2 Why Minimise Waste?
There are a number of reasons for building owners, property managers and tenants to work together to implement building-wide recycling systems.
Marketplace image
Organisations can achieve a better marketplace image through demonstrated responsibility toward the environment. Customers, clients and the general public are increasingly demanding that organisations 'do the right thing'. Promoting your efforts in the local media can attract new customers and enhance relationships with existing customers.
Financial savings
Recycling isn't expensive. In fact there are financial benefits in waste minimisation and recycling. Recycling services are often priced at such a level that they are competitive or cheaper than sending material to landfill. For example, the Royal & Sun Alliance Centre in Auckland is saving $6,000 per annum on landfill fees through implementing a recycling system.
Staff morale and team building
There are positive social aspects to recycling, such as improved staff moral from knowing they are looking after the environment, and as a vehicle for team building by providing a common project for staff to work on outside of their everyday roles.
Reduced environmental impact
Removing recyclables from the waste stream lowers the environmental 'footprint' of the building through reducing waste to landfill. In addition, the production of goods made out of the material recycled will generally use less water, electricity and other resources than making products from virgin materials. This further reduces resource use.
Resource efficiency
A recycling project can be the initial project in a larger programme to improve the resource efficiency of the building. Other areas of resource use that might be addressed include looking at reducing energy and paper use, and sustainable purchasing. For more information, see the Ministry for the Environment's website (www.mfe.govt.nz).
Why work together to minimise waste
Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) make up a large proportion of New Zealand's businesses. In SMEs one person often takes on a variety of roles within the organisation, so the time and resources available to address environmental issues can be very limited. The big advantage for businesses involved in a building-wide project is that tasks can be shared, minimising the input required by each individual business and avoiding duplication. A shared project also reduces the number of collection companies coming into the building and simplifies security issues.
