Westfield almost trebles recycling rate

Tuesday, 19 June, 2012

Following the successful installation of new recycling bins at Westfield shopping centres nationally, the recycling of bottles and cans has almost trebled from 542 to 1492 tonnes a year, equivalent to more than 62 million small plastic PET containers.

Seven shopping trolleys of beverage containers will be recycled every 10 minutes. That's 153,000 shopping trolleys every year. End to end, they would extend from Bondi Junction to Cessnock.

Thanks to a partnership between industry and government through the Australian Packaging Covenant, Westfield installed new recycling systems in 36 of its shopping centres including 43 food courts in the ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, VIC and WA during 2009 and 2010. The nationwide recycling initiative is aimed at educating and encouraging shoppers to help the environment, one bottle or can at a time.

Funding partners for the project included the Packaging Stewardship Forum (PSF) of the Australian Food and Grocery Council, National Packaging Covenant Industry Association, The Coca-Cola System in Australia and state governments in the ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, Vic and WA.

In 2009, Westfield originally estimated that the project would divert an additional 692 tonnes of beverage containers from landfill per annum. From January 2011 to December 2011, Westfield centres exceeded this target, recycling 950 additional tonnes of beverage containers that would have otherwise ended up in landfill. With less than 6% contamination across all centres, less than that of household kerbside recycling systems, the project has been an outstanding success.

     

Recycling bins in the ACT and WA.

Westfield General Manager Facilities and Sustainability Sue O’Malley said, “We’re extremely pleased that our commitment to public-place recycling has yielded such strong results and expect these to grow even more as the program continues throughout Westfield’s portfolio in Australia.”

General Manager of the PSF Jenny Pickles congratulated Westfield on its outstanding contribution to environmental sustainability: “The roll out of the ‘Do the right thing, use the right bin’ recycling program across 36 Westfield shopping centres is a great example of the types of proactive programs industry is undertaking to address the issue of packaging product stewardship.”

A key component of the recycling initiative was the specific signage developed using Westfield’s own style guide which was consistent with Australian Standards for bin colours and true-to-life imagery. The signage was also consistent with the Australian Packaging Covenant’s ‘Guidelines for public recycling in shopping centres’ and featured the ‘Do the right thing, use the right bin’ national call-to-action recycling message.

Participating Westfield shopping centres include:

  • ACT - Belconnen and Woden
  • NSW - Bondi Junction, Burwood, Chatswood, Eastgardens, Figtree, Hornsby, Hurstville, Kotara, Liverpool, Miranda, Mount Druitt, Parramatta, Penrith, Sydney CBD, Tuggerah and Warrawong
  • Qld - Carindale, Chermside, Helensvale, North Lakes, Strathpine and Garden City
  • SA - Marion, Tea Tree Plaza and West Lakes
  • Vic - Airport West, Geelong, Doncaster, Fountain Gate, Plenty Valley and Southland
  • WA - Carousel, Innaloo and Whitford City
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