Operational Waste Production

Sarah Simon

13 min Read Time | February 8th 2024

Key Takeaways

In your analysis, you should report on the company's different waste categories and show how such specific types of waste are harmful to human health or ecosystems if not disposed of properly.

Be critical of waste reduction initiatives and try to assess their absolute impact. Make sure to go beyond remediation.

Keep in mind that reported operational waste only gives one side of the coin: most companies also have high levels of associated waste with product use (fashion, consumer goods, etc.) - however, this should be treated in a separate analysis.

Executive Summary

Values we are looking for are:

  • Total operational waste generated

  • The absolute amount and % of hazardous and non-hazardous waste generated

  • Disposal methods of the waste

  • the absolute amount and % of waste disposed of sustainably (recycle + compost + reuse)

  • the absolute amount and % of waste disposed of unsustainably (landfilled + incinerated with and without energy recovery)

  • Any fully-fledged industry average (absolute waste figures in X industry, etc.)

Things to remember:

  • The analysis should stress the amount or percentage of waste that was disposed of unsustainably

  • Always look for the coverage/scope of the data

  • Always make sure to check the footnotes/superscripts to see if there is anything valuable there

What is it?

Waste production is ”the production of unwanted materials as a by-product of economic processes.”

Companies all produce waste through their operations. Some possible impacts of waste production include:

  • Discharge into water: the release of unwanted waste material into water systems. This includes point discharges, such as sewer pipes, distributed discharges, such as fertiliser runoff, and industrial spills - more in the article water discharge pollution.

  • Emissions into the air: the release of unwanted waste into the air. This includes combustion by-products from cars, factories, and power plants. This also includes the release of volatiles from manufacturing processes — more in the article Air pollutants.

  • Releases into soils: the release of the unwanted waste directly into or onto the soil. This includes industrial spills, fertilisers, etc.

Note that these impacts pertain to other topics. Therefore, it is worth briefly mentioning the impacts in the introduction without going into details in the core analysis to avoid double-countingl


Source

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/iwgsdi/Waste_Poduction.html#:~:text=3.1.,by%2Dproduct%20of%20economic%20processes

E SDG PRINT 12

SDG choice

Impact Category: Processes

ILG Theme: Resource Security

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Impact assessment

The topic addresses environmental issues associated with hazardous and non-hazardous waste generated by the operations of companies. It covers treatment, handling, storage, disposal, and regulatory compliance. The impact of the company does not only lie in the absolute amount of waste produced and the types of waste but more critically, the amount of waste that is not recycled.

In your analysis, you must first look at the company’s overall waste production. Most companies now report this information in their CSR/Sustainability annual report. Make sure to report the most recent year. Yearly waste produced should be expressed in tonnes and its multiples.

DIRECT DATA FROM THE COMPANY

  • Annual reports

  • Sustainability reports

  • CSR/ESG reports

  • URD (Universal Registration Document)

  • ESG data tables on the Website of the company

Whenever there are doubts about the meaning of something, we encourage to thoroughly read the reports of the company, considering footnotes, and methodology frameworks, as those might contain the answer to your doubts.

Please do not use estimations from other sources for specific companies.

What to include:

State how much of the total waste produced is hazardous and non-hazardous (as an absolute number and relative one percentage).

Then, mention what type of waste they produce, as they have different impacts on the environment, and note the effects of the relevant waste category.

As the scale of the impact lies within the amount of waste that ends up in landfills or is disposed of through unsustainable methods such as incineration, you should also specify the waste recovery percentage/absolute amount compared to landfilled waste.

Disposal methods of the waste:

  • the absolute amount and % of waste disposed of sustainably (recycle + compost + reuse)

  • the absolute amount and % of waste disposed of unsustainably (landfilled + incinerated with and without energy recovery)

Some definitions:

% of waste recycled: Should include % of waste disposed of sustainably (recycle + compost + reuse)

  • Recycling is when you take an item's materials and reprocess them to be used elsewhere. This cuts down waste and ensures useful resources are converted into new products, rather than being wasted after a single use.
  • Reusing, on the other hand, is about repurposing items and products for extended use.

Note: A new study on waste-to-energy energy efficiency recovery has shown the method's poor performance against its peers. The study also recommended the distinction between energy recovery through incineration and pure energy incineration be abolished. Likewise, major European financial institutions have opted to exclude waste-to-energy incineration from further funding because of its high carbon intensity and low contributions to a circular economy.

For the above-mentioned reasons, waste disposed through incineration should be considered as waste unsustainably managed.

You should include any fully-fledged industry average (absolute waste figures in X industry, etc.)

You may mention the waste reduction initiative the company has put in place. However, this should be secondary to the company’s current impact (i.e. total waste produced). Your analysis should not be based on the company’s remediation efforts.

Not to include: Product End-of-Life Waste

If a company only reports on hazardous waste or non-hazardous waste, we need to estimate the total amount of waste produced. Of course, research is required to ensure that the company, depending on the industry it is in and what is being said about operational waste in its report, does in fact generate both hazardous and non-hazardous waste.

To estimate total waste:

  1. Calculating the % of the company's total waste when the company states how much (total or %) is landfilled, diverted, or other.

    Example: The company claims that X% and Y tonnes of its total waste is diverted from landfill. So, its total waste would be (Y/X)*100.

  2. Look into past years' reports to see if the company mentioned/reported its total waste (non-hazardous & hazardous), and hence their split (absolute & relative threshold). We apply the %s to the most recent data found.

    Example: The company's 2020 report mentioned that hazardous waste accounted for X% of its total waste. So, apply that % to non-hazardous waste by adding it.

If neither is applicable, then we can publish the analysis without knowing the total amount of waste produced. What is most important to know is the amount of waste not treated, making it clear whether it is partial or complete.

Units:

  • We want to have homogenous and comparable units. Therefore, we will accept values expressed in tonnes (t)

  • If the figures are given in tonnes or metric tons in the report, then we can report them as it is but we will write them as tonnes in the analysis for consistency -> no need to convert anything

1 tonne = 1 metric ton

  • If the figures are given in tons in the report, then we must check whether the company has used the metric system or not (check whether the company has used kg, km,°C, etc.);

  • If yes, then tons actually mean tonnes -> we can report the figures as it is but write them as tonnes in the analysis for consistency -> no need to convert anything

  • If not, then tons mean US tons -> we will have to convert it to tonnes (source)

Common mistakes:
  • In the past, we used to ask for a competitor analysis by picking three close competitors and estimating their waste intensity.

  • We also used to accept benchmarks in terms of people, weight of other substances, etc.


Things to remember:

  • The analysis should stress the amount or percentage of waste that was disposed of unsustainably

  • Always look for the coverage/scope of the data

  • Always make sure to check the footnotes/superscripts to see if there is anything valuable there

Data Points:

  • Disclosed: When the data is directly disclosed by the company, i.e., we did not do any calculations/estimations to obtain the figure

  • Estimated: When we have estimated the figure

  • Complete: When the data represents 100% of the company’s operations

  • Partial: When the data is given for only a portion of its operations (not 100%)

In your analysis, make sure you add value to your readers and go beyond the company’s CSR report by not merely reporting data from the company’s report, but going the extra mile of providing additional metrics, studies, and sources to make your analysis robust and the impact value and scale are clear.

Sources you can use - DIRECT DATA FROM THE COMPANY

  • Annual reports

  • Sustainability reports

  • CSR/ESG reports

  • URD (Universal Registration Document)

  • ESG data tables on the Website of the company

Whenever there are doubts about the meaning of something, we encourage you to thoroughly read the reports of the company, considering footnotes, and methodology frameworks, as those might contain the answer to your doubts.

Please do not use estimations from other sources for specific companies.

Refresh

1. Check if the assigned analysis has more recent data (we require the latest data available)

NO: do not refresh the analysis and please report it (via the Report feature or to Sabine or Sarah)

YES: Move to step 2

2. Update the analysis following our Important Metrics & Standards 

3. Check if the initiatives and targets mentioned are up to date

NO: fix them

YES: move to step 4

4. Check if there are any comparisons with competitors or benchmarks in terms of people

YES: remove them

NO: move to step 5

5. Check the intro: Is it up to standard? Are sources working? Is data current and relevant?

YES: do not refresh the introduction

NO: move to step 6

6. Fix the intro following Useful Sources

7. Fix the Headline

8. Fix the Conclusion, if needed

9. Update the data points as per the available data

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