Office strip-out waste guidelines to launch

Skips for taking away waste from buildings
The Better Buildings Partnership is set to release new industry guidelines to improve resource recovery from office fit-outs and refurbishments.

The Better Buildings Partnership (BBP), a leading group of property owners, managers and key influencers, will officially launch the new strip-out waste guidelines at the Australasian Waste & Recycling Expo (AWRE) on 10 to 11 August.

The dedicated guidelines set a target of recovering at least 60 per cent of office fit-out waste that would otherwise end up in landfill – a vast improvement on 21 per cent, which is the current Sydney-wide average of such waste diverted from landfill.

BBP Waste Technical Working Group Chair Jon Collinge said the guidelines created a new best practice standard for the procurement and management of contractor services for office strip-outs and refurbishments to achieve a minimum of 60 per cent resource recovery.

“In the Sydney CBD, 400,000 square metres of commercial office space is re-fitted every year, resulting in about 80 per cent of fit-out waste ending up in landfill,” said Mr Collinge. “That’s about 25,000 tonnes of materials including glass, metals, plasterboard, ceiling tiles, carpet and loose furniture – most of which can be reused or recycled.”

Mr Collinge said that time and cost pressures had typically led to resources being lost to landfill rather than recovered, but the new guidelines would help overcome these issues to improve resource recovery.

“The guidelines include a number of tools to help tenants increase resource recovery during the strip-out and fit-out process, outlining the principal requirements, timelines and reporting processes for consistent waste management systems and diversion,” Mr Collinge added.

Blake Lindley, Sustainability Consultant at Edge Environment, and Mr Collinge will be hosting a masterclass on the new strip-out waste guidelines at AWRE.

The new BBP Strip-out Waste Guidelines are available from the BBP website. 

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