How Informed Waste Handlers Can Help Facility Managers Make Sense of Waste
With a new government that has set its sights on transforming Great Britain into a ‘clean energy superpower,’ it’s unlikely that pressure on businesses and organisations to improve their green credentials will ease.
Right now, organisations nationwide are attempting to understand and control their Scope 3 emissions—those associated with their supply chain activities —as part of the broader push towards net zero. In the world of waste, this is only accelerating the need to adopt sustainable and cleaner waste disposal methods.
Facility managers (FMs) must push these changes forward. On the frontline, gathering accurate data about their behaviours and considering how to reduce their supply chain emissions quickly and cost-effectively, these professionals need support and guidance, especially regarding waste.
Who are Facility Managers?
Facility managers are typically found in medium to large-sized businesses and handle all aspects of a building’s maintenance, such as cleanliness and security. With responsibility for supervising third-party contracts, managing budgets, and overseeing the day-to-day operation of buildings, FMs are typically also responsible for waste.
However, waste contracts are often part of larger cleaning contracts, which means many FMs have had little exposure to the waste industry or the details of where their waste goes. Thirty years ago, this might not have mattered much, as waste largely went to landfills or incineration. In today’s green-minded society, though, the nationwide focus on Scope 3 emissions is changing, and organisations are keen to demonstrate they’re making environmental improvements.
Filling the Gap
The growing pressure of Scope 3 presents a real opportunity for forward-thinking waste handlers, as FMs urgently need support and education. Organisations need to understand their waste, where it goes, its impact, and how they can improve.
In a report we commissioned with Facilitate, the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management magazine, to better understand FMs’ waste knowledge, we found that just over two-thirds (69%) of those surveyed believe their waste management provider could do more to support them with environmental targets.
Moreover, 77% said they are keen to manage their waste proactively and are open to ideas to save money and improve environmental performance. However, regular communication is lacking, as 66% of FMs say they have never audited their waste handler.
Waste handlers have a timely opportunity to meet this appetite for help, positioning themselves as the go-to information providers able to break the status quo and quickly yield sustainability results.
An Education Roll-out
Almost a quarter of FMs do not know what happens to their Mixed Residual Waste (MRW)—that is, waste that can’t be recycled because of the presence of organic matter. 67% of respondents said Energy from Waste (EfW) incineration was the best option, and almost half of FMs felt it was the only other option than landfill or recycling – even though that’s not the case.
Most FMs think that sending waste to EfW creates valuable resources such as renewable energy or electricity. However, most UK EfW facilities don’t use the heat that’s generated, and while some EfW locations connect to the electricity or heat grid, these are in the minority.
These responses highlight why waste handlers need to support FMs and help improve their waste knowledge and choices, giving them the opportunity to set themselves apart from their competitors, as knowledgeable, trustworthy and transparent.
As waste handlers face pressure to do things differently due to increasing Landfill Tax and EfW costs rising under the Emissions Trading Scheme, educating FMs is even more important. Education will create all-important demand for the innovative solutions and technologies the waste industry must adopt.
Gifting New Solutions
Waste handlers can guide FMs towards readily available alternatives to quickly satisfy their sustainability requirements while also stabilising their own costs.
Two routes are anaerobic digestion—where organic waste is separated at the source—and aerobic digestion, like biotechnology, which turns non-recyclable waste into alternative fuel.
If we explore biotechnology in detail, Advetec’s XO system allows waste handlers to transform MRW into an alternative fuel. The system breaks down waste by 50% in 48-72 hours, transforming it into a commodity with a strong offtake market. Several waste handlers across the UK will soon use the system, which can handle up to 80 tonnes of waste daily, depending on the system set-up, operational scale, and needs.
For every two tonnes of unrecyclable waste that goes through the XO machine, 1.2 tonnes of CO2 are saved compared with low-level incinerators. This clear gain can be reported to FMs for their Scope 3 responsibilities. The material left from the biotechnology process —floc—can be used as an alternative fuel, helping energy-intensive industries such as cement production decarbonise. That’s an additional gain for FMs and organisations striving for meaningful carbon reductions.
As this technology lives on-site at waste handlers’ operations, it also reduces the need for waste collection, lessening the emissions related to wagons regularly collecting waste and benefiting local roads, wildlife, and air quality.
Waste Handlers as Agents for Change
FMs want and need more from their waste management providers.
By stepping up to the plate and being informative about alternative methods for MRW disposal, waste handlers can help FMs embrace better behaviours and measure their organisations’ environmental impact.
In doing so, waste handlers support their own transformation, too. Rising costs and incurring legislative pressures make change vital for the waste industry. Investing in technologies like the XO pays dividends. It gives FMs and customers the alternative offtake routes they need in an increasingly carbon-conscious world and, crucially, gives waste handlers the innovation they need to adapt, thrive, and future-proof their businesses.
You can see our XO machine in action here.