Eden Shopping Centre Sustainability Initiatives

Eden Shopping Centre in High Wycombe aimed to review and enhance their ESG by tackling three major areas: energy, waste, and social value, with a main aim of becoming a zero-waste-to-landfill shopping centre. ABM have expanded efforts at this site to include energy management and social value initiatives, not only to further reduce the site’s carbon footprint but to make sure Eden has a long-term positive impact on the local community.

Challenge

Previously, the energy monitoring at the site was not sustainability-focused and so there was a clear need to reduce energy consumption and improve how this is monitored. Waste management was another area that required new systems put in place to promote recycling and decrease waste to landfill. The main waste outputs included cardboard, glass, mixed recyclables, and food waste. It was also acknowledged that more could be done within the local community, so another aim of this project was to further support and donate to charities and communities to enrich the High Wycombe area.

“In the 10 years that I have worked here, we have always recycled quite a significant percentage of our waste, but in the last few years we have made an even bigger conscious effort to go the extra mile. I must say, though, I feel we have achieved so much more in the last six months with everybody working together and it has been a pleasure to be a part of the team."

— Markus Ellis, ABM / Eden team member

Solution

ABM’s work at the centre began with the cleaning operations in 2018 and Mechanical & Engineering operations started in early 2022. LED lights and Passive Infrared sensors were installed in the car parks, stairwells, and fire corridors and all HVAC units have had the temperatures reduced, been tested, and changed where required to further reduce fuel and electrical consumption. The team are now also working to increase the number of EV chargers at the site.

The site also began monitoring water consumption in 2022, installing Whiff-away waterless urinal systems and water-filled bags into toilet cisterns to reduce the cistern water capacity.

Between 2018 and 2022, the site produced less general waste thanks to the introduction of recycling and a waste segregation system that reflected the waste hierarchy. ABM organised for dry mixed recycling (DMR) collections in May 2019 and by 2022, the site had introduced customer recycling bins to encourage visitors to recycle too.

Community initiatives were also introduced, such as a town centre litter pick and an Environmental Awareness event which addressed sustainability, raised public awareness, and promoted the centre’s sustainable practices. A ‘Support Ukraine’ donation hub was put into one of the vacant units on site in aid of Ukrainian firefighters, resulting in a 40-tonne lorry heading for the Ukraine/Poland border with donations. Two cages for cardboard recycling were also housed at the centre and donated to a local school, where it was then repurposed as part of a school art project. There is also an apiary on the centre’s roof, in collaboration with and managed by High Wycombe Beekeepers Association (HWBKA).

Benefits

• The installation of LED lights and PIRs, infrastructure upgrades and improvements in energy monitoring has reduced the centre’s Greenhouse Gas emissions by over 10%, from 327.09tCO2e to 293.47tCO2e per annum between 2020 and 2021.
• The programme in place resulted in even further reductions during 2022 with an additional 40tCO2e of annualised savings in emissions from further PIR and LED installs relative to 2021.
• By July 2019, a 52% recycling rate had been achieved, with less general waste being produced than ever.
• The introduction of DMR collections to the waste management plan improved performance with a 3% increase to 55% recycling by October 2022.
• All food waste now goes to anaerobic digestion ensuring that, even after waste has left the centre, it is being reused, recycled, and recovered for a more circular lifespan.
• 76% of waste was sent for recycling by June 2022, with the remaining 24% being sent for energy recovery.
• Since 2018/2019, the centre has been a zero-waste-to-landfill site.
• Team members have the ability to grow and advance through green skills education opportunities, such as the appointment of a Sustainability Champion on site who drives sustainability every day and builds relationships with tenants around waste segregation. “As the ABM Sustainability Champion for the Eden shopping centre, I have had the pleasure of working closely with management from both ABM and Savills to collaborate our efforts and ensure we meet our sustainability goals. The best bit is that we are still only really just getting going with so many other great ideas to put in place we hope to become an even more sustainable centre than we already are.” – Markus Ellis, ABM / Eden team member.
• The apiary has produced a first harvest of 24 honey jars, with the next harvest scheduled for late spring 2023. The aim is to host a competition for local schools to design the label, and to donate half of the honey to a local food hub and sell the other half, donating all proceeds to HWBKA to fund beekeeping activities, and encourage local participation.