The Where of Waste

Do you really know what happens to your company’s waste?

This is a recurring theme in discussions around resource use and circularity. Companies often collect and handle their operational waste, excess inventory, packaging, and end-of-life products through third parties. Yet, when asked about the ultimate fate of these materials, the answer is invariably, ‘no’.

This response reflects certain embedded behaviours within the organisation questioned and the supply chain actors that are collecting and processing the material and assets. Why?

●    Low Compliance Bar: For operational or packaging waste, the compliance burden often falls on collectors and processors. The traditional view of waste as a cost means the producer ‘ticks the box’ and loses interest and control.

●    Complex Supply Chains: The value chains for collecting, moving and processing waste are complex and opaque. Materials may be transformed or bulked, obscuring their movement across multiple entities and countries.

●    Commercial Secrecy: These entities are generally not in the business of exposing their commercial partnerships and associated financial arrangements.

Even if the question is asked, getting answers can be a challenge. However, it is not impossible, if one accepts that there will be gaps in knowledge, data will vary and some measure of modelling or prediction will need to be applied. Crucially though, by starting and continuing to collect data pertinent to the question, the gaps will reduce, the data may well be more consistent (in response) and the accuracy of the predictions will increase.

That is exactly the purpose of our WasteMap data pipeline solution. It offers large, complex organisations a dynamic view of waste, by-products or excess materials that improves over time. This enhanced visibility generates insights to support:

●    📉 Waste reduction at the source
●    🤝 Streamlined supply chain contracts (saving time and money)
●    ♻️ Improved levels of resource/asset recovery
●    📊 High-quality data for corporate reports and regulatory systems

We know that each customers’ WasteMap improves with age – they each reap these rewards by being curious and asking the question ‘what happens to this material’?

Does your organization have a clear, dynamic view of its waste streams? Let’s discuss what enhanced visibility could do for your bottom line and sustainability goals.