Green Issues
THE THREE R's
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!
This is a brief insight into how The Howard Centre helps the environment, our Operations Manager, Mick Jones is very passionate about this and is always looking for ways to improve how we can reduce our carbon footprint.
The Howard Centre is committed to reducing its impact on the environment.
This year the Howard Centre installed motion detectors in some service corridors, so that lighting is only on when they are actually in use. This has proved successful and we are therefore looking at other areas where we can introduce this style of utility control.
Our Technical Services Manager closely monitors all utility bills and has just agreed with tenants which staff toilet systems are suitable for the installation of ‘hippo blocks’ to reduce the amount of water consumed when flushing.
Compared with 2007 we have begun to make in roads into the amount of general waste that was previously sent to landfill.
In 2007 we produced a total of 289.62 tonnes of waste. Of this 86.460 tonnes, 29.86%, was sent for recycling.
In 2008 we produced a total of 263.638 tonnes of waste. Of this 83.58 tonnes, 31.70%, was sent for recycling. An increase of approximately 6% on the 2007 figure.
With the help of our tenants we have reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill from 203 tonnes in 2007 to 180 tonnes in 2008, a reduction of 10%, an excellent effort. This was achieved through our tenants being more active in segregating recyclable waste, such as plastics and cardboard, from their general waste. We have also been able to send more wooden pallets away for reuse than previously.
In 2009 we are committed to further reduce our carbon foot print and increase our recycling figure. In January we introduced another recycling stream with new bins in the service corridors for tenants to separate out all waste paper products for recycling. We are also installing motion detectors in more service corridors and light sensors on the top level of the car park. To raise awareness of recycling to our shoppers we will be running a "Green" poster campaign in the very near future and will are also considering the introduction of separation of rubbish in the mall bins. Every little helps!
The Howard Centre recycled 52.08% of waste from April to June 2009.
