4 days ago6 min read

An A-Z of Sustainability: R is for Resources

OK, so you’re thinking, oh he just means “waste” but he’s got another topic lined up for W so he’s called it “resources” instead. Whilst that’s true, the terminology is deliberate and an important mindset change to adopt!

Changing the mindset on waste

Most of us associate the word “waste” with throwing things away or material that has zero value. Whereas “resources” are materials that have a value and can be put to good use. So, I will talk a lot about waste in this article but really I suppose we are talking about wasted resources – things that could have a value, but which are currently being disposed of.

Developing a waste strategy

There is no zero waste standard like there is for carbon, but to be honest it’s because waste in many ways is a lot simpler. You just want to minimise what you throw away. So how do you do that? Well, the first thing is to measure what waste is currently in your business. Whether for offices or labs or factories this is usually about gathering existing data and then filling some gaps. What you want to end up with is a clear picture of what the waste is, how much there is, where it is, and where does it come from (i.e., what part of a process), whether it is classified as hazardous, and what currently is happening to it including any costs you incur? You can do this as a one-off audit to establish a baseline of what you are dealing with, but really you then want to be putting in place regular monitoring - I’d suggest monthly. Irrespective of using Excel or online reporting systems, make sure someone at each site is responsible for entering it every month. It’s useful to set them a date each month by which it must be completed too. Make sure you follow up on any late returns to get the reporting pattern established.

Once you have all the data you can then set about deciding what to do about it. Most people set targets for absolute reductions, but you could also consider whether a specific target on reducing hazardous waste (to zero) is also appropriate. The other target that a lot of companies adopt is also a “zero waste to landfill” target. This forces not only reduction but also keeping waste out of holes in the ground and retains it as a useful resource.

The waste hierarchy

This leads us to the waste hierarchy. There are many different variants of it but typically it looks something like this, with the most preferable option at the top moving to the least at the bottom.

The first area of focus is what you can do to prevent waste in the first place. Can you redesign a product or process so that there is no waste at all (for instance getting your suppliers to deliver a raw material in bulk rather than in bags)?
If it can’t be eliminated completely, what can you do to at least reduce it?
For any waste that is still produced can you reuse it without any extra processing either in your operations or can it be sold to someone else as a raw material?
If that’s not possible can it be processed so that it can be recycled into something else that is usable?
If even that is not possible, can you or someone else extract something of use? Often these days this can be energy, but note this is virtually at the bottom of the hierarchy – just burning stuff is only just better than disposing of it in a hole in the ground, as the materials are still destroyed. So, waste to energy should not be your number one project.

Some of these stages will require investment, but many are about process or behaviour change and can actually save costs. Some of them you’ll be able to do within your own four walls, but others will require collaboration with other companies, maybe even with suppliers and customers. It’s useful to methodically go through each waste stream that you identified in your audit and then get a group of people together to challenge what can be done using the hierarchy. You don’t need to go to each level for each waste stream – if you’ve already got plenty of ideas of how to eliminate it then don’t bother spending time on how to recycle it. But getting a group, preferably cross-functional, together to tackle it is really helpful. And the closer the people are to the processes that lead to the waste the better, as they will likely have the best ideas on how to change them.

End of life considerations

So far I’ve focused on the waste of resources within your company. But there is a lot more to the waste topic than that. If you are producing products then you need to think about what happens at the end of the product’s life. Is the way that you are producing it making it more likely to be just thrown away? Can you design it to be more easily repaired or upgraded even (and can you benefit commercially from repair income?). Can you use different materials so that it can be more easily recycled? All of these aspects should also feature as challenges to your innovation pipeline, as well as thinking about your raw materials. Can you include more recycled content (although bear in mind that some recycled material can have a higher environmental impact that virgin material due to the extra transport and reprocessing), or can you use someone else’s waste as your raw material?

And then there is packaging. Remember that your packaging is your customers’ waste, just like your suppliers’ packaging is yours. What can you do to reduce this? Is all the packaging you have necessary? Amazon for instance used to put all the things they shipped to customers in another layer of packaging, but now many items come as they are packaged from the manufacturer without anything extra. Often you will have layers of packaging, individual components are packaged separately inside a single product container of some sort which are then grouped into an outer package like a box or tray and then some larger container or pallet. Are all these necessary or can you change one of these stages to eliminate another? Even if you can’t take an element out, can you reduce the amount of packaging used at each stage? What about the materials you use, can you change from say plastic to paper-based to make it easier to recycle? Remember though that the packaging is there to protect the product through the supply chain so that it arrives at the customer in pristine condition. If by reducing packaging you increase product damages it is a false economy. Not all packaging is bad.

Whilst reductions will come from a whole host of individual projects it is also worth considering how you will drive a change in mindset so that the projects will happen without you necessarily needing to be involved. Think about the messaging for all departments – everyone can print less and segregate waste. If you have a staff canteen, food waste might be something to focus on as everyone will see it. If you can establish a culture when waste is frowned upon wherever it occurs, then you will create a momentum that will be self-sustaining.

This is really an area of sustainability where the economics are helpful. If you reduce waste, you save money by needing less material in the first place, you save again by having less to take away and can even earn money from finding someone that can use your remaining waste as a useful resource.

About the Author

Chris is a senior strategic leader with over 25 years’ commercial experience including sales, marketing, strategic planning and major business change initiatives at AkzoNobel and ICI. He has a wide knowledge of sustainability and how to integrate this into business having held senior sustainability roles at AkzoNobel for 12 years, including as Global Sustainability Director Decorative Paints and AkzoNobel Planet Possible Programme Manager. Chris is now an independent sustainability consultant and a pension trustee director.