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Lowry outlet mall goes green

The Lowry Outlet Mall has today announced that a series of positive ‘green’ initiatives, which were implemented in the last 12 months, have significantly reduced the Mall’s carbon footprint, resulted in an excellent recycling achievement to date and saved on Centre running costs.

Significant reductions on energy saving and recycling waste were two areas that the Mall focused on in order to tackle the growing environmental issues. With the British Government keen for all industries and businesses to adopt a more environmentally friendly attitude, the Mall’s strategy was to address its lighting and recycling approach.

With more than 80 stores, restaurants, cafes and an on-site Vue cinema, the Lowry Outlet Mall’s Operations Manager has been working closely with the staff to ensure all its waste is recycled. Over the last 12 months, the Mall has recycled an average of 97% of total waste, totalling 714 tonnes!

Over the last two years energy efficient savings on lighting have been made at the Mall to reduce electricity costs, but more dramatically reduce its CO2 emissions. A change from 180w to 42w, in over 408 light fittings in the Centre’s ceiling lights, and lower wattage bulbs being fitted into the 362 light fittings, in the Mall’s Ground Floor Car Park, have resulted in a total electricity saving of £74,711.94 per annum and a reduction of 356957.04 kgs of CO2 emissions per annum.

Says John O’Boyle, Operations Manager at the Lowry Outlet Mall, “As a Centre and a business, we feel it’s our responsibility to try and be as environmentally friendly as we can. We’ve made excellent progress in the last 12 months and there’s a common misconception that being green is a costly exercise. But any outlay in costs that we’ve incurred have been more than recouped in the last year and we’re now enjoying the benefits of the changes we’ve made as a company. We will continue to proactively roll out changes in other areas of the Mall, as it’s a massive area, and there are still further savings to be made, but we’ve made significant changes and puts the Mall in an environmentally-friendly light for the long term.”

In addition to the above and looking towards the future, the Mall has just installed recycling bins in its Food Court, for general waste, cardboard, cans and plastic bottles. It is also aiming to implement similar lighting changes to its Multi-Storey Car Park, following the success of the lighting changes in its Lower Ground Car Park.

The Mall is also considering ‘movement sensory lighting’ in certain places, which will only switch on when a car passes by. All hand-dryers are to be replaced, which will also deliver lower running costs, due to less electricity being used. All the glass atriums in the Centre have recently been fitted with solar reflective sheeting, in order to keep heating and cooling costs down.

For more information visit www.lowryoutletmall.com or follow us on Twitter @lowryoutletmall

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by NW News .