Commercial Real Estate Landmark Office Building
With sustainability firmly ingrained in our client's business practices, an environmentally responsible approach to the resources and waste management activities across their estate has been a key focus for Zest Recycle.
Background
Our client is a commercial real estate company with economic, social, and environmental value at the heart of its business. With sustainability firmly ingrained in their business practices, an environmentally responsible approach to the resources and waste management activities across their estate has been a key focus since Zest Recycle began working with the client nine years ago.
Zest Recycle manages the recycling and waste management services at seven of their multitenanted and multi-use buildings (office, retail and hospitality combined) in the Central and West London area.
This Mayfair based office block has 5 main tenants occupying its 12 floors of office space. As part of a drive to significantly improve the recycling at the site, Zest Recycle conducted a full building audit, engaging and meeting with all the main tenants, to learn and understand their recycling and waste management challenges and to identify opportunities for improvement.
The Solution
The audit was an opportunity for Zest Recycle to get under the skin of each tenants recycling set up and allowed us to identify a number of common barriers to the tenants maximising their recycling efforts.
Following the audit, Zest Recycle produced a comprehensive report and implemented a number of key recommendations, which would help to streamline the process and maximise the overall effectiveness of the system.
Many of the tenants had centralised recycling systems
in place but in some instances the signage was not clear and consistent which was compromising the effectiveness of the system.
Recommendations included, using clear colour coded signage for recycling segregation, changing bags to clear
or tinted bags for recycling and general waste streams and conducting a site wide communications campaign
to help engage staff in making a positive impact in the workplace by recycling correctly.
As well as auditing each of the tenanted floors we also carried out an audit of the general waste stream and this reflected our overall findings that there was further scope to increase recycling and reduce general waste.
The Results
The report was followed up with an interactive Waste Awareness Day at our client’s site, to educate tenants
on the correct processes and procedures and the wider environmental benefits of recycling.
The Waste Awareness event saw around one hundred tenants visit the stand to learn more about the recycling initiatives on site and take part in our interactive quiz, all geared towards educating building users on the recycling operations.
The new system has had an immediate impact with recycling rates increasing by 9% in the following quarter and we expect this to increase further as the new system beds in.
“It was great to see so many tenants take part in the Waste Awareness Day and embrace the principles of managing waste more sustainably
and responsibly. Our client is incredibly committed to delivering sustainable work places and by working together we have been able to identify opportunities to improve current systems and communicate this back to the key stakeholders in an informative and interactive way, which is already having a positive impact on recycling results.”
"The new system has had an immediate impact with recycling rates increasing by 9% in the following quarter"
Account Director, Zest Recycle