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Environmental coordinator co-operation elevated the recycling rate of shopping centres to a record high

Environmental coordinator co-operation aimed at improving the rate of waste recycling has produced good results at shopping centres such as Citycenter and Forum. At large properties like these, the results can be very significant. 

Do you know what is the first priority among the various areas of environmental responsibility according to the client companies at Sponda’s commercial properties? It is not the energy efficiency of heating or lighting, although these are also seen as important.

Instead, it is the effectiveness of waste management. Sponda offers an even stronger response to this need than before through the newly introduced environmental coordinator co-operation in waste management.

“The increased sorting of waste will have more and more financial significance as the cost of mixed waste increases in the near future.”

Initiated by Sponda and Lassila & Tikanoja in 2017, the co-operation has already produced good results at the Citycenter and Forum shopping centres as well as several office properties.

Customised waste management strategy and individual guidance

Together with Sponda and the clients at the property, Lassila & Tikanoja’s environmental coordinator develops effective waste management guidance for the property and reviews the details of waste sorting with all Sponda clients operating at the property.

“At Citycenter, the coordinator and the tenants have together reviewed recyclable materials in great practical detail. The recycling rate had increased to 66 per cent at the end of the year from about 60 per cent in January 2017. The increase from 2016 is nearly 10 per cent, which is quite an impressive rate of improvement,” says Robert Mårtensson, who is responsible for the co-operation on Lassila & Tikanoja’s side.

Efforts at large properties produce large impacts. At Citycenter, the responsibility co-operation between Sponda and Lassila & Tikanoja increased the recycling rate by as much as 9 % in the very first year.

Personal guidance on recycling has been perceived as very useful. Shopping centres have a particularly wide range of different types of waste—from coffee beans to plastics and from biowaste to batteries—and waste volumes are high. 

Growing financial significance

Sponda aims to increase the recycling rate at its shopping centres and office properties. Environmental coordinator co-operation with a partner is one way of enhancing traditional recycling methods and inspiring client companies to get involved in responsibility efforts.      

“Material efficiency is one of Sponda’s responsibility objectives. Our goal is to increase the recycling rate of waste generated at the properties we own and reduce the amount of mixed waste. In addition to reducing the environmental impacts, the increased sorting will have more and more financial significance as the cost of mixed waste increases in the near future,” says Anita Riikonen, Marketing and Brand Manager at Sponda.

Roughly half of the waste generated at Sponda’s properties is currently recycled and reused, and the recycling rate has increased every year. The remaining waste is utilised fully in energy production.

In 2017, Sponda was ranked first in its peer group in Europe in the property sector’s international GRESB benchmark survey. The company was also selected as a leader in sustainable development in its sector in 2017.

Published 27.5.2018

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