URW keeps it green – European Week for Waste Reduction
At Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield sustainable waste and resources management is a collective effort.
As part of our ambitious CSR strategy Better Places 2030, our Work Greener program promotes eco-behaviours across the Group, raising awareness on topics such as mobility, mindful consumption and waste management. A dedicated budget was implemented in 2018 in all our regions to foster eco-gestures at the office. Many good practices, daily actions and initiatives for the planet are being carried out across our countries, from e-invoicing and 100% ecological paper in Poland, to the installation of a high-capacity filtration water fountain in Czech Republic, which reduced the amount of waste in the Prague office by 1,500 small plastic bottles per month. At Group HQ in Paris, we partnered with the association Ateliers du Bocage, which specialises in collecting and sorting electronic devices for reuse or recycling.
We also partner with the Greenwishes group, whose mission is to develop the recycling ecosystem and who will help us recycle 100% of our waste. In 2017, more than 53 tons of our waste were recycled thanks to this partnership, i.e. almost 250 MWh of energy and more than 1250 cubic meters of water were saved – equivalent to the annual consumption of 24 inhabitants.
Our shopping centres too, take action for waste reduction.
In the United States, Westfield UTC recently introduced a game called Greener Catch, an initiative designed to get everyone on the management team involved in executing new green practices. Every two weeks, a new team member imagines and executes a new initiative, from the elimination of plastic cups to the promotion of reusable food products, from the installation of hand dryers in office restrooms to cutting down on paper waste.
In Spain, Garbera launched the Etxeko Ura project, which aims to reduce the use of plastic water bottles in the centre’s restaurants by promoting tap water consumption. In addition, the teams participated in the Zurriola Beach clean-up, together with the Surfrider Foundation and more than 70 Volunteers, to raise awareness about littering and plastic pollution.
In France, we partner with Too Good To Go, a startup that enables bakeries, coffee shops and other food retailers to sell their unsold food products on a smartphone application at a discount price for consumers, instead of wasting it. This October, URW announced that the solution would be deployed in 18 shopping centres across France. The Group expects to save at least 50,000 meals by the end of 2019 thanks to this partnership.
On the occasion of the European Week for Waste Reduction, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is proud to be part of the solution, thanks to our many initiatives to reduce waste and recycle.
