WASTE: THE OPTIONS

In the short term

Reducing waste lowers disposal and raw material costs and improves the company's image in the yes of consumers, employees and shareholders.

‘Reverse engineering' through analysis of the waste stream, can lower other operating costs, reduces environmental liability and insurance costs, and even improve product performance. '

Do you know the composition of your company's waste streams?

Does your management information system tell you the mass balance in your business divisions between raw material inputs and product and waste outputs each year?

The most effective way for a company to tackle the escalating cost of waste disposal is to minimise the volume of waste produced. Focusing on ways to reduce waste often brings a further benefit by exposing hidden inefficiencies in manufacturing processes. But waste minimisation requires shifts in a business culture. As an unattractive and previously disregarded issue, waste must now be made the focus of attention. Personnel at each stage of the design and manufacturing chain must review their processes and consider the implications that those processes have for each other. This change reflects society's shifting attitudes to waste. But, if fostered within the corporate culture, it is a tremendous potential source of competitive advantage. The role of the waste management industry in minimisation Over a decade ago, large producers began to install compaction systems on their sites. New compaction technologies can now reduce 30 cubic metres of loose waste to one cubic metre of dense waste, depending on what the waste contains. Waste management companies also increasingly advise on buying specifications. For example, standardising on one particular type of beer can, might permit a brewery to rationalise its segregation and recycling programme and also to save on waste disposal costs. Waste Stream Analysis The first stage of waste minimisation, or of any waste strategy, is an analysis of the waste stream. No manager can claim to be fully in control of production unless he knows what is being thrown away, and understands what his colleagues are throwing away. Increasingly, a manager must also be aware of the packaging waste and unconsumed product that his customer is obliged to throw away. Big scale players in the waste sector see this task as part of their role as 'consultant managers'. Typically, a waste stream analysis begins with a mass balance analysis. With the help of a waste management company, a firm compares what goes into a process and what waste comes out. Benefit Waste stream analysis allows a company to discover the costs of each element of the waste stream within the sourcing and manufacturing chain. For example, the Health Service is now looking into the tonnage of prescription medicines purchased and tonnage thrown away each year in order to expose inefficiencies in different sectors and practices within the Health Service. The impact on design Waste stream analysis of products and packages is also an effective way of highlighting subjects for redesign. The greatest steps forward in this area have been in food and beverage containers. The (table above?) shows the reduction in weight in packaging materials in recent decades. (Add diagrams showing tables) For example, as a result of these savings, the weight of the average drinks can has dropped by more than 80 per cent since the 1970s. The packaging industry sees clear marketing opportunities in maintaining this trend of less packaging, but not at the expense of products spoiling before they reach the consumer.

Milk bottles 1950s      538g 1960s      397g 1970s      340g 1980s      245g 1990s      245g Food cans 1950s      69g 1960s      69g 1970s      69g 1980s      58g 1990s      57g Yoghurt pot 1950s      n/a 1960s     12g 1970s      9g 1980s      7g 1990s      5g drinks cans 1950s      91g 1960s      91g 1970s      91g 1980s      20g 1990s      17g plastic bottles 1950s      n/a 1960s      n/a 1970s      n/a 1980s      66g 1990s      42g jam jar 1950s      180g 1960s      180g 1970s      180g 1980s      180g 1990s      160g

Conclusion: the limits to waste minimisation

It is difficult to predict the limits of waste minimisation because it depends on achieving new technology efficiencies and on the incessant quest for new materials.

A mass balance analysis can offer an objective view of the costs of waste practices. It encourages strategies to match waste products with circumstances such as:

local public sector waste management strategies
landfill availability
opportunities for material recycling and reprocessing

However, it is an inescapable fact that a consumer society with ever-rising demands will continue to generate waste which must be disposed of by recycling, burying or burning, because waste minimisation can only go so far.

Waste: Somebody Else's Problem