CONTACT US
Share: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn I recommend visiting cushmanwakefield.com to read:%0A%0A {0} %0A%0A {1}

BtR and The Big Plastic Count

17/05/2022

How we can help residents reduce as much as 115 football fields worth of plastic.

This week is The Big Plastic Count, a collaboration between Greenpeace and Everyday Plastic to create the UK’s biggest investigation into household plastic waste. Despite the ‘War on Plastic’, of the seven billion tonnes of plastic waste generated globally so far, less than 10 per cent has been recycled. Most UK households throw away at least 40kg of plastic every year.

How can the Build to Rent sector help?  
We know that successful environmental strategies are as much about changing our collective behaviours as they are about the design, delivery and management of the building. And we know that just a nudge at a time can help, especially at scale (the ‘5p carrier bag tax’ reduced plastic bag consumption by 83% in one year!) And finally, we know that new initiatives are usually successful if they are easy to do. 
 
Introducing refill shops to Build to Rent schemes could be one such initiative, offering residents a zero-waste, zero-faff option of simply popping downstairs when they run out of washing up liquid. It not only speaks to the environmental concerns of many renters – the collective impact could also be enormous. 

If there are currently c. 72,700 operational BtR units in the UK, and the average UK person uses 37 plastic bottles a year (in terms of toiletries and household cleaning only), the use of refill stations in BtR schemes could reduce plastic waste by nearly 4.6 million bottles a year! 
 
If we look at existing stock and pipeline (c. 225,350 units) and thus a potential renter population of c. 383,050, this would equate to a whopping 14 million bottles, on purely toiletries and household cleaning products. 
 
If we could extend this to cover drink cartons, plastic food trays etc – for example, by incorporating a plastic-free mini-market on schemes – this could then equate to a saving of a staggering 210 million plastic containers. This is enough to cover 115 football fields! 
 

Build to Rent is still in its early years. This pipeline (and the plastic consumption of its residents) will only grow. But what an opportunity this creates to enable small changes, that actually have the potential to have a huge impact. 
 
Are you a residential investor and / or manager that is thinking about incorporating a refill station into your scheme? Or perhaps you already have one? We’d love to hear your thoughts

Related Groups

Residential - Capital Markets
Our national Residential Investment & BTR team leads the UK market in providing expert advice to investors and developers looking for new residential investment opportunities, or who wish to acquire, develop or dispose of rented portfolios. 
 
Learn More
Alternatives
Investing in the UK property market beyond the three main sectors: offices, retail and industrial – means diversifying into hotels, student living, retirement living, residential, healthcare, data centre, self-storage and automotive sectors.
Learn More
Capital Markets

Are you ready for what’s next in the real estate industry? Our Capital Markets team advises institutional and private owners, occupiers, investors and developers on their most significant transactions.

Learn More

Insights

2024 UK SELF STORAGE ANNUAL REPORT
Research

UK Self Storage Annual Report 2024

The Self Storage Association UK Annual Industry Report provides a comprehensive overview into the self storage sector.
Philip Macauley • 16/04/2024
Glass office facade with tree Australia
Insights • Sustainability / ESG

Sustainability Trends

Sustainability and ESG is now front of mind for landlords and occupiers; we review the latest in sustainability real estate trends.
Thomas Vazakas • 14/06/2022
UK Residential Development Land report
Research

Residential Development Land Report

The London residential land market has seen mixed success in recent times, whilst the South East is seeing record land values being achieved.

Charles Whitworth • 13/06/2022

News

residential apartment block
Cushman & Wakefield’s UK Residential Team Continues Expansion With Four Hires

Cushman & Wakefield has announced four appointments enhancing the Residential capabilities within its UK Specialist Markets team.   

Richard Coleman • 21/03/2022

Hove Gardens
Hove Build-to-Rent Scheme

Cushman & Wakefield’s Residential Capital Markets team has successfully secured a funding partner on behalf of Watkin Jones.

12/08/2021

062021GRISwebcard
European Capital Cities Primed For Post Pandemic Rental Market Rebound

Europe’s capital cities lead the way for their rental market recovery prospects post-pandemic, with its build-to-rent markets ripe for rapid growth and investment, according to the latest research from real estate advisory firm Cushman & Wakefield.  

24/06/2021

NEED COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE ADVICE?

Contact our team for the latest on the real estate markets.
With your permission we and our partners would like to use cookies in order to access and record information and process personal data, such as unique identifiers and standard information sent by a device to ensure our website performs as expected, to develop and improve our products, and for advertising and insight purposes.

Alternatively click on More Options and select your preferences before providing or refusing consent. Some processing of your personal data may not require your consent, but you have a right to object to such processing.

You can change your preferences at any time by returning to this site or clicking on Cookies.
MORE OPTIONS
Agree and Close
These cookies ensure that our website performs as expected,for example website traffic load is balanced across our servers to prevent our website from crashing during particularly high usage.
These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced features. These cookies do not gather any information about you that could be used for advertising or remember where you have been on the internet.
These cookies allow us to work with our marketing partners to understand which ads or links you have clicked on before arriving on our website or to help us make our advertising more relevant to you.
Agree All
Reject All
SAVE SETTINGS