Melbourne Office Tower
| Client: Melbourne Office Tower | Date: 200? |
| Problem: High waste cost | Savings: 50% reduction |
At a large office tower in Melbourne’s CBD, Great Forest Australia was able to reduce waste costs by 50%, and increase recycling by 30%.
By changing the way waste was handled, stored, and collected, Great Forest Australia were able to ensure the site was not being overcharged for waste.
Through implementation of a simple, user friendly building wide recycling program, Great Forest Australia was able to fully engage with tenants, cleaning staff and property management to dramatically increase recycling rates.
The initial waste audit at a large 42 level office tower with 20 tenants and 42,000m2, found that 22% of waste was being recycled.
Melbourne Office Tower
| Client: Melbourne Office Tower | Date: 200? |
| Problem: High waste cost | Savings: 50% reduction |
At a large office tower in Melbourne’s CBD, Great Forest Australia was able to reduce waste costs by 50%, and increase recycling by 30%.
By changing the way waste was handled, stored, and collected, Great Forest Australia were able to ensure the site was not being overcharged for waste.
Through implementation of a simple, user friendly building wide recycling program, Great Forest Australia was able to fully engage with tenants, cleaning staff and property management to dramatically increase recycling rates.
The initial waste audit at a large 42 level office tower with 20 tenants and 42,000m2, found that 22% of waste was being recycled.
The audit also found:
- The site was paying well above standard industry rates for the collection of waste and recycling
- No consistency between tenancies. Several different systems for separating waste and recycling throughout the building
- Tenants were responsible for arranging and paying for their own recycling contracts for paper and commingled container recycling. Only a handful of tenants had systems in place for recycling paper or commingled containers
- No system was in place for ensuring that bulk cardboard from tenants was recycled. Most cardboard was ending up in landfill
With close liaison and consultation with cleaning staff and tenants, Great Forest Australia implemented a new recycling program, which saw recycling rates increase by 30%.
This included a comprehensive education program with tenants, installation of new infrastructure and signage, and training cleaning staff on the new recycling system.
A thorough assessment of the way waste and recycling was handled, stored and collected, showed huge potential for savings. The main reason the costs were so high was due to the position of the loading dock and angle of the ramp leading to it.
To gain access to the loading dock, waste and recycling trucks had to reverse into the loading dock which was on a relatively steep incline. This incline continued all the way to the loading dock and the area adjacent to the ramp was not level. As a result, the rear bin lifting mechanism on the trucks could not get sufficient grip on the bins to lift them up and empty them. Front lift trucks were not suitable at this site either, due to space and height restrictions.
As a result, the costs for waste and recycling were very high, due to the extra time and manual labour required to collect waste from large bags rather than in bins from the site.
Great Forest Australia took on the challenge. After considerable discussions with waste and recycling contractors, Great Forest Australia found a company with a slightly different rear lift mechanism. The contractor was confident they would be able to lift the bins. A test run confirmed that the alternative waste contractor could lift the bins despite the incline.
Great Forest Australia worked with the Property Manager to negotiate a new waste and recycling contractor. As a result of changing contractors, and reducing waste to landfill through increased recycling, the site saved 50% on their annual waste costs.
