In 2020-21 Australia generated an estimated 75.8 million tonnes of waste, of which nearly 21 million tonnes were produced by the commercial and industrial buildings sector.
The NABERS Waste tool measures how well a building manages waste generation, recycling and resource recovery, and supply chain management.
Summary of Waste tools available
There are several NABERS Waste offerings available depending on the sector you are in.
The NABERS Waste Platform is available for every building type. The platform allows you to upload and visualise your building’s waste data month-to-month which can reveal useful management insights. The different graphs on the platform dashboard represent key waste performance metrics that are designed to demonstrate how well a building separates its waste into streams that can be composted and recycled.
The NABERS Waste Verification is designed so that you can report on your building’s waste performance using a respected industry standard. By inputting data into the NABERS Waste Platform and verifying on-the-ground performance with a NABERS Waste accredited Assessor, you will generate a waste verification report that conforms with global sustainability reporting standards and demonstrates your progress towards minimising your building’s environmental footprint.
A NABERS Waste Verification is identical to a NABERS Waste rating in every way, with the only difference being that you will not receive a star rating as there is not yet enough data available for your building type for benchmarking.
A NABERS Waste Rating follows the same rigorous process as a NABERS Waste Verification. In addition to the verification report, you’ll get a NABERS star rating which is easy to understand and highlights your success in improving your waste management practices. This is currently only available for commercial office buildings as it has been through a benchmarking process with like-for-like buildings.
We also have the NABERS Waste Data and Measurement Standard available for third party reporting systems that would like to align to the NABERS method.
If you are interested in any of the above, please start by reading the relevant section(s) below and contact NABERS if you have more questions.
Waste Platform
We have developed an online platform to make it simpler to understand your waste data. The platform provides visibility of the waste streams leaving your building and your recycling rate. These insights should lead to improvements and may improve your recycling performance. The dynamic dashboard also makes it easier to share visual, actionable insights with staff, tenants and other stakeholders.
The NABERS Waste Platform provides the basis for the Waste Verification and Waste Rating tools. Access to the platform is included as standard when you purchase a NABERS Waste Rating or Verification for your building, but you can use the waste platform for a small annual fee without doing a Rating or Verification.
The platform can be used to monitor:
- Recycling rate
- Material stream composition
- Waste intensities
- Frequency of waste collections
- Volumes or weights collected
- Waste collection costs
Information on pricing can be found on our pricing page.
How do I use the platform and get a rating?
You will need:
- A login to the platform. Information on getting setup on the platform can be found below.
- Information on the building, including information on your waste management contract, and the number and types of bins on the premises.
- Someone to regularly upload the data spreadsheet. This could be you, your waste contractor, or a data management company.
If you are ready to sign up to the platform and begin your building setup, please complete the NABERS Waste setup information form and email it to the NABERS team. Find out more about pricing here.
Waste Verification Report
A NABERS Waste Verification is an independent measure of the recycling and resource recovery performance of a building. It is identical to a NABERS Waste Rating in every way, with the only difference being that you will not receive a star rating as there is not yet enough data available for your sector for benchmarking. The Waste Verification process assesses buildings on how well they separate and divert waste generated in the building into streams that can be re-used and recycled, and whether those materials are likely to go to a facility that will recover them.
To obtain a verification report, you need to upload 12 months of your operational waste data to the Waste Platform, collect some data about your building through waste audits, and engage a NABERS accredited Waste Assessor to complete the verification process.
You’ll receive the following results in your verification report:
- Total landfill waste: The total weight of all waste going to landfill.
- Total recycled waste: The total weight of waste avoiding landfill.
- Waste Intensity: The total weight of all waste generation for a site compared to the sites allocated metric over a year.
- Data Quality Score achieved through a combination of weight-based waste data, audits, bin counts, secondary data verification and data integrity checks.
- The Material Recovery Score recognises a building’s contribution to better resource recovery and reduced potential pollution, by rewarding the best feasible recovery of material. Our report includes a breakdown of the total waste generated according to 5 levels of material outcomes.
- The Verified Waste Score is a composite metric of the building’s NABERS verified Recycling Rate , the overall Data Quality Score and the Material Recovery Score (MRS) of each waste stream, as described below. This score can be used to compare between similar buildings, for example a hotel to another hotel.
- We also include a carbon emission value based on the amount of waste which was directed to landfill, which can be used as an input for a Carbon Neutral rating.
Is my building eligible for a verification report?
Currently, the NABERS Waste verification report is available to most building sectors, including, but not limited to:
- Apartment buildings
- Data centres
- Hotels
- Office tenancies
- Residential aged care and retirement living
- Shopping centres
- Warehouses and cold stores
If you are interested in a Verification report for your sector, please contact NABERS and a team member will reach out shortly to assist. Find out more about the pricing here. Alternatively, if you would like to engage an accredited Assessor to do everything for you (for an additional fee), please visit our Assessor page to find an accredited Waste Assessor.
Waste Rating
A NABERS Waste Rating has undergone the same rigorous process as a Waste Verification. A benchmarking exercise has been done to allow comparison to other like-for-like buildings. With a NABERS Waste Rating, you get all the insights from the waste management platform, as well as the results in the waste verification report PLUS your waste outcomes are also expressed on a NABERS six star rating scale. This lets you see how you compare to peers.
Rating types
NABERS offers two benchmark options for the rating:
- Base building: Measures only those wastes contracted by the building owner. This rating provides insights into the management of the building, irrespective of which tenants are in the building.
- Whole building: Measures any waste that leaves from the building, where it can be reliably measured. This rating suits a building with highly engaged tenants who are working with building management.
Watch the video below to learn more about a NABERS Waste Rating.
Is my building eligible for a rating?
Currently, the Waste rating is only available for commercial office buildings. If you are interested in a waste rating for your sector, please contact NABERS and a team member will reach out shortly to assist. Find out more about the pricing here.
If you are ready to sign up to the platform and begin your building setup, please complete the NABERS Waste setup information form and email it to the NABERS team.
Alternatively, if you would like to engage an accredited Waste Assessor to do everything for you (for an additional fee), please visit our Assessor page to find an accredited Waste Assessor.
Waste Data and Measurement Standard
The Data and Measurement Standard guide is primarily for use by third party reporting systems that would like to align to the NABERS Waste data and measurement standard. This Data and Measurement Standard establishes a robust and comparable method for commercial buildings to analyse and report on their waste performance. It underpins the NABERS Waste method.
The standard was developed through seven years of experience of major property portfolios in Australia seeking to understand their waste data and use it to drive improvements.
Download the NABERS Waste Data and Measurement Standard Guide v1.0.
More info?
Learn more about the Waste tool:
- NABERS Waste fact sheet
- NABERS Waste Verification Report fact sheet
- NABERS Waste Basics is our free modular tutorial series providing an overview of the entire Waste Platform for users and anyone interested in how the platform works in practice
If you want to find out more about Rules, Rulings, or any user support guides, please visit our NABERS Waste and support documentation page.