BBP Operational Waste Guidelines

Operational waste

The Better Building Partnership is committed to continuous improvement in the management of waste generated by commercial buildings’ operations.

Drawing on its extensive expertise, the partnership has developed Operational waste guidelines: procurement, management and reporting to assist building owners and property managers to work more effectively and consistently with their waste and cleaning contractors.

The Guidelines include a number of tools to create, procure and implement effective waste management programs. Using these tools will promote comparable data, clearly articulated accountabilities and transparent reporting processes. The BBP hopes that by working together as an industry we can drive better standards, improve industry benchmarking and increase positive outcomes for waste reduction and resource recovery in the sector.

The Guidelines include:

– Model contract clauses for contractors and cleaners to assist with contracts and articulation of roles.
– A range of related tools that collectively form a waste management system. These tools can be used either as a set or as enhancements to supplement current waste management systems.

The Guidelines do not assume that all buildings will operate the same waste streams, have the same level of reporting or target the same recovery rates. Instead, they are a framework. Each organisation will choose its priorities, level of service and reporting based on its market position, customer/ tenant requirements. The Guidelines simply seek to provide a common set of measures, a transparent method of comparing performance and a mechanism to iteratively improve performance over time.