Measuring your company’s sustainability performance by sifting through corporate trash is an honest approach to aligning corporate level goals with the implementation of day to day activities. Waste, recycling, and energy efficiency programs are the cornerstone of the best programs.
Brian Dick is the President and CEO of Quest Management Resource Group. Quest is a leader in corporate recycling and waste programs based in the United States. In 2013 alone, Quest managed over 1.7 billion pounds of material and recycled over 840 million pounds of food waste.
Which industries focus the most on recycling and waste?
There are three industries we focus on that are leading the way and building better strategies for how they manage waste streams. We’re working closely with grocery and food supply, automotive, and retail companies.
All three industries face their own set of unique challenges. What have you encountered and can you share a few examples?
In the food industry, we’re working closely with major grocery store chains. Food waste is a huge issue in the United States. We’re implementing plans to donate and recycle waste, analyzing how much cardboard ends up in trash, and putting programs and metrics in place for plastics.
We find that 30-40% of the waste is in the dumpster behind the stores. Most of it comes from the produce section, the bakery, and expired or close to expiration dairy products. Much of the food isn’t actually expired, it’s past the date for quality standards. This type of waste is very heavy by volume and ends up in landfills by the tons. Going after produce waste is the number one priority because it is the heaviest.
With regard to the automotive industry, we tend to work with car dealerships, fleet operations, and trucking companies. Often, they deal with aftermarket effects. Many manufacturers haven’t thought about part recycling for technologies released in the last ten years. Think about pressure marking systems in tires. These systems have lithium batteries that are about to become end of life. Drivers will soon be coming to the dealerships to have the batteries replaced. How will the dealerships dispose of these batteries? What will the collection process be? Dealerships will have battery waste on site and they will need a way to deal with it.
Looking at the retail industry, they’re under fire for their role in the consumer market. They must meet extended producer responsibilities. That means they need to plan for end of life, recycling, hazardous materials, and waste from the products they release on the market. Accountability is widening across each state and across more product portfolios.
Are there any critical insights you’ve gained by focusing on food waste, automotive recycling, and retail energy efficiency?
One of the most interesting projects in the food and waste sector focuses on the buying habits of U.S. consumers. We’ve discovered that the reason grocery stores have so much waste is because they are over-stocked with fresh produce, bakery, and dairy products.
U.S. consumers will not buy the last orange in a display, buying the last of anything is not acceptable. The display must be filled with the best quality produce, freshest baked breads, and the latest dairy products in order for grocery stores to remain competitive. This generates tons of food waste. The stores won’t buy less because freshly stocked displays increase sales. Consumers define what is fresh and what they are willing to buy. With so many competitive options, they don’t have to settle.
The automotive industry already has laws that require management of scrap tires, oils, and paint waste and they are well connected to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA.) The challenge is to be aware of the environmental requirements for new technologies implemented in vehicles, as well as the lifecycle and recycling needs of those technologies. Building programs that manage end of life and disposal is the next leap.
With retailers, the primary goal is running their facilities efficiently, managing energy consumption, properly disposing of waste, and implementing recycling programs at the consumer level. We are also helping them source containers, work with their vendors to implement sustainability programs, and to align policies and marketing for their initiatives.
Program success is based on targets, goals, measurements, and metrics. What is the biggest indicator you search for when determining if a program or initiative is successful?
We see that many of the programs put in place at the top levels of the company struggle with day to day execution. Often, tracking and auditing isn’t done in a consistent and timely manner. It’s not reported when a program isn’t working. The biggest indicator is aligning actual measurements with projected outcomes. That helps us determine if there are gaps.
What do companies need to do to close the gaps between your findings and the targets they already set for waste, recycling, and energy efficiency?
The most common change we make is in educating the staff about why they need to do certain tasks a certain way and then making it repeatable process. Folks like janitors and plant management need to see the value in their efforts and to understand why they need to change their process. They need to see how they are contributing to make the company and the environment better.
The best stories are always told by looking in the dumpster itself. Our company gets literally right into the dumpster to find out what is in there for waste, plastics, and recyclables. We find out if the people on the front lines assigned to execute the programs are following through. We see that many of the programs that have been put in place at the top levels of the company struggle with day to day execution.
What advice would you give companies for optimizing their waste programs and positively impacting the top level sustainability goals?
The best way to start is to do a waste audit. Do an honest to goodness dumpster dive. Either have someone in your company do it or you can find a qualified contractor. Have a selection of employees attend while the audit is conducted. Spread the dumpster contents out on the ground and weigh each individual item. This will help you calculate the volume for actual waste.
Next, work on how to educate employees. We find that sustainability initiatives get communicated at the executive and management level but often the day to day people who are meant to manage and implement these programs are not included in the process. They have to be educated about the goals and what is expected of them. If it takes the janitor twelve extra steps to go to the compactor, why should he do this? Once you make the connection on a personal level and explain that this not only affects today but their kids and their grandkids, people will take the twelve extra steps.
In order to meet your company’s top level sustainability goals for waste, recycling, and energy, it’s important to engage employees at every level of the company. If they know why they need to change a step in the way they do their job, if they can see the value they add in helping to meet company goals then they are more likely to help close any gaps that exist between where the company is now and where it wants to be.
Bio:
Kelly Eisenhardt is Co-Founder and Managing Director at BlueCircle Advisors, an environmental compliance and sustainability consulting and training firm based in Massachusetts (www.bluecircleadvisors.com.) In her role at BlueCircle Advisors, she is responsible for providing business intelligence, strategy and implementation of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk programs. Her experience aligns well with her client’s needs for technology, compliance, and sustainability expertise by helping companies create and manage their corporate environmental and social responsibility programs.
To contact Kelly Eisenhardt, send emails to kelly.eisenhardt@bluecircleadvisors.com or follow her on Twitter @KelEisenhardt. For more information about BlueCircle Advisors and the company’s products and services, please visit www.bluecircleadvisors.com, on Facebook at BlueCircle Advisors, on Twitter @OurBlueCircle, and on the LinkedIn group at the BlueCircle Advisors group.