About the Client
Lakeside Shopping Centre is one of the UK’s premier retail and leisure destinations, located in West Thurrock, Essex. Home to over 245 stores, restaurants and entertainment venues, Lakeside welcomes millions of visitors each year, offering a diverse mix of leading brands, dining experiences and family attractions. With a continued focus on enhancing the visitor experience and driving sustainability, Lakeside is much more than a shopping centre.
Our Client’s Challenge
Lakeside is one of the UK’s largest retail destinations, with multiple service yards and complex waste flows. Traditional manual audits made it difficult to understand what was really happening across such a large site, limiting the centre’s ability to improve recycling performance at scale.
Services Provided
Bulky Waste
Cardboard
Coat Hangers
Coffee Grounds
Food
General Waste
Glass
Metal
Mixed Recycling
Soft Plastics
Stationery
Wood
Our Approach
Using the efficiency of SmartAudit, Recorra Consultants were able to audit every single service yard across the 240,000 m² site. Bin contents were scanned on site using AI-powered analysis, delivering consistent, high-quality data without disruption to operations.
The results revealed a clear opportunity: across most service yards, large volumes of recyclable material were being placed into general waste bins. Clothing hangers were prevalent in general waste collections, allowing valuable plastic to routinely go to waste.
Armed with this knowledge, Recorra Consultants developed a bespoke action plan for Lakeside that added recycling collection points and clear signage to strategic areas.
The Results
Within just two months, clean recycling collection increased by almost two-thirds. From October-2025 to May-2026, 53,165kg of plastic coat hangers were recycled and kept in the circular economy. Considering the impact of virgin plastic reduction on supply chains, this meant the site saved approximately 185,000kg of CO2 in this short period of time.
These improvements positioned Lakeside as a leader in practical, data-driven recycling performance across large retail environments. They have already been recognised across several green business award categories for their work. They plan to continue optimising their site using the power of SmartSystems technology.
