SDG Choice
✅ SDG: 12
✅ Category: Products
✅ ILG: Resource Security
Sarah Simon
23 min Read Time | January 27th 2024
Key Takeaways
Product end-of-life waste is about finished/manufactured products where one or several components pose a challenge for waste reduction in today's world.
Companies are responsible for product waste through the use and disposal of their products, even after they have sold them.
To assess the whole impact, be comprehensive and consider all the different types of waste the company is generating. This includes packaging and product waste.
Include the absolute amount of waste generated, its composition, and its landfilling rates.
When disposed of, different materials might have different effects on the environment. Make sure to specify them in your analysis.
Provide a benchmark when possible to help the readers better understand the scale of the company’s impact.
Waste production is "the production of unwanted materials as a by-product of economic processes."
Companies are accountable for the waste generate throughout the use and the disposal of their products, even after they have sold them.
The consumer often bears the responsibility of discarding this waste. However, the company holds great responsibility for its products’ impact, as it manufactured and/or sold them. Different types of waste, which vary across industries, have different impacts on the environment.
For instance, e-waste and plastics can release toxic chemicals into the environment, ultimately leaching into underground water sources. Being one of the most complex waste streams, currently, only 17% of the 53.6 million tonnes of e-waste gets collected or recycled. On the other hand, when washed, textile waste releases microplastics on waterways, where they get ingested by marine animals and enter global food webs. Recent calculations conclude textiles release 35% of all primary microplastics in waterways, making it the single most polluting source of microplastic pollution. When textiles are finally thrown away, they can take over 200 years to decompose in landfills, leaching chemicals into the soil and releasing greenhouse gases.
To fully cover this topic, consider the whole lifecycle of a product. At the beginning of their lifecycles, companies might reassess the design of their products to make them easier to recycle, fix, reassemble, or extend their useful life. Product waste may be generated during use by its consumer. At the end of life, corporations might also implement upcycling, take back, and other product recovery programs to take care of their waste.
Adding information on absolute waste produced, its composition, and landfilling rates are essential to enable the reader to better assess the scale of the company’s impact.
Some of the types of waste linked to companies’ products include:
Plastic waste
Hazardous waste
E-waste
Textile waste
The waste associated with the company’s products can impact the environment by contaminating air, water, and soil. Also, whether through direct exposure or environmental damage.
✅ SDG: 12
✅ Category: Products
✅ ILG: Resource Security
Data Points:
*The two data points ("amount recycled" & "% recycled") should have company-specific data and not proxies or data based on proxies. For this topic, proxies are global or national recycling rates we use for estimation since recycling can not only be done by the company itself but many other organizations. These proxies can apply to all companies within the industry.
Data points, on the other hand, are specific to the company and help differentiate them within their industry. So, extracting proxies here does not help. These data points can be left blank if the company itself does not disclose any data on how much of its products it collected back and recycled.
Some Definitions:
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 calculated 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%)
Note: The recycled amounts/percentage rows should only be filled when direct data is available
Units:
We want to have homogenous and comparable units. Therefore, we accept final waste generation figures expressed in units of weight that is tonnes (t).
Relevant estimations can be done to convert the number/volume/surface area of products sold by the company into weight in tonnes. For instance, the number of units sold can be multiplied by the average weight of the product. The volume can be multiplied by the density of the product.
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)
Note: Japanese companies use the wording tons, although this remains the metric system, and thus no conversion is needed
In your analysis, examine the company's product end-of-life waste considering the whole lifecycle of the products sold. To quantify the impact, assess the absolute end-of-life waste generated, its composition, the packaging (where relevant), and the absolute amount in landfills or our oceans.
The introduction should describe the broader impact issue to set the stage for the reader.
Total products sold might be available in the company's CSR/Sustainability annual report, so check there first. Yearly hazardous waste produced should be expressed in metric units, i.e., tonnes, metric tons, or kgs.
You can use this online converter to translate the imperial system's tons (US tons) to metric tons.
It is essential to focus on the present impact of the company's products that have reached the end of their useful life today, contributing to the global waste problem, as opposed to the future impact of assessing products that were sold in the latest year.
Main data points to include:
Amounts produced taking into consideration the lifespan of the products (current data when past reports are not available)
Direct data for materials volumes/units sold is preferred over estimations
For the estimations, the main products/segments should be considered
Average weight and prices can be considered when the company discloses the revenues for the different segments/products
Market share should be used only as a last resort
Amounts recycled/landfilled (direct data when take-back initiatives are disclosed or estimations using proper recycling rates for different regions/materials)
Their impact on the environment
Make sure to look for direct data in all reports of the company and in external sources
If direct data is not available, the second approach is to divide the revenue from sales of the product by the average price of the product. This gives the number of products sold which can be multiplied by the average weight to get the final waste amount
Market share can be used as a basis only as a last resort
When the company sells a large variety of products, the note should focus on the most sold/popular products of the company and the products that have the most detrimental impact on the environment. The most sold products and segments can be found in the company’s report based on revenue share. Its popular or best seller products can usually be found on its website or external sources.
Use the general national/regional or global recycling rates for a particular type of waste to estimate the unrecycled product waste
For this, it is important to know the lifespan of the products in question. If the lifespan is, say, 10 years, then we need to look at the products sold 10 years ago, as well as:
It could be challenging and almost impossible to assess products' end-of-life waste in cases where the product has a long lifespan, such as an aircraft and its parts that have a lifespan of over 25 years. If products have a very long lifespan (above 15 years), then it is difficult to measure the company's current impact, as compared to products with shorter lifespans (cars, e-waste, medical waste, single-use plastic, etc.).
Taking the same example of the aircraft, it is nearly impossible to assess how many aircrafts a company manufactured 25 years ago have reached their end of life today, and these parts are eventually sold or auctioned off for reuse/recycling. Aircraft parts have a recycling rate of more than 90%. Hence, such products are not posing a significant negative impact on the environment.
The exception to this standard is for industries that do contribute to the global accumulation of waste and harm the environment, such as:
Note: For Commercial Banks (ATM waste), Solar Technology & Project Developers and Wind Technology & Project Developers, consider the total waste generated and the product lifespan to estimate yearly product waste. As such, the yearly waste generated by ATM waste will be: total ATM waste weight/lifespan= yearly waste generated.
Always aim to assess the direct impact data and the detrimental environmental impact. Also, always look up the lifespan of the products first and disclose/estimate products produced X years ago. The exception to accept recent data only applies in cases where the lifespan is so long that the data is not available.
1. If the company has not disclosed the total products sold, consider the following methods to estimate it. Remember to make it clear that the company has not revealed this information and that it is being calculated by using alternative methods:
Look at the company's sales and the average price of its most sold products. By dividing sales by the average price, you might get a fair estimate of the products sold.
If the total items produced by the industry are available (i.e., garments made in a year) and the company's market share, you can estimate the waste from the company's products by multiplying its market share by the industry's production.
Look for close competitors that disclosed this information and, by comparing market shares or sales, estimate the total waste generated by taking their average. When choosing the competitor, double-check that they indeed produce the same type of product.
Make sure to be comprehensive and include all the end-of-life waste generated by the company. Organizations might publish only part of it in their reports. Go an extra step and think about its business, the materials it needs to deliver its products, and the materials that make up the products.
For instance, consumer goods corporations might only disclose the use of plastic packaging, but they might be liable for other non-plastic packaging waste and waste associated with their products.
If the entirety of the portfolio is too complex to address, you can:
You may use studies as proxies to report the impact and the framework to describe the what, how much, and who.
2. Make sure to mention what type of waste the company produces, as types of waste have different impacts on the environment. If the company is not disclosing this information, you might look at the composition of the company's products, information about a competitor, or industry information to estimate this composition.
3. The absolute amount of waste landfilled is a critical point to mention. Companies might disclose how recyclable their products are. However, this does not mean that this percentage effectively gets recycled, as it often relies on available and special infrastructure that is not present everywhere.
To add nuance to your analysis, include the actual recyclability rate of the type of waste and estimate how much ended up in landfills.
4. You may include significant initiatives the company has set to reduce its overall end-of-life waste production. Consider the entirety of the product's lifecycle.
Be critical of the company's initiatives and avoid remediation or anecdotal information by first disclosing and quantifying the broader issue.
5. If the company has set specific end-of-life waste reduction goals, disclose them to the reader and provide information about their progress.
6. You may compare the company's waste production with the industry average or a close competitor if that number is unavailable. You should not use human-centric equivalents.
Make sure to report the most recent year and include varied sources in your research. Cross-checking data and being critical of the information provided will help you add nuance to your analysis.
Add value to your readers and go beyond the company's CSR report by going the extra mile of including additional metrics, studies, and sources to make your analysis robust and the impact value and scale are clear.
Companies in these two industries are usually at the beginning of the supply chain. However, the metal extracted/produced by these companies will end up in the environment if not correctly recycled.
The extractors who produced these metals in the first place should also have this impact attributed. Metals then go through iron & steel producers to be made into the material that then goes to the market.
We avoid double-counting in most cases, however, these two industries are an exception to this rule as the products need to go through this process to be sold.
Specific Example: Coca-Cola is the Top Global Polluter of 2021, using 3Mn tonnes of virgin plastics a year
Context:
In 2019, 368 million tonnes (t) of plastic were produced globally. It takes about 20 to 1,000 years for plastic to break down naturally. An estimated 8Mn t is thought to enter oceans, harming marine life and disrupting the global fisheries industry. Furthermore, the toxins in plastic are harmful if ingested or leaked into the soil or environment.
Absolute waste generated and composition breakdown:
Coca-Cola, the world's largest non-alcoholic beverages company, used 5.3Mn t of packaging in 2020. Of this, 44.9%, around 2.37Mn t, were plastic bottles, 24.7% aluminum and steel cans, 28.8% glass bottles, amongst others, and just 1.6% refillable plastic bottles. However, Coca-Cola's actual packaging waste might be higher, as CC only reports data on primary consumer packaging. Coca-Cola uses around 3Mn t of virgin plastics each year in its production, equivalent to 88.5% of its total plastic procurement, estimated at 3.39Mn tonnes. Considering 56% of Coca-Cola's packaging material mix is plastic, the company's complete packaging waste is estimated at 6Mn t.
Recyclability and landfilling rates:
Coca-Cola claims 90% of its packaging is currently recyclable where infrastructure exists. Unfortunately, 91% of plastics worldwide end up in landfills, which means that despite CC's recyclable design, 3.08Mn t of the company's plastics are landfilled.
Lifecycle waste reduction efforts and goals:
In 2021, Coca-Cola pledged to introduce recycled plastic bottles and consume 50% recycled material in its bottles and cans by 2030. The company also developed the first 100% plant-based bottle prototype. Despite Coca-Cola's efforts, Coca-Cola was named the #1 Top Global Polluter of 2021 based on a study that analyzed 330,493 pieces of plastic. Since 2018, the recorded plastic by the company has more than doubled, showing the company's initiatives have had little impact.
Decide if the company's net impact has been positive or negative, and give the reader a concise summary of the scale and persistence of the matter. The conclusion should add no new information.
Describe the scale of the impact by taking into account:
1/ The scope of the impact
Is the impact local, national, or global?
How many people are concerned? Thousands? Millions? Billions?
2/ The scale of the impact
Is the life of people concerned deeply affected, or does the issue just marginally impact them?
Are the changes brought by the issue profoundly changing society or the planet?
3/ The irremediability of the impact
How long would the impact described last for? Months? Years? Decades?
How reversible is the impact described in the impact analysis? Can it be easily stopped/extended?
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
Sometimes, data on the weight of products sold is available in the CDP Climate Change report as well
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.
Recycling Rates:
E-waste - https://ewastemonitor.info/gem-2020/
Europe packaging waste - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Packaging_waste_statistics
US packaging waste - https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/containers-and-packaging-product-specific#:~:text=Containers%20and%20packaging%20make%20up,28.1%20percent%20of%20total%20generation).
Metals - https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/end-of-life-recycling-rates-for-selected-metals
Steel - https://cssbi.ca/mid-rise-construction/sustainable-steel
Weights:
Medical packaging - https://ftloscience.com/blister-pack-bottles-choosing-drug-packaging/#:~:text=Blister%20packs%20weigh%203%20g,and%20size%20of%20the%20tablets
Food packaging - https://flwprotocol.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/FLW-Protocol_Excluding-Weight-of-Packaging_Guidance_2019Dec17.pdf
Others:
What is E-waste? Definition and Why It's Important
Environmental toll of plastics - EHN
The Growing Environmental Risks of E-Waste – Geneva Environment Network
The Environmental Crisis Caused by Textile Waste
Evaluation of microplastic release caused by textile washing processes of synthetic fabrics
The Environmental Crisis Caused by Textile Waste
End of life – infinity recycling – Sustainability Guide
What Percentage of Recycling Actually Gets Recycled?
Trends in Solid Waste Management
1. Check if the final EOL waste generation data is for 2022 or the most recent data available
YES: do not refresh the analysis and please report it
NO: move to step 2
2. Check if the introduction is up to standards. Are sources working? Is data current and relevant?
NO: refer to slide 12
YES: Move to step 3
3. Update the analysis following our Important Metrics & Standards
4. Check if the final amount of waste disposed of is mentioned
NO: Estimate and mention it using direct data from the company or proxies (recycling rates)
YES: Update it for the relevant year
5. Fix the Conclusion, if needed
6. Update the data points as per the available data
7. Fix the Headline (mention the unrecycled waste amount when the recycling rate is high)
Apparel, Accessories & Footwear | Up to 5 | Only 12% of materials used in clothing are recycled in the world. |
Containers & Packaging | 0-1 | These products are discarded the same year that they are purchased. Analyses can use the data from the latest available year for this industry. |
E-Waste (consumer electronics, appliances, medical or lab equipment, etc.) | Up to 15 | The lifespan varies based on the devices and equipment offered. In 2019, only 17.4% of e-waste was recycled globally. |
Automobiles and Auto Parts | 10-12 | The lifespan depends on the auto part, but in general, automobiles have a lifespan of 10 to 12 years. Vehicles remain hazardous to the environment. Recycling rates vary across the world – 89.6% in the EU. There are still some materials from end-of-life vehicles that cannot be recycled, known as Automotive Shredder Residue (ASR), which is hazardous, and generally ends up in landfills. |
Single-use plastics | 0 | Half of all plastic produced is designed for single-use purposes – used just once and then thrown away. |
Other forms of plastic HDPE, PVC, PET, etc.) are used in making a wide variety of products | - | Although the lifespans for all forms of plastics outside of single-use plastics are over 15 years, its waste is now considered one of the most significant environmental threats. As its lifespan is very long, so is its impact, especially microplastic contamination and bioaccumulation. |
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