Waste and circular economy

We are committed to responsible management of the waste we generate, with a focus on minimising waste to landfill.  

We know that waste can have a range of impacts on people, the economy, and the environment. These may include negative impacts like emissions and air pollution, depletion of finite resources, and land and water contamination risks from waste disposal. Positive impacts from circularity may include job creation, reduced material and production costs, and improved supply chain resilience. 

We have always managed waste responsibly, but this topic has increased in importance with the acquisition of new sites via the Manawa Energy purchase and the growth in our renewable development pipeline. 

Our electricity generation, construction, office activities, and our value chain, produce different types of waste, such as general office waste, scrap metal, plastic, wood and cardboard packaging, waste oil, solvents and food waste. 

We have adopted several measures to reduce the waste we generate, particularly waste that goes into landfill or incineration. This includes: 

• substituting input materials and products: e.g. switching to reusable glass milk bottles and repurposing donated textile scraps as cleaning cloths for maintenance activities at some of our sites. 
• collaborating with our value chain: e.g. including responsible waste disposal in procurement screening 
• end of life interventions, like recycling personal protective equipment, some chemicals,  transformer oil, and batteries 

In 2026 we completed a waste audit to help us understand the types and volumes of waste generated across our operations. Insights from this audit are being used to develop a waste management programme that will guide our approach to waste reduction and resource recovery, including actions, goals, targets and progress indicators.