling bins
- installation of central bins for landfill and recycling in office tenancies
- installation of organic recycling for all office and retail tenants
- installation of mixed recycling for all retail tenants
- installation of mixed recycling bins and signage in the food court for general public use
- training cleaning staff in the new system
- introduction of a collection for e-waste for all tenants
- implementation of a comprehensive education program with all tenants
- implementation of new signage for all tenants
The implementation was carried out over a two-month period, with Great Forest Australia working closely with AMP property management, all tenants and cleaning staff to ensure a smooth transition to the new system.
Through new signage and infrastructure, and ensuring consistency through out the office tenants, as well as introducing organic recycling to the food-based retail tenants, the site was able to reduce waste to landfill by 29%, preventing the generation of 456 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually.
Retail tenants doubled the weight of material being recycled, and office tenants achieved a recycling rate of 85% by weight.
Quarterly audits were then carried out, with regular contact and follow up carried out with tenants. Tenants would receive a newsletter after each audit, providing feedback on how the program was tracking, and recycling rates for the site.
These quarterly audits also provided important information to feed back to tenants, including high contamination rates and areas where high volumes of recyclable material was found in the landfill.
