Appendix 1: Case Studies
Case study 1: Royal & SunAlliance Centre, Auckland
Summary
Solid waste disposed in the compactor has been significantly reduced from the three main tenants in the tower block. Savings are $500 per month. Four tonnes of waste is diverted from landfill weekly.
Business/property profile
The Royal & SunAlliance Centre in the Auckland central business district is a 33-level office tower block owned and managed by Kiwi Property Management. The property houses 12 different company offices (at the time this case study was prepared on 1 October 2001). It is estimated there are 1900 people currently occupying the building. The three main tenants are Royal & SunAlliance (an insurance company), who occupy multiple floors, and two legal firms, Bell Gully and Russell McVeagh. The remainder of the tenants occupy small and medium office suites.
All levels have at least two small kitchens for staff as well as cafeteria facilities and kitchen facilities adjacent to function rooms. There are also restaurant and cafe facilities in the main foyer. The property has a large basement area, substantial car parking facilities and public meeting areas. Both the foyer and exterior of the building have quantities of plants (mainly native varieties) and extensive garden and seating areas outside.
The project
Kiwi Property Management agreed to participate in a cleaner production project following an approach from their main tenant, Royal & SunAlliance, who were committed to writing and implementing an environmental management policy and plan. Kiwi Property Management recognised major advantages in participating in the project. Firstly, they wanted to assess and reduce costs associated with solid waste disposal from the building. Secondly, this project enabled them to improve their company's environmental performance while providing a model which, if successful, could be implemented in many of their properties throughout the country. Thirdly, if successful, the project could be extended to include further cleaner production initiatives.
The building manager co-ordinated the building tenants to implement recycling at the Royal & SunAlliance Tower through the following steps:
- Enlist buy in for the project from the other two major tenants.
- Establish a working environmental group consisting of the building manager, the three main tenants and a consultant.
- Co-ordinate regular meetings and progress updates by email with the main stakeholders - the meetings were used to identify waste streams to be sorted and to address concerns and difficulties in implementation with each of the main tenants.
- Identify and review the three main tenants' current waste disposal systems for paper, glass, plastic and cans, and assess the associated costs.
- Co-ordinate the three main tenants' waste disposal procedures to establish, where possible, unified recycling systems.
- Identify recycling and waste disposal options for the most cost-effective and efficient recycling systems.
- Negotiate with relevant recycling companies for the most efficient overall system, encompassing both cleaning and removal from the building (recycling).
- Implement the recycling collection from the building.
- Inform the remaining tenants of the scheme and raising awareness about waste reduction and recycling opportunities within the building by email and the centre newsletter, Halo News.
- Enlist buy in to the recycling programme from the remaining tenants.
The project consisted of two main stages:
- Stage 1: To accomplish an effective recycling programme, with the three main tenants diverting paper, plastic, glass and cans from the waste stream
- Stage 2: To extend the programme throughout the rest of the building.
The three main tenants who were part of the trial were all positive, keen and helpful, contributing their time willingly to initiating the scheme. The main difficulty was in finding a suitable plastic recycler who could collect the volumes of milk containers. Further opportunities for environmental improvement identified include:
- introducing a similar recycling scheme throughout all Kiwi Property Management buildings
- writing a company environmental policy
- developing an environmental management plan to implement in all future Kiwi Property Management developments.
Overall results
There was a small extra cost of $78 to $80 per week for the removal of recyclable material, which was balanced by the savings of $125 a week on compactor charges. In May, after two months' recycling, tonnage leaving the building for landfill reduced from approximately 12 tonnes weekly to 8 tonnes. This figure was prior to one of the three main tenants beginning their plastic recycling programme and does not include the remainder of the building.
For further information contact:
Jocelyn Rennie
Resource Efficiency Advisor
Auckland Regional Council
Phone: (09) 366 2000 x 8263
Email: jocelyn.rennie@arc.govt.nz
Website: www.arc.govt.nz
Case study 2: PriceWaterhouseCoopercentre, Christchurch
Summary
A team of enthusiastic staff from businesses based in the PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) building completed a two-month trial in February 2003 of a building-wide recycling system. The project is a first for Christchurch, and resulted in the diversion of 3.1 tonnes of material from landfill to recycling operators and projected savings of $980 (18.6 tonnes) per annum.
Business/property profile
The PriceWaterhouseCoopercentre in the Christchurch central business district is a 20-level office tower block, owned and managed by Kiwi Property Management. The property houses approximately 30 different company offices. It is estimated there are 750 people occupying the building.
The project
In October 2002 a group of staff from several businesses within the PWC building got together to form the PWC Centre Sustainability Committee. The objective was to look at sustainability issues within their workplaces and collaborate on building-wide projects. It was decided that as a first project they would implement a recycling system for the main recyclables in their offices.
A waste sort was conducted (with the assistance of Target Zero), which identified paper and mixed recyclables (glass bottles, cans, and number 1 and 2 plastics) as the main recyclable materials. Discussions were held with the property manager and cleaners to design a simple-to-use system that met the needs of all parties.
Paper is collected in Target Zero paper recycling trays located at each staff member's desk. Once full, these are emptied by staff into a larger bin in the staff room. The staff room is the main area where mixed recyclables such as Coke and milk bottles are used, so a second bin was provided in this area for these items. Both bins are emptied into wheelie bins by the cleaners when full. These are then taken to the basement for collection by commercial recycling operators.
A trial of the system began in early December 2002, with each business in the building being visited by a member of the Sustainability Group to discuss how the system would work. After two months a second waste sort was undertaken. Data from this was combined with recycling pick-up information provided by the recycling operators and feedback from cleaners and tenants to make an assessment of the effectiveness of the system.
The system was judged to be a success and it was decided to make it permanent. In addition, cardboard was added to the materials recycled. The only area of concern was that there was still a large amount of recyclable material going straight to landfill. The second waste sort showed that 67% of the material remaining in the waste stream was recyclable through the system in place, mainly office paper. A promotional campaign was undertaken to increase the amount of staff recycling and to give feedback on how well things are going.
Ongoing and effective education is seen as key to changing the culture of tenants to one supportive of waste minimisation. The Sustainability Committee intends to monitor the system to provide information that can be fed back to tenants on achievements as well as problems.
Overall results
In total 3.1 tonnes of material were diverted from landfill during the two-month trial, with overall savings of $140. This included the cost of the recycling services. Extrapolate this to a year and 18.6 tonnes would be diverted, with annual savings of $980. If all recyclable material present in the waste stream was diverted from the waste stream the system would recycle 89 tonnes and save $4,974.
For further information contact:
Target Zero
Christchurch City Council
Phone: (03) 941 8666
Email: targetzero@ccc.govt.nz
Website: www.ccc.govt.nz/targetzero
Case study 3: Taranaki Regional Council, Stratford
Summary
The Taranaki Regional Council developed the in-house 'Don't be a tosser' waste minimisation programme to encourage staff to reduce waste and recycle used materials.
Organisation profile
The Taranaki Regional Council (TRC) is a regional local authority which promotes the sustainable use, development and protection of Taranaki's natural and physical resources; safeguards Taranaki's people and resources from natural and other hazards; and represents and advocates Taranaki's regional interests.
The Council offices are located in the renovated former Taranaki Dairy Company building on a 1.27 hectare site in Stratford. The Council is made up of 10 elected councillors and employs approximately 90 permanent staff.
The project
TRC saw that applying an in-house waste minimisation project was an opportunity for it to show local leadership in applying the principles of waste minimisation in its own operations. It also helped it reach the national target for waste minimisation (by December 2005 all councils will ensure that procedures for waste minimisation have been addressed for all facilities and assets they manage) in the New Zealand Waste Strategy.
TRC developed a staff-driven 'Don't be a tosser' campaign, spearheaded by the Waste Minimisation Action Group. This group comprised staff representatives from each department who were charged with improving the environmental performance of the organisation and changing staff attitudes towards waste.
The group undertook a number of actions, including:
- improving the paper and cardboard recycling system by providing all staff with paper recycling bins and designating an area in the printery for cardboard recycling storage
- replacing individual rubbish bins with a 'waste centre' in each department for cans and bottles, and providing each staff member with individual 'organic waste' containers (the individual desktop organic waste containers re-use the plastic printer toner packaging)
- setting up a bin in the canteen to separate food, plastic, cans and glass materials for recycling
- removing the low-heat burning incinerator from the site
- replacing the shredding/burning of confidential documents with document security bins, which then recycle the shredded paper
- changing the milk order from 1 litre cardboard cartons to plastic bottles, which can be recycled
- encouraging composting/mulching of garden waste on-site
- currently developing a green purchasing policy for all council purchases across all departments.
The main challenges and lessons learnt were as follows.
- There is a need for 'waste champions' within the organisation to encourage and support the change.
- Some staff members were resistant to change, and an attempt was made to try to change behaviour over time by encouraging the resistors to try one element of the programme at a time.
- It is very important to make it easy for staff to recycle by having clearly identifiable bins for each type of waste.
- Having a slogan/campaign phrase such as 'Don't be a tosser' is an effective way to promote change.
- By encouraging staff to sort their waste at work, many find it the natural thing to do at home.
There is an ongoing effort to increase the focus of staff on reducing and reusing resources before recycling, especially paper-use volume through activities such as double-sided printing. There is also work under way to develop a green purchasing policy for all Council purchasing.
Results
TRC achieved a three-fold increase in the volume of paper recycled, along with a significant increase in the volume of recyclables taken to the transfer station, particularly cardboard, which was otherwise disposed of in the skip bin. The volume of material in the skip bin has halved. There has been an increase in staff awareness of waste issues, and it is hoped that this will have a flow-on effect into staff homes and the community.
For further information contact:
Nikki Lawrence
Taranaki Regional Council
Private Bag 713
Stratford
Phone: (06) 765 7127
Fax: (06) 765 5097
Email: nikki.lawrence@trc.govt.nz
Case study 4: Christchurch City Council libraries and service centres, Christchurch
Summary
As part of Christchurch City Council's (CCC) move to 'get its own house in order first', staff from the Libraries Unit and CCC service centres participated in a Target Zero waste minimisation programme. The aim was to reduce the amount of solid waste sent to landfill. Through the programme, libraries staff reduced waste to landfill from all libraries by 50%, providing an estimated savings of $16,500 per annum. Staff from the service centres achieved on average a 60% reduction in waste to landfill - a reduction of 6.5 tonnes per year. This saves the service centres $2,500 per year by reducing the number of CCC rubbish bags used.
Organisation profile
The Libraries Unit operates 14 libraries in the greater Christchurch area, employs over 250 full-time equivalent staff and issues over 1 million books each week. The service centres' 115 staff work at six different suburban locations. Staff deal with everything from issuing rubbish bags and taking rates payments, to planning new streets.
The project
A team of staff members from a variety of roles in the Libraries Unit and service centres was formed. The team attended two workshops to learn the principles of waste minimisation, how to identify areas of opportunity and how to set up a project.
Waste was sorted at a selection of sites to ascertain how much waste was being created and what it comprised. The teams then looked at the opportunities to minimise or recycle these wastes.
Improvements were made in four main areas.
- All food waste is now collected and anaerobically composted in Bokashi units. The units produce a liquid fertiliser, and once the compost unit is full, waste is composted for two more weeks before being dug into a garden.
- All mixed recyclables such as glass, aluminium and plastics are placed in green bins and recycled using the free kerbside collection service.
- Cardboard is collected at no charge by a commercial collector.
- Paper from the libraries is reused by making it into note pads if one side is still clean, or otherwise recycled. Paper from the service centres is recycled through a commercial service provider.
Overall results
Total savings for the two projects were estimated at $19,000 per annum, with a reduction of 50% and 60% in waste to landfill from the libraries and service centres, respectively. For the service centres this constituted 6.5 tonnes of material per annum.
For further information contact:
Target Zero
Christchurch City Council
Phone: (03) 941 8666
Email: targetzero@ccc.govt.nz
Website: www.ccc.govt.nz/targetzero
