How Technology Can Support Your Sustainability Goals

The public’s expectations of corporate responsibility are ever-increasing, as is the demand for operational transparency. Consequently, businesses are acknowledging the need to prioritise sustainability.

Well-considered communications, glossy PR campaigns and good intentions are no longer enough. Customers, owners, shareholders and employees are savvy – they want evidence and answers to increasingly probing questions about company’s sustainability goals and how they’re achieved.

Waste management is a crucial part of boosting a business’s green credentials and companies are taking an increasingly more strategic look at the issue. In this blog, our Chief Product Officer, Dr Stephen Wise, explores the role waste management plays in the wider sustainability agenda and how organisations can improve their approach and embrace innovation.

He said: “Sustainable waste management is about more than minimising consumption or putting recycling measures in place. It requires a strategic look at our individual waste behaviours, how waste is actually disposed of at a corporate level and the environmental impact of every decision we make. It’s this holistic view that will help organisations on their journey to net zero carbon.”

Human behaviour is the first stage to consider critical in order to achieve sustainability. Desired waste reduction objectives can only be realised and sustained if occupants have access to recycling points and receive consistent, clear communication about how to reduce their waste.

No matter how committed the public is to recycling, perfect segregation of waste is impossible to achieve. There will always remain a volume of general waste that exists once sorting has occurred. Typically only 50% is sent for recycling and the remaining residual waste – made up of packaging, food leftovers and recyclables that haven’t been disposed of correctly – is sent to landfill or incineration – with devastating effects on the environment.

Dr Wise continued: “Sending waste to landfill is the least desirable option. They release greater quantities of greenhouse gas such as methane, produce leachate which requires treatment and can lead to offensive odours being released making them potentially harmful to both the environment and public health.

“Sending waste to incineration means the energy can be recovered but they combust everything, leading to greater carbon emissions and the generation of emissions which must be properly controlled to protect the environment and human health. Therefore, a commitment to reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill or incineration should be an absolute priority.”

By turning to technology, organisations are able to cut up to 50% of waste sent for disposal through innovation – reducing their carbon footprint and saving money in the process.

“It’s best practice to minimise the costs and environmental impact of waste management as far as is reasonably achievable,” said Dr Wise. “By reducing the quantity of waste leaving site, businesses can cut the costs associated with the off-site treatment and disposal of waste. In turn, this lessens the number of truck journeys required for collection – cutting costs, particulate emissions, improving air quality and reducing the carbon footprint of waste.”

Advetec has developed a pioneering way of digesting waste using unique blends of bacteria inside enclosed aerobic reactors, which are installed on-site – the only one of its kind. This decentralised approach to waste management not only cuts the cost incurred for collection, transportation and disposal, but frees up waste handling resources and encourages businesses to take more responsibility for their own waste.

The ground-breaking machines operate almost autonomously, requiring little interaction from clients. The process is simple – a wheelie bin is placed onto a bin lift and the machine takes over, lifting and emptying the waste into a hopper, which in turn feeds a shredder. Biotech additives are introduced and the organic waste is digested, with the only bi-products of the aerobic digestion process being carbon dioxide and water vapour. All that’s left behind is the inorganic fraction such as plastics which has a number of uses, negating the potential for landfill.

You can find out more about how the technology works here.