Green Yakka Zero Waste
Green Yakka Zero Waste Team
EY Waste Audits: Turning Floor-by-Floor Findings into National Action
Through waste audits, education and practical advice, our Green Yakka Zero Waste team helps sustainability focused organisations understand what is in their waste streams and identify opportunities to reduce waste, improve recycling and divert valuable materials from landfill. At the same time, we create employment and training opportunities for people experiencing barriers to work, including former refugees and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
One of the largest projects our team delivered in FY26 was a national waste audit program for EY. EY initially engaged Green Yakka to audit its Sydney office. Following our proposal, EY expanded the scope across six cities: Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.
Understanding waste, floor by floor
Waste audits replace assumptions with evidence. By sorting and analysing waste, our team shows organisations what is being recovered, what is being sent to landfill and where contamination is limiting recycling. These insights help our customers make better decisions about how materials are managed and kept in circulation.
At each EY office, our team:
- Assessed how waste and recycling were being managed on every floor
- Reviewed how bins and collection systems were being used
- Identitifed effective waste management practices
- Analysed contamination and opportunities for improvement
“We found that waste management practices could vary significantly between individual floors, even within the same office. As a result, we provided site-specific findings and recommendations tailored to the conditions at each location.”
Ranjith Kumar Green Yakka Zero Waste Manager
Turning findings into practical action
The audits gave EY a detailed baseline across its offices, showing where waste systems were working well and where changes could improve consistency, recycling and resource recovery.
Green Yakka recommended:
- Introducing additional collection streams for speciality waste items
- Providing targeted staff education
- Improving signage to make waste-sorting requirements clearer
- Creating a more consistent national approach while responding to the specific needs of each site
Together, these measures provide a practical framework to reduce contamination, keep more valuable materials in circulation and strengthen how EY tracks and reports waste performance over time.
EY has already implemented some of the recommendations, with the next round of audits providing an opportunity to measure what has changed and identify where further improvements can be made.
“I am proud of the collaborative relationship we developed with EY, they were receptive to our recommendations and willing to make adjustments.That willingness to act on the findings made the project particularly rewarding.”
Ranjith Kumar Green Yakka Zero Waste Manager
Delivering at a national scale
This was Green Yakka’s first waste audit project outside NSW. Successfully delivering it across six cities demonstrated that our team could adapt its approach, manage complex logistics and provide consistent specialist services for a major national professional services organisation.
“Our team were highly and committed to delivering quality work at every location,” Ranjith says. “With each audit, we also learned from the experience and continuously refined our approach for the next site.”
Across the national program, the audits:
- Equipped EY with detailed evidence and practical recommendations to strengthen waste management practices across its offices.
- Identified opportunities to recover valuable resources, reduce contamination and divert more materials from landfill.
- Generated approximately 273 hours of paid work for Green Yakka staff, building skills and experience through a complex national project.
- Demonstrated Green Yakka’s ability to deliver complex waste audit projects consistently at a national scale.
Following the success of the initial project, EY has engaged Green Yakka to undertake a further round of audits.
“Green Yakka’s national waste audits gave us a clearer picture of how waste is being managed across our offices and identified practical opportunities to improve consistency, reduce contamination and strengthen resource recovery. That evidence supports our broader sustainability goals by helping us better understand our operational waste footprint and track improvements over time. The Green Yakka team brought professionalism, flexibility and practical expertise to a complex national project, and we look forward to building on the findings through the next round of audits.”
Adam Hartas, Associate Director – Oceania Capital Works & Sustainability Manager (Workplace)
