Identifying sustainable waste management improvements via the Circularity of Resources (CORE) Assessment
- Client Name
- Confidential
- Location
- Global
Challenge
SLR was commissioned to support the client in:
- Better understanding their current waste material flows and how they could be improved by adopting more sustainable waste management practices.
- Exploring how to kickstart their sustainable waste management journey and developing a set of realistic but challenging waste-related targets.
With ambitions to reduce waste generation and enhance recycling efforts, site engagement and buy-in would be a critical factor to success.
To support these goals, SLR carried out a Circularity of Resources (CORE) assessment, using our bespoke in-house tool, which is designed to evaluate baseline waste flows and identify opportunities for waste management improvements.
Solution
Key tasks underpinning the CORE assessment included:
- Developing a tailored data collection template for site staff, analysing material flows.
- Calculating important metrics like the waste hierarchy score (a measure of the company’s position within the waste hierarchy), and the carbon and financial burden of current waste management practices.
Site visits provided on-the-ground insights and, when supplemented with information gathered from anonymous employee interviews, a series of specific and focussed actions was developed. These were then ranked based on environmental and financial impact, producing an opportunity matrix to prioritise key actions.
Impact
By working collaboratively with the client team, the project successfully identified several waste streams with potential for improved treatment, moving them further up the waste hierarchy. It also highlighted the potential for reuse of certain items, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.
SLR’s work culminated in a report that provided ongoing support to the client’s sustainability projects and informed the creation of a Circular Economy roadmap.
SLR has continued to support the client’s journey to zero waste to landfill certification, conducting lifecycle assessments of products to pinpoint the greatest environmental impact across the entire production process.
