Case Study: Education and Engagement
By focusing on tenant engagement and education, Great Forest helped one building achieve a 205% improvement in its waste diversion performance, demonstrating how behavior change and targeted education can transform building sustainability results.
Client
A large commercial building that is part of a portfolio of 10+ commercial properties.
Strategy
Tenant-Focused Waste Audits and Waste Infrastructure Assessment
- Great Forest conducted a waste audit of tenant waste streams and a waste infrastructure assessment of tenant-occupied areas of the building. The resulting waste audit data and waste infrastructure score offered a clear overview of the building’s waste performance at the tenant level.
- Follow-up quarterly waste assessments were performed to monitor the progress.
Program Implementation
- Based the findings, Great Forest designed a centralized waste collection system for the client, providing annotated floor plans outlining co-located bins for each waste stream with customized waste signage. Pantry items were also analyzed and replaced with more sustainable alternatives.
Tenant Engagement and Education
- To support the waste program improvement measures, Great Forest conducted an intensive tenant education and outreach program to ensure tenants knew how to use the program correctly to improve upstream waste separation performance.
Results
Building diversion rate increased from 20 to 61 percent, representing a 41 percentage points increase and a 205 percent improvement over the original rate.
Learn more
How Stakeholder and Tenant Engagement and Education Impacts Sustainability