Northern Ireland’s second largest shopping centre, which serves 14 million shoppers a year, has been recognised for achieving zero waste to landfill.
CastleCourt teamed up with waste management company WasteSolve to convert its average annual 500 tonnes of waste, 86% of which went to landfill, into new energy and products.
Other than achieving zero waste to landfill, CastleCourt also converted its food waste into compost to fertilise local farm land.
CastleCourt and WasteSolve were presented the ‘Waste Reduction Project of the Year Award’ at the UTV Business Eye award by Belfast born MP, Kate Hoey.
In order to achieve their waste reduction targets, WasteSolve implemented a staff engagement programme called ‘Ready, Steady, Green’ for its 2,000 employees.
The programme evolved over the year and introduced ways for staff to recycle new waste streams. A second phase called Wow Weee! was designed to encourage staff to bring in small electrical items for recycling.
Waste reduction measures that were judged included best practice, originality, exemplarity, quality of content and focus on waste prevention as well as long-term and lasting impact.
The CastleCourt WasteSolve partnership was also awarded the Sceptre Ward for waste management earlier this year.
WasteSolve creative director Kate Cawley said: “Waste isn’t the word anymore, it’s resource, and staff at CastleCourt have really got behind this new mindset, changing the way they work and store materials to bring about this lasting reduction in waste at the centre.