Waste Footprint Services

As we move towards a circular economy, waste is one of the six key environmental categories that Defra includes in their Environmental Reporting Guidelines*. It can be a major source of cost & risk to your organisation. Proactive management of waste can deliver compelling cost savings, provide competitive advantage and mitigate risk.

In the UK Alone

Approximately 56% of UK businesses are failing to comply with Waste Duty of Care legislation.
Breaches in Duty of Care can result in unlimited fines if convicted in the Crown Court
The true cost of waste can account for up to 4% of UK business turnover

Carbon Footprint Ltd provides a full range of independent solutions including:

Independent & authoritative waste audits
Waste footprint assessments
Ongoing waste management consultancy
Management/ Support of Waste Management procurement projects
Training, strategy and planning

Why Waste Management Matters

Whether you are within a multinational office based organisation or an SME organisation, your Waste Footprint should be important to you for

Compliance with legislation (health, safety and environmental)
Prevention of high costs – e.g. from fines, remediation, poor due diligence when selecting waste contractor
Prevention of loss of business – e.g. due to negative press causing damage to reputation
Reduced overheads and increased profitability – e.g. due to increased resource efficiency & re-use
Potential additional revenue stream
Prevents harm to human health
Minimises environmental impact
Sustainability/ environmental metrics - including ISO 14001, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Global Resource Initiative (GRI)

Our services will enable you to

Understand & probe current sources of costs
Assess/mitigate future business risks and costs of your waste generation & management
Identify ways to reduce the environmental impacts of your waste use
Identify ways to reduce waste creation & optimise waste management within your organisation.
Improve efficiency at organisational, process and product levels – including design for the environment (DfE).

Waste Footprint Assessment & Certification

Our fully independent Waste Footprint services start with benchmarking. This can be undertaken alongside your carbon programme or equally well as a stand alone project.

Carbon Footprint Standard – recognition for assessment and for making year on year reductions
Concise & independent reporting on waste use
Captures data on waste usage & equivalent carbon footprint
Integration into your Carbon Footprint Appraisal report (if this option taken)
Helps you to plan & target areas for waste reduction

Waste Audits

Our on-site waste audits

Fully independent assessment of the range of waste streams within your organisation as a whole/for specific products/services as you require.
Give vital insights into full costs of waste to your business and cost- benefits of reductions (and their payback times)
Recommend time-bound targets your company should aim for
Provide recommendations of project based actions you can implement to reduce waste/promote materials up the waste hierarchy and can help you to define suitable targets that you should aim for.

Waste Reduction Programmes

We can either support or manage the implementation of specific waste reductions within your organisation – providing support either on a project or ad hoc basis, as you require.

* Defra Guidelines - www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-reporting-guidelines-including-mandatory-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reporting-guidance