Woolworths has opened its “most sustainable supermarket” to date at the new Burwood Brickworks Shopping Centre in east Melbourne.

As part of Brickworks’ commitments on sustainability, Woolworths and other tenants will strive to meet the rigorous criteria of the Living Building Challenge (LBC), which is considered the most advanced measure of sustainability for buildings.

The store will run entirely on renewable energy, with LED lights to reduce power usage.

All meat and dairy cases use fridge doors to prevent the release of cold air and chillers, freezers and hot tap water production use natural refrigerant technology to prevent the release of any direct emissions.

Woolworths Supermarkets managing director Claire Peters said the needs of local customers are at the heart of the new store design.

“From store lighting and air-conditioning to food refrigeration and preparation, we have looked at all angles to see how we can build and run this store more sustainably,” she said.

“Woolworths Burwood Brickworks is the culmination of all our efforts to-date in one store.”

All bags are reusable with fresh produce bags made from lightweight nylon available for purchase, as well as paper bags are made from 80 percent recycled paper. Even the trolleys are made from recycled milk bottles.

Peters said Woolworths will continue to trial environmentally friendly initiatives and monitor feedback from staff and customers.

The sustainable shopping centre by Fraser Property’s officially opened on Friday and is the first of its kind in the Australian retail space.

All tenants must meet the LBC’s strict sustainability requirements, such as using only FSC-certified timber and low-VOC paint.

Burwood Brickworks also features a rooftop urban farm, living plant installation by Joost Bakker, while trees line one side of the building and each row of the carpark.

This story originally appeared on sister site Inside FMCG.