Is thinking about waste a waste of time? With global forecasts verging on the catastrophic, sustainability specialist, experienced industry professional and consultant Richard Naylor (Hawksfield) suggests why furniture businesses must get to grips with the issue before it piles too high …
According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), over 2 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) are produced on an annual basis across the globe. This figure includes waste from households, commercial businesses, schools, hospitals, parks and gardens, etc. I bet I have your attention now!
From an international perspective: East and South-East Asia produce 25% of this waste; Central and South Asia produce some 12.5%; with North America producing around 15%.
Northern Europe is responsible for approximately 2.25%, which on face value appears to be a comparably low figure. However, when waste from the western world is understood from a per-person perspective, a different picture is presented.
North America produces the most waste per person at 2.25kg per person, per day, with Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand coming in with around 1.5-1.6kg – while Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe come in at between 0.9-1.35kg per person per day.
These figures are double, and in some cases triple, that of other parts of the world, which suggests that the more developed economies with typically higher average incomes consume more goods, creating more waste.
This correlation is probably not a surprise, but when you consider the rising wealth in the BRIC nations (particularly China and India) and then factor in the growing population of each of these countries, we can rightly assume that waste remains a wicked problem. In fact, the UNEP predict global MSW to rise to 3.782 billion tonnes annually by 2050.
This near-doubling of the annual global waste figure is difficult to comprehend considering the current global population stands at 8 billion people and is predicted to hit 10 billion by 2058. These forecasts demonstrate that humans will produce more waste per individual as our collective desire to consume goods expands.
Typical global waste disposal methods consist of landfill, open dumping, incineration and recycling. These can then be split into two categories, controlled and uncontrolled. Controlled is where an operation is bound by a legal and regulated framework (as in the UK), and uncontrolled is basically where it is not. For example, in Asia alone: 39.5% of waste is placed in open dumps (where it can be openly burnt); 6.7% in controlled landfill; 17% in uncontrolled landfill; 5.5% is incinerated; and the rest is either unaccounted for, is formally recycled (8.8%), or composted. Uncontrolled or informal recycling consists of litter pickers scavenging open dump sites to find items of value.
The UN estimate that one million people in the southern hemisphere die annually due to diseases and accidents related to mis-managed waste. The irony in this scenario is that managed waste from the UK is being sent to areas of the world where it will become mis-managed – how sad is that? Not only are their huge social consequences from poor waste management practices, but the environmental ones can range from greenhouse gas emissions to leachates, toxic gas emissions and marine pollution, to name but a few.
We are continually surrounded by stark warnings of a bleak future, and in this case one that is ‘littered’ with waste. Could the UK furniture industry be an example to other industries on how to evolve product design, manufacturing processes and packaging to significantly reduce our impact on the growing waste issue?
The short answer is ‘yes’, of course we can, and here are my top tips for getting to grips with your waste:
Environmental Management Systems (EMS)
Adopting a third-party EMS such as ISO14001:2015 will help drive a culture of waste management throughout the organisation whilst also focusing on YoY business waste reductions.
Design thinking
Bringing EoL waste considerations into product design will help to remove the barriers in design that create waste. Examples being packaging, hard to disassemble, poor material selection (blends), lack of durability, inability to be repaired, etc.
Waste systems
Understanding where end of product life materials can be employed within the circular economy is essential. If there is no market for materials, or a system to collect and recycle, then a product claiming to be ‘eco-friendly’ is essentially greenwashing. Manufacturers should ensure and demonstrate how a product is managed at EoL.
Education
Benjamin Franklin stated: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Training colleagues and/or employing full-time people or consultants who can help bring new knowledge into the business is an investment in remaining relevant and future-fit.
Change for the better is in your hands, dear reader. As Dr Seuss’ Lorax said: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot …nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
