Saving water at The Oracle shopping centre

The Oracle, a popular shopping and leisure destination, recognised the importance of taking a strategic approach to waste management, so ABM worked with them to create a more sustainable bin maintenance protocol.

Challenge

When Thames Water conducted a water consumption audit, they reported that 20 1,100-litre bins were being cleaned per week at the centre, using 12 litres of water per minute – an annual usage of 112m³ – and all water used was going into the foul drain. It recommended jet washing the centre’s dirty bins less frequently to conserve water; however, this could risk pest control issues, such as the fruit fly infestations that the centre had previously experienced.

Solution

ABM and The Oracle needed to work together to find a way to reduce the usage of water while maintaining a good level of bin maintenance to avoid any safety issues. ABM put forward a proposal for a mobile bin wash that filters and recycles the water. Funds for this were made available through the customer’s Environmental & Community Coordinator and the total cost included training for the ABM team.

ABM had a bespoke bin washer built with a diesel engine by Morclean Ltd. Deep cleaning of 20 bins now only uses one 350-litre tank of water per week and is recycled through six stages of treatment. The centre’s annual water usage is now approximately 18.2m3.

Benefits

Environmental

- Reduced water consumption and disposal resulted in carbon savings of approximately 39.5kgCO2e per year and water saving of 83% per year.

Economic

- A hydraulic system lifts bins into an easy cleaning position and only requires one ABM team member rather than two. This system also takes less time, saving an average of 12 hours per week – time that has now been reallocated to waste movement and sorting.

Social

- The ABM team adjusted their standard operating procedure to avoid risk of accidents, creating a safer workplace, such as using two people when tipping bins manually to clean them.