6-Star waste rating for SA building

waste rating

A government office in South Australia has achieved a rare 6 Star NABERS Waste rating.

The end-to-end waste strategy, developed by Colliers for 77 Grenfell Street, also secured the highest verified recycling rate in Australia for a commercial building, at 94 per cent.

It follows the success of the waste management program in 2020 which gained a 4.5 NABERS rating – at the time the highest achieved by an office building in South Australia and the second highest nationally.

The NABERS (National Australian Built Environment Rating System) Waste tool measures how well a building manages waste generation, recycling and resource recovery, and supply chain management.

A 6 Star rating represents the highest achievement of its kind in Australia. There are only three 6 Star NABERS waste ratings nationally and two 5 Star ratings.

Chris Lock, of WIN IPG Adelaide owner of  77 Grenfell Street, said the company is motivated to have a positive environmental impact.

“On the back of attaining a 4.5 Star result from the 2020 NABERS Waste rating cycle, we were keen to achieve further improvements on the building’s waste rating,” he said.

Colliers’ waste management strategy focused on data accuracy, waste streams, continuous monitoring of waste data, resource recovery and the recycling rate, and also tenant engagement.

Waste streams were increased to include the seven major streams, including general waste, mixed recycling, secure paper, paper, cardboard, organics, and e-waste. Additonally, the focus on reducing the general waste section from 20 per cent to 10 per cent was successfully achieved by introducing two new streams, secure paper and e-waste.

Himadri Chatterjee, Colliers’ Director, Facilities Management, Real Estate Management Services, and Lisa Trigg, Director and Property Manager of 77 Grenfell Street, formed a team which met weekly over the past 18 months to review status, data collection, staff training requirements as well as to address any challenges that had arisen, regardless of COVID-19 lockdowns.

Chatterjeee said it was important that scientific and verifiable methods were used to achieve data accuracy. Industrial weighing scales were procured for onsite weight measurement, detailed training of cleaning staff on how to accurately weigh the waste was implemented, and monthly visual audits of the onsite waste was undertaken to prevent any manual errors, particularly during the initial stage.

“The quality of data integrity for operational waste is still an emerging space which makes data verification very important,” Chatterjee said. “Waste data is often not as accurate and trusted as typical data sources such as energy and water, therefore it is important to have a high overall data quality score.”

“The tenant at 77 Grenfell Street, the Department of Transport, was very supportive of sustainability related initiatives and had strong enthusiasm thanks to the 2020 NABERS waste success.”

For more information, visit: www.colliers.com.au

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First office building in SA to achieve highest waste rating

Facility managers go green: National Weighing & Instruments

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