CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Woodlands is involved with numerous community and social projects, which include CANSA Shavathon, Cupcakes for Cancer, South African National Blood Service, Friends of Rietvlei, The Pure Hope School, and Brave to Love.
Each year, to celebrate Madiba’s legacy, we embrace Mandela Day with unique initiatives by inviting shoppers and members of the public to donate 67 minutes of their time on Mandela Day, supporting worthy beneficiaries such as The Pure Hope School, Friends of Rietvlei, and Brave to Love.
Each December we offer gift wrapping services where the proceeds are donated to one of our above-mentioned beneficiaries.
Throughout the year, we assist schools and non-profit organisations in our direct community with their fundraising efforts. We encourage our shoppers to get involved with and support our community.
Sustainability Initiatives at Woodlands
Woodlands prides itself on being environmentally aware and sensitive to where it is located. When one visits the Centre, you are met with lush hedges and beautiful indigenous trees all around. This is just a small symbol reminding us of the bigger sustainable values that as custodians of managing the Centre, we should always strive for.
We have started small in terms of elements encompassing sustainability, we are however aiming for bigger ideals.
In terms of water-saving, we have implemented a water tank system whereby we harvest rainwater which is then used for emergencies like flushing toilets when we are experiencing water shedding. The ideal goal we are currently working on is harvesting rain and underground water for our toilets and gardens.
In terms of energy, we have started implementing LED lights, these are energy-saving and last longer, which ultimately protects the environment. In 2020 we implemented a solar panel system on one portion of our extensive roof, this has decreased our energy spend considerably. We are now looking at rolling this to the other sections of the Centre.
The biggest component from a sustainability perspective is the in-house recycling plant that we have. We recycle all the plastics, cardboard, bottles, cans, etc. We are also currently investigating the possibility of turning all the food waste into compost.
One of the projects that we embarked on in 2019 was to partner with a tire reclaiming company that could covert tires into a playable surface that children can use. This surface is currently in our play area at the Restaurant Piazza.