Transforming Nan Fung Property Management’s Waste Disposal Patterns into Sustainable Strategies

Growing Pains in an ESG-focused World

NFPM previously relied on estimations of disposed waste data in its ESG data collection and reporting process, which took an average of three months to complete. The long-winded process involved manually counting the number of filled waste bins daily, merging information from various sources, verifying data, and conducting additional cross-checks with on-site teams – with NFPM only able to conduct data analysis after each site’s estimated monthly records are in. Aside from being costly, manpower-intensive, and time-consuming, the process also led to inaccurate assessments, hindering the company’s ability to effectively track ESG goals. Additionally, dependence on estimations may affect the data accuracy.

Given these concerns, NFPM turned into a new intuitive IoT smart waste management solution, Greenbird, built by Microsoft Partner DynaSys Solutions on Microsoft Azure cloud platform to serve as a pillar of its sustainability framework. The solution offers scalability and empowers NFPM to manage costs better through a flexible consumption model. Greenbird can also be easily integrated into other solutions, helping eliminate silos and driving smooth interoperability across systems. This supports NFPM’s rapid growth and expansion requirements.

“Powerful sustainability data can serve as a propelling force for fostering a culture of continuous improvement in waste management. Greenbird, powered by Microsoft Azure, is a key partner of NFPM’s sustainability journey, facilitating the calculation of waste charges in line with Hong Kong’s waste charging scheme and delivering better data visibility and accuracy to drive sustainability transparency and trust among our stakeholders,” said Zara Lo, Sustainability Manager, Nan Fung Property Management.  

Building and Designing a Sustainable ESG Data Ecosystem

Since implementing the plug-and-play Greenbird system in February 2023, NFPM has benefitted from the timely and accurate collection of municipal solid waste data. Instead of waiting for month-end records, NFPM now has instant access to real-time data, which allows the team to instantly assess waste disposal patterns, identify areas for improvement, cross-check data recorded by recyclers, and conduct effective benchmarking and performance evaluations across its managed properties.

The Greenbird system supports day-to-day operations such as weight measurement and segregating waste data based on the source and type of waste. Real-time waste data is automatically uploaded onto the system once the staff measured the collected waste through smart scale, which has streamlined the need to manually input data. This generates significant time savings and productivity optimization.  

Microsoft Azure to Support Large Scale Waste Data’s Record and Report

By correctly identifying the waste that corresponds to each tenant, the system facilitates the equitable distribution of weight-based “gate-fee” waste charges and ensures that these are allocated and charged back to tenants in a fair and transparent manner. Besides fair charging, insight into individual tenants’ waste data has also provided added value for tenants who are doing their own ESG reports. In addition, the Azure-powered Greenbird solution can track critical ratios such as the recycling index, enabling NFPM to effectively monitor its overall ESG performance, specifically for its waste reduction and carbon neutrality program. Leveraging Microsoft’s highly scalable SQL Database and Data Analytic Platform on Microsoft Azure, Greenbird has the ability to run large scale of waste data, perform real-time data analytics and transform waste data into easy-to-understand, multi-dimensional visualizations. Given the streamlined process of data consolidation and analysis across its sites, NFPM can better track ESG performance on a per-site basis, identify areas for improvement, and implement effective strategies for further waste reduction. Given the precise breakdown of waste data, NFPM can also potentially come up with an actionable strategy to reduce the amount of prevalent types of waste collected.

“The future of sustainability initiatives will go beyond mere data collection and reporting. Having real-time analysis capabilities allows sustainability professionals like myself to develop and execute more timely and relevant strategies to actualize sustainability goals,” said Lo. “As a socially responsible property management company, we are always on the lookout for innovation that allows us to better walk the sustainability talk and create a positive impact on the wider community. By harnessing the power of Microsoft’s technology and our shared commitment to sustainability values, we hope to create more impactful initiatives that can address environmental challenges such as waste disposal.” 

The Green Way Forward: Data, Collaboration, and Innovation

Currently, six of NFPM’s managed sites have leveraged Greenbird for waste data collection and reporting. Given the company’s goal to redirect at least 30% of waste away from landfills by 2030, NFPM is determined to continue harnessing the power of data to further improve the quality of life of stakeholders across its managed properties.

NFPM continues to explore enhanced functions on the Greenbird system, among which include alert notifications for anomalies, further enhancements to APIs to support more system integrations, customized dashboard, and reports for better ESG performance tracking. NFPM also has planned to extend the use cases of Greenbird across the value chain. 

“ESG has been a forefront requirement for business success today. Through rich ESG insights, Microsoft is proud to empower NFPM to make informed decisions and reduce waste across its managed properties,” said Cally Chan, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong and Macau. “Through this collaboration, we hope to inspire more organizations across different industries to understand the importance to record and report data to support reducing carbon footprint in creating greener communities and promoting sustainable practices.”
 

Start embracing data-driven sustainability. Contact us today to explore how Microsoft Azure can enhance your ESG performance, improve your company’s data management, and unlock new opportunities for growth in the ESG era. Together, let's create a greener future for your business and the wider community.