The paper is intended to examine the performance of a group of UK shopping centres in regard to waste production and disposal over periods of two, three and four years.
The method adopted is the collection and analysis of data relating to waste production and disposal. The data was collected by and obtained from individual shopping centres before analysis.
The sector as a whole did not show a decreasing level of waste production although some individual centres did perform well. In general, as one might expect, the more professional the approach to waste management, the better were the results.
More data was available for the shorter periods analysed as many centres have only just started recording waste data. The project could be usefully revisited in five years.
The paper shows that investing in waste management does produce positive results. The effect of the landfill tax is not certain but additional incentives may be necessary to drive an industry wide improvement.
The paper represents a new and an independent review of performance in the shopping centre sector.
