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Waste audits
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Wesfarmers Health is
committed to managing and minimising waste in its business operations. This
requires reliable quantitative data to ensure strategic decisions are well
informed. During the 2024 financial year, Wesfarmers Health took steps towards
obtaining a reliable national waste profile across all its retail stores and
clinics. As small footprint sites, stores and clinics often use shared bins,
making the collection of quantitative data impractical.
To address this
challenge, Wesfarmers Health developed and conducted a waste audit to quantify
the waste profile of retail stores and clinics (including small footprint sites that often use shared waste bins).
In carrying out the
audit, the Sustainability team collaborated with teams across the business to
collect the waste from six Priceline stores across a five-day period. These
sites were chosen using a quota sampling methodology to ensure the sample was
representative of the national store profile.
The waste was then
delivered to a central location to eliminate the need for multiple audit days
across multiple audit sites. At this location, the waste was sorted into
several categories, separating recyclable items from non-recyclables.
The different categories
were then weighed in containers with known volumes to gather weight and density
data. A similar process was undertaken for select Clear Skin Care clinics to
gather data across all location types.
With the information
gathered from the audits, Wesfarmers Health was able to report operational
waste data across all location types in its portfolio for the first time. The
audit data also led to insights about retail store waste composition. Some
stores performed better in their waste segregation practices than others,
highlighting an opportunity to provide guidance to stores to enable them to
improve their waste management performance.