JLL reducing supply chain carbon emissions with new waste management partnership

JLL’s Property Asset Management (PAM) team has made significant changes to its supply chain with the appointment of Mitie to manage waste operations delivery across the entirety of the portfolio it manages. The appointment will provide an efficient and economic method of ensuring sustainable waste services across what is a very diverse and geographically challenging portfolio.

Sustainability featured prominently in the tender for waste management, with weighting rising from 5% to 30% of the process, compared to previous tenders. Within the approach, JLL identified the need to procure a flexible and scalable service that aligned with JLL’s sustainability targets in the UK, using data to measure and evidence progress. In tackling the climate and nature emergency, JLL is working towards reducing carbon emissions by 30% per sq ft across all properties it manages for clients by 2030.

Mitie will bring its sustainability and waste management expertise to support JLL’s ambition to reduce CO₂ emissions across the PAM-managed portfolio. This includes using its ‘resource not waste’ approach to turn circular economy concepts into practical action, as well as reducing waste creation and increasing JLL’s recycling rate. Mitie will also be using local depots and facilities designed to reuse and repurpose, to further reduce JLL’s waste miles and will use on site weighing technology for better, more accurate data to help JLL with their service charges.

Mitie has been leading sustainable facilities management since it launched ‘Plan Zero’ in 2020, its own commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2025. Mitie has already converted a third of its fleet to electric vehicles, pledged to tackle energy use in its buildings, and continues to trial new initiatives such as its trademarked ‘Bin the Bag’ which removes single use plastic bin liners from office bins and replaces them with reusable and washable caddies.

Both JLL and Mitie have committed to setting science-based targets, with JLL being the first real estate company in the world to have a net-zero target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. It is committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2040 by eliminating carbon emissions across all areas of operations, with a transparent plan and set of pathways across all three Scopes to measure progress. Mitie’s own science-based target pledge is to reach net-zero for its scope 3 emissions by 2035.

Richard Curnow, Head of Partner Performance & Optimisation - Property & Asset Management at JLL, said: “This appointment demonstrates JLL’s commitment to tackling the climate and nature emergency through addressing changes that can be made in the supply chain to reduce carbon emissions. The tender process was very competitive but Mitie stood out as one of the best suppliers from a sustainability operational delivery perspective, with an ESG position that was very well aligned with JLL’s.”

Michael Taylor, Managing Director, Mitie Waste, added: “At Mitie we send over 90% of waste material for reuse, recycling or recovery and strive for our clients to achieve zero waste as part of our resource not waste philosophy. Our waste operations are designed to draw on all the benefits brought by a circular economy, helping our clients to reduce their carbon footprint and support the drive to decarbonise Britain.”