According to a recent interview conducted with Mike Walters, the waste and recycling manager for John Lewis, he highlighted his predictions for the waste management industry.
In his talks on the future for the industry, he envisages a shift in resource efficiency and he predicts that in 20 years, there will be no such thing as “waste” but “end-of-first-life materials”.
According to Walters, the next 20 years will see businesses having a greater understanding of how they manage resources and to establish ways in which to produce less waste.
This is a compelling perspective from the waste and recycling manager of the supermarket giant who, by maintaining the concept of monitoring resource efficiency, demonstrates a greater accountability for the impact that the chain has upon the environment. To view the full Edie.net video, click here.
Similarly, other retailers such as Tesco and The Co-operative Group have also announced their views on the future of waste throughout the respective chains. With a view to engineering social change, Tesco have announced their pledge for action on food waste within their 2013 corporate responsibility report whilst The Co-operative Group is rolling out an innovative recycling scheme that will divert all food store waste away from landfill, whilst radically reducing road miles and operating costs.
With more organisations becoming savvy about waste management, and EU recycling targets becoming higher, the level of waste sent to landfill is set to reduce year on year.
Over the next 20 years, the waste industry is set to change dramatically. The UK will see a greater up-take of on-site waste diversion and improvements in treatment solutions, which will lead to a reduction in logistics and disposal costs which can then be recognised as a revenue stream.
Organisations can quickly become more efficient when they have a greater understanding of their existing resource usage and wastage of water, materials and energy. Once they learn to control the usage of these resources within their organisations, they ultimately learn how to waste less.
In addition to organisations understanding how to produce less waste, they are also targeted to improve their effect on the environment as a part of sustainability objectives and many have already implemented this as part of their core business strategy.
Measures have been put in place for the diversion of waste from landfill and businesses are being encouraged to understand ways in which waste can become another revenue stream.
In targets set by the EU and member states is for recycling rates to increase to 50% by 2020. The UK is currently on track with these targets currently recycling 39% however, poorer countries within the EU have yet to reach double figures.
There are a number of ways that these targets can be achieved but ultimately, there needs to be an education process which can start with a review of the existing waste streams produced within an organisation.
Once a review is conducted, it becomes easy to identify the existing waste streams and to put measures in place to ensure that waste is being monitored so that it can be improved upon and reduced.
This applies to all facets of the organisation. Wasted materials, wasted energy and wasted water are all a cost to the business and an impact on the bottom line.
Working with the right waste management company, organisations stand to reduce their waste streams drammatically whilst diverting waste from landfill and increasing recycling within their organisations and ultimately adding an extra revenue stream to their organisation.
With a view to working with companies to demonstrate where waste streams can become revenue streams and ‘quick wins’, GPT Waste offer a free waste review service which highlights existing processes and the cost being incurred by the company.
Once a full waste review is conducted, GPT highlight the waste solutions best suited to the company’s requirements.
If one process is changed within an organisation and resource efficiency is improved, a percentage of waste will be diverted from landfill and revenue generated through more streamlined methods of waste or resource management. If an organisation has several areas for improvement and solutions are implemented, then a higher percentage of waste will be diverted from landfill and further revenue generated through cost savings and so and so forth.
Find out how you can help your business deal more effectively with your waste: Call 0844 854 5000 or book your free waste review by clicking here.
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