By Aimee Chanthadavong
Lend Lease has celebrated the roll-out of its Public Place Recycling Program (PPRP) at Macarthur Square shopping centre in Sydney’s southwest region.
The program, which has now been rolled out to nine Lend Lease managed shopping centres, involves the installation and refurbishment of waste and recycling bins, resulting in over 200 tonnes of recyclable materials to be collected annually and diverted from landfill.
Jon Collinge, Lend Lease senior sustainability manager for investment management and retail business, told RetailBiz that strategy has been established as part of the company’s vision to be sustainable in terms of retail design, development and operation.
“"Lend Lease's retail business is committed to delivering sustainable innovations and initiatives across our portfolio of managed shopping centres – with a strong focus on energy, water and waste reduction initiatives, including energy and water metering, monitoring and reporting, tenant engagement and green leases, community engagement, and the aspiration for continuous improvement,” he said.
“At Lend Lease, sustainability is part of our DNA, it's not considered an add-on or extra – it's just how we do business. And by greening our retail assets and developing sustainable retail destinations, we believe we will deliver long-term value for both the environment and shopping centre owners/investors."
According to Collinge, Lend Lease plans to roll out the PPRP across the remainder of its portfolio in the new year.
The program is a partnership between Lend Lease’s retail business, the Australian Food and Grocery Council’s Packaging Stewardship Forum (PSF) and the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management, who each contributed a significant amount of funding to research, develop and rollout the program.