Petinelli is a laboratory, a sustainability and energy efficiency showroom that anticipates global green building concepts. The laboratory is the opportunity to test ideas, to be creative and to imagine the future. Since the Zero Waste initiative was started, many aspects of the purchasing routine were analyzed, and some recommends practices and policies to reduce waste were created. These practices were asked of our suppliers, for example, the laundry company changed its standard packaging to reusable bags instead of plastic packaging. This management attitude is responsible for reducing on-site waste and encourages suppliers to adopt aspects of zero waste principles.
One of the lessons learned is that it is only possible to have a real sense of the amount of waste generated, effectively reused and recycled if this process is measured. Each month an analysis of the deviations generated within the company is performed, where the calculations of deviations by category of materials are made, as well as the evaluation of the improvement points that help to increase deviation. This analysis, in addition to showing where it is possible to reduce and assist in the development of measures and policies to achieve this reduction, engage the team. These are presented by email monthly to all employees, to give more transparency, credibility and learning opportunities for stakeholders. Also to promote engagement, the Zero Waste team provides training through periodic emails and quizzes to check the knowledge and difficulties of the whole team. The dissemination of this culture to all employees and suppliers was a great benefit of this process.
The result proved that 850 kg of waste was composted instead of sent to landfills. The implementation of reduction strategies to avoid the use of paper and plastic in some activities prevented the use of 70 kg of these materials during a year. Through these actions it was possible to find a better use of 82% of the waste generated on site, this is equivalent to 1 ton.
"Petinelli's DNA is innovation and to innovate means to be a pioneer, to be in leadership and to do things that it is not known if it is possible," explains Daniela Pires, Green Building Specialist at Petinelli and TRUE Advisor. "Our job is to do the impossible, to break a paradigm. It is to rethink habits, proposing new alternatives and solutions. Being the first LEED Zero Waste company in Latin America means that Brazil is helping to write the history of self-sufficient buildings in the world."