Empowering residents in the war on waste

Creating and shaping sustainable, resilient communities that thrive now and into the future means we need to put our customers at the heart of our decisions, involving them in the process from start to finish. In our residential developments, we are empowering residents in their communities to make a tangible different in fighting the war on waste, with three new initiatives at Highlands.

The O Initiative - a global movement providing water refill fountains which double as a work of art.

O fountains are beautifully designed sculptures that provide filtered water, to encourage the use of reusable bottles. At Stockland Highlands, we invited local artists to express their interest in transforming a blank O Initiative fountain into a piece of art, with community members voting on their favourite design. Artwork submissions were required to align with Stockland’s core values, and make reference to themes of community, health, environment and conservation.

James Westh, Project Director, said the Highlands O fountain would encourage conversation and community engagement at Highlands, while providing a platform for a local artist to showcase their work. “The concept of the O Fountain is to encourage residents and visitors to use refillable water bottles or top-up dog bowls when they are out, to help reduce the need for single use plastic water bottles that end up in landfill and pollute our oceans and waterways."

The first O initiative refill station at a Stockland community will be installed at the new Sustainable Park in Spring 2019, with more planned for roll-out during FY20.

Compost Revolution - delivering composting gear to the doors of our residents

Since 2012, over 42,000 households across Australia have joined the Compost Revolution by diverting their food scraps from landfill, diverting an average of 2.3kg of food waste per household per week. Not only has this saved an estimated $2.1 million in waste collection costs for councils and ratepayers, but has also prevented over 18,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere in the form of methane (which drives climate change 25 times faster than carbon dioxide).

We are joining forces with Compost Revolution as part of a 12 month pilot, providing residents in our communities the opportunity to obtain free equipment to begin their composting journey. Residents at Elara and Altrove (NSW), Cloverton (Vic) and Calleya (WA) will have the opportunity to sign up for a product of their choice and an online tutorial program to provide education and support along the journey to reducing both food wastage and their carbon footprint.

Terracycle – solutions for ‘hard to recycle’ items

When a resident in our 6 Star Green Star Community at Cloverton (Vic) asked our team whether we could explore TerraCycle as a recycling option, we didn’t hesitate. TerraCycle is an organisation that through a variety of recycling platforms, help find solutions for almost all waste. Our Cloverton residents completed a survey to determine the top ten items that they would like to see recycled, with top answers including toothpaste tubes, coffee pods, and batteries.

A prototype design is now underway to provide residents with a simple and easy way to drop off such items. Once a box is filled, it is shipped to TerraCycle who ensure the items are appropriately recycled, such as being ‘upcycled’ into new products. The unit will be launched in late 2019, with an opportunity for residents to earn TerraCycle points which are redeemable for charitable gifts, TerraCycle products, or a donation to a school or non-profit of the community’s choice.