We aim to manage materials in a way that retains their value in a circular economy. We endeavour to recycle as much waste material as possible, with a focus on recycling materials that may be used repeatedly, constantly being returned to the same production cycle, and can be recovered without any consequent hazardous material build-up in the environment (A-Grade waste materials). We also look to reuse and repurpose existing materials and procure products that contain a high level of recycled content within our development projects.

As a result of an exhaustive tender process completed in FY24, a new waste management contractor was appointed in November 2024 across 17 of QIC Real Estate’s retail assets.

Our goal was to find a waste partner aligned with our objectives who we could effectively collaborate with to maximise our waste recycling and diversion from landfill performance through the implementation of improved resource recovery and waste management policies and practices. With the support of our new contractor during FY25, we have:

• Audited and commenced deployment of upgrades to our waste management infrastructure, including upgrades to back of house waste management areas, compactors, measurement and verification technology, bins and bin collection infrastructure based on audit recommendations improvement plans.
• Commenced roll-out of additional recycling streams with a specific focus on the introduction of new organic waste management facilities for assets where this wasn’t previously available.
• Commenced upgrades to and standardisation of our waste and recycling related communications and signage across our portfolio, and rolled out staff and tenant training to promote each centres’ waste management practices.
• Established updated waste management performance KPIs and a new supplier contract aligned to our waste recycling and diversion from landfill targets, which has already driven measurable improvements in our waste management performance.

We aim to minimise our potable water use wherever possible by improving the efficiency of water-using plant, and optimising our building services technology and equipment to minimise unnecessary water use.

Our water meter upgrade program commenced in FY24 and continued throughout FY25, with over 700 meters installed across the portfolio during the reporting period. These meters have been integrated into the CIM PEAK Platform as part of this project, which has enabled:

• Utilisation of advanced consumption reporting and leak detection through sophisticated algorithms.
• Greater reporting insights, which has allowed us to identify material opportunities to drive additional water efficiencies, and improve tenant awareness of and accountability for their water consumption, helping to further our sustainability efforts.

Having greater visibility of water use across the portfolio has allowed us to be focused in our water efficiency efforts and has resulted in reduced base building water consumption during the reporting period. We expect continued improvement in future years as the program progresses.

The FY25 the total operational waste diversion from landfill rate of 46% represents a 9% improvement on FY24 diversion rates, and exceeds QIC Real Estate’s portfolio-wide target for FY25. We expect our performance to continue improving given the new waste management contract was implemented partway through FY25, and as such, impacted only part-year performance. We also expect to see future improvements from planned actions for FY26 and beyond as part of the continued multi-site waste contract implementation.

In FY22, we also began tracking the diversion from landfill of ‘A-Grade’ waste material, a sub-set of total waste diversion rates. This is material that can be used repeatedly, constantly being returned to the same production cycle and can be recovered without any consequent hazardous material build-up in the environment (e.g. paper/cardboard, glass, metal, organics, etc). In FY25, we achieved an A-Grade operational waste diversion rate of 41% across the portfolio, representing a performance improvement of ~7% compared to FY24 and exceeding QIC Real Estate’s portfolio-wide target for FY25 of 40%, (refer Table 14: Key performance data: Water Consumption and Waste Management, in Our Performance).

Both of these results have been driven primarily by the deployment of new organic waste stream infrastructure to our centres. This rollout is continuing in FY26 which gives us confidence that we can expect to see further performance improvements in future years.

Figure 8: QIC Real Estate portfolio annual operational waste diversion rate, FY19 – FY25²⁸

Absolute water use during FY25 decreased by 19% compared to FY24, and water use intensity decreased by 13% compared to FY24, (refer Table 14: Key performance data: Water Consumption and Waste Management, in Our Performance). The larger decrease in absolute water use is attributed to asset sales during the year²⁹. We expect our water use intensity³⁰ to reduce further in FY26 and beyond as we continue our digital water meter roll out project, which includes connection to the CIM Peak platform, enabling us to monitor and drive ongoing improvements in performance.

Figure 9: QIC Real Estate portfolio annual water use, FY19 – FY25³¹

During the year, we piloted a biodiversity assessment methodology at Robina, QLD, with the intention of using the outcomes to inform development of an approach that can be leveraged more broadly across our asset portfolio. We will continue to assess the results of the pilot in FY26 to inform any future work in this space on our assets.