Effective Management of Shopping Centre Waste:

Facts:

• Shopping centres have been widely developed in Ireland since the 1970’s and growth accelerated during the economic boom.
• There are now shopping centres in every town, city and county of Ireland, in the Limerick Clare Kerry Region alone there are 12 recognised shopping centres.
• Shopping centres have also become leisure destinations in many cases incorporating entertainment facilities such as cinemas, bars and restaurants.
• The majority of shopping centres in Ireland are owned by property development companies with a local management team.
• Leases are normally for at least 10 years and may even be for longer periods.
• Retailers will pay an annual service charge which will include the cost of waste and energy for the centre as a whole normally determined by the unit’s size (m²basis).
• Over 1 million tonnes of packaging waste was generated in Ireland in 2007 and 63% of this was recovered .
• Organic (45%), paper and cardboard (30%) waste are the biggest waste fractions arising from shopping centres (Source EPA National Waste Report 2007)

The volume of waste arisings from individual units within shopping centres will be dependent upon a number of factors:

• the type of trade the retailer is engaged in,
• the geographical location of suppliers,
• the commitment of the management team, owners & employees of the units and their understanding of waste and waste arisings,
• the co-operation of the centre’s waste management contractor.

How can you reduce or prevent waste arisings from shopping centres:

Step 1: Conduct a waste audit to determine the quantity and type of waste arising:

• More information is available in the resources section of the website on how to conduct a waste audit.
• Contact your waste management company to get historic data about waste disposal & recycling costs from the facility, as well as the number of weekly lifts.
• Set a target for improving recycling rates from the different tenants of the facility.

Step 2: Raise awareness amongst tenants about waste prevention:

• Encourage tenants to talk to suppliers about ways to reduce transit packaging.
• Many tenants may use the same supplier and if bulk orders or less trips are made to the centre there could be significant financial as well as environmental savings to be made.
• Encourage tenants to talk to customers to get feedback about the products they sell.
• There can be significant waste prevention opportunities in identifying exactly what customers want.

Step 3: Specifically encourage Food Retailers to look at amount of waste their unit generates:

• Portion Size – are customers leaving a lot of food uneaten, can a smaller, cheaper option be offered?
• How is food presented & served – is there a heavy reliance on disposable tableware switching to washable crockery and cutlery can yield significant costs both financial & environmental.
• Stock rotation and market knowledge: all food retailers should be able to accurately predict the busiest footfall periods such as lunchtime trade. However preparing too much or the wrong food in advance can lead to waste. Encourage retailers to regularly review their custom & trade to determine if patterns have changed and/or if products are no longer popular with customers.

Open the resources section of the website to find out more about the Waste Prevention project undertaken in the SkyCourt Shopping Centre with Clare County Council.