Lendlease’s Menai Marketplace has taken a stance on reducing waste, thanks to all the retailers and the local community the centre has reached some key sustainability milestones. It is a real demonstration on how a community centre can take measures to reduce waste significantly.

Menai Marketplace Centre Manager, Jacqui Bell said “Menai Marketplace is a real community hub and we want to do the right thing for our locals, and our planet.

In July, the centre reported:

· 10.5 tonnes of organic waste was diverted from landfill throughout the month, and converted into liquid waste. This is the most waste diverted since the system was installed in the centre in November 2017.

· Almost double the amount of waste recycled from 20% to 36.8% (4.5 tonnes of cardboard recycled in July 2017 to 6.4 tonnes in July 2018).

· An 18% reduction in water use over the past year. The result is driven by the use of single flush toilet systems, automatic taps and building services ‘real time’ monitoring to detect leaks (May 2017 to May 2018).

· A 15% reduction in energy use (June 2017 to June 2018), from changing the times services for the centre, such as air conditioning, are in operation and have ‘real time’ monitoring.

· The reverse vending machine surpassed three million container redemptions since it was installed in January 2018.

· Reduction in the use of plastic bags and drinking straws during Plastic Free July when the centre distributed bio-degradable straws and multi-use bags to most stores.

“We wouldn’t have achieved these amazing results without the support from our customers and our retailers.” said Bell.