Funded project – Investigating opportunities for a circular mixed-use precinct

Last updated: 30 August 2023
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Project lead: Coreo
Project partners: Dexus
Status: Complete
Funding source: Circular Economy Business Support Fund
Funding amount: $128,104
Co-contribution: $67,026

This project aimed to improve the circularity of material flows in mixed-use corporate and retail precincts in Victoria, with a focus on the QV centre precinct, by understanding, measuring, and mapping these flows during use and at end-of-life.

BSF Melbourne Retail Circular economy Business

Background

Coreo is a circular economy consultancy that provides strategic advice to organisations that want to be more circular. It was awarded a Circular Economy Business Support Fund grant of $128,104 to improve the circularity of material flows in the QV Centre, a mixed-use corporate and retail precinct, in Melbourne’s CBD. Coreo co-contributed $67,026 for the project.

The purposes of this project were to investigate opportunities for a circular mixed-use precinct, to raise awareness of the circular economy, and to demonstrate its value to Victorian businesses.

A circular mixed-use precinct adopts the following principles of the circular economy:

  • Eliminating waste and pollution.
  • Circulating materials at their highest value for as long as possible.
  • Regenerating natural and social systems.

In the retail context, each year a typical store generates 7.5m3 of waste per employee that ends up in landfills, even though the NSW EPA estimates that a minimum of 60% of their bins could be recovered for reuse or recycling.

Currently, the majority of shopping centres in Australia (like the QV Centre) were not designed for circularity. Leadership from asset owners like Dexus, which manages the QV Centre, will be crucial in transitioning complex assets like the QV Centre towards circularity.

At QV food waste represents approximately half of QV’s waste, and the general waste bins contain many recyclable materials.

​​The objectives of the project were to:​

  • measure and map material flows at a complex mixed-use precinct
  • engage, educate and empower stakeholders on the circular economy
  • develop a pathway to a circular economy for the QV Centre
  • set up a methodology for the transition to a circular economy at complex mixed-use retail precincts like the QV Centre.

Process

Coreo first conducted a waste audit in collaboration with Dexus and Energy Conservation, a materials management organisation to analyse material flows and bin composition at the QV Centre.

It then engaged Dexus and selected QV retailers/tenants, and the City of Melbourne. Coreo presented the findings from Phase 1 analysis, provided circular economy education, and focused on 2 material streams for opportunity analysis: food waste and metals.

Coreo analysed the current circular economy maturity of the QV Centre and assessed the existing on-site capability to accelerate circular economy opportunities. Coreo also conducted market analysis to understand the solutions available for addressing the site's 2 priority streams.

It then again engaged Dexus and QV stakeholders to decide collaboratively on the best solutions to address the 2 priority material streams.

Coreo collated the above exploration and analysis, then proposed a strategic pathway to circularity for the QV Centre.

The project team visited the site to interview the retailers, based on the 2 following questions:

  • What could happen now within the existing budget?
  • What should be considered for the FY2024 budget?

Challenges

  • Many stakeholders did not know about the circular economy and its principles.
  • There was a lot of sunk investment in existing infrastructure and systems.
  • Existing contractual and finance structures were misaligned with the cost and benefits of going circular. For example, since tenants do not pay for the outgoings, there was little incentive for better waste segregation among QV retailers.
  • Due to COVID-19 lockdowns, there was less traffic at the site than usual. As a result, the waste audit data only provided an indication of the true volumes that flow through the site.
  • The 2023 budget was being finalised before the end of the project, limiting the ability to get funding for selected circular economy opportunities.

Insights

For future projects the Coreo team would begin by identifying the key decision makers, and scheduling the educational workshops to make sure they would be there. They would also create a parallel internal communications campaign to increase engagement among retailers.

Food and organics, cardboard, paper, plastic film, and dense plastics were the top 5 material streams identified 

These material streams provide the most opportunities for waste elimination and diversion. If all these streams were addressed, the QV Centre and other similar mixed-use precincts have the potential to divert up to 87% of all their waste from landfills.

Adopting a circular mindset is needed to accelerate the circular economy

In this shift, on-site staff, tenants, and users of the mixed-use precincts will no longer feel as if they are working towards a circular economy, but rather, that the circular economy is simply how they work. 

These mindset and cultural changes will prime the system to adopt the high-impact and ‘out-of-the-box’ initiatives to create lasting and meaningful changes.  

This shift would include the following:

  • Distributing an education and awareness toolkit to tenants and staff so they can implement solutions specific to material streams.
  • Educating staff about waste materials separation.
  • An awareness campaign across the business that uses different techniques tailored to specific tenancy profiles.

Encourage collaboration between tenants to achieve economies of scale and greater impact 

By collaborating with their tenants, the QV Centre and other mixed-use precincts can make the most of solutions that solve material management challenges across different tenant priorities. This builds capacity for action, and effects a wider behaviour and tenants valuing materials rather than seeing them as waste. For example, collaborative approaches to a system that promotes reusables such as Huskee or Returnr. Additionally, waste management options can be shared to minimise costs.

Put effort where it makes the most difference

Not all waste streams are equal in their impact. For example, a paper cup’s impact is equal to 100 grams of CO2 (carbon), whereas an aluminium can carry 1,400 grams of embodied CO2. It is important to think strategically about where to invest time and resources to have the greatest impact possible.

Outcomes and impact

The Dexus Centre management team was empowered to take circular practices into consideration, with clear directions about how to take the first steps in transitioning the QV Centre to circularity.

The economic viability of this project depends on the solution implemented. For example, the Black Soldier Fly Larvae Solution was found to be 8 times cheaper than the current food waste management solution, with 97% less carbon impacts.

What’s next?

As a starting point, the next steps will be for the QV team to implement the 8 initiatives detailed below, analyse the benefits and for Dexus to use the findings to expand the circular economy principles and business models to other areas.

Our research identified the following 8 key solutions to embed circularity in the QV precinct:

  1. Partner with food waste diversion apps*.
  2. Implement food and organics separation and Black Soldier Fly (BSF) regenerative food waste management*.
  3. Partner with cleaning contractors to replace soap with just-add-water tablets in bathrooms and cleaning services.
  4. Partner with commercial tenants for a reusable crockery scheme**.
  5. Work with select tenants to implement predictive AI technological solutions to design out food waste*.
  6. Assess potential contractual changes such as green leasing and collaborative waste management.
  7. Create a culture of circular change.
  8. Create partnerships for economies of scale.

*Solutions 1, 2, and 5 combined could reduce food waste by approximately 80% per annum, and total waste by 65% per annum from coffee shops, fast food restaurants, and dine-in restaurants, and approximately 65% of their total waste generation.

**Solution 4 would help to reduce the 2.7 million disposable coffee cups that currently go to landfills every day in Australia.

QV building in Melbourne cbd

More information

Dexus and the circular economy: Closing the recycling loop and the circular economy | Dexus

Sustainability Victoria’s article on the circular economy workshop: Embracing circularity in Victoria’s retail and corporate precincts | CEBIC

Learn more about Coreo

Get in touch

Contact:

Cameron Kaufman cameron@coreo.com.au 0450 064 941