2008 Environmental Management Initiative of the Year
Recycling is part of the environmental armoury of most shopping centres, but The Meadows in Chelmsford, owned by Lend Lease, has gone further than any other towards 100 per cent recycling.
It has become the first shopping centre in the UK to introduce a Big Hanna accellerated composter, which allows it to divert all its food waste from landfill. The machine heats all the food waste to 65 degrees to kill off any bacteria, and over six to eight weeks reduces it in volume by up to 90 per cent. The resulting compost is used on the landscaped areas around The Meadows.
The £26,000 cost of the machine was financed by the cleaning contractor and because it has reduced the cost of waste removal from the site it is effectively self-financing. And because fewer waste trucks have to visit the Meadows, fewer emissions are generated, further lowering the centre's carbon footprint. When fully functional, the machine will help The Meadows break the 90 per cent recycling barrier.
This could not have been achieved without a management team that is passionate about the environment.
