This document discusses resource efficiency and waste minimization. It notes that currently 60% of materials are thrown away after single use and it takes 10 tons of material to produce 1 ton of product. Resource efficiency aims to produce more value with less material throughout the lifecycle from extraction to disposal. Key ways to improve include reducing waste at source, reusing and recycling materials, using cleaner technologies and monitoring waste through key performance indicators.

1. Resource Efficiency &
Waste Minimisation
Trevor Knipe
International Synergies Ltd

2. TAKE – MAKE - WASTE
• We still throw away 60% of everything we use.
• It takes 10t of material to make 1t of product.
• 80% products discarded after single use.
• It takes 1300litres of water to produce 1Kg of
wheat.
• The true cost of waste = 4% of turnover.
• Revised Waste Strategy.
• Resource depletion e.g. Copper, Lead,
Transition Metals

3. RESOURCE EFFICIENCY
What is Resource Efficiency?
• It is about sustainable management and use of resources
throughout their life cycle - from extraction, transport,
transformation, consumption to the disposal of waste.
• It means producing more value with less material and
consuming differently, to limit the risks linked with scarcity
and for less environmental impacts, within our planet’s
natural limits.
• Resources include all material and natural resources, from
food, timber, and biodiversity in the widest sense, to energy,
metals, soil, water, minerals, our atmosphere and land.

4. Resource
efficiency
advances
sustainability
in
the
industrial
system
Linear
system
Products
Natural
resources
Waste
Move
toward
Circular
system
Natural
resources
Products
Products
Waste
To
resource
Natural
resources

5. WASTE
What is Waste?
• “any substance or object which the holder
discards or intends or is required to
discard.”

7. FISCAL MEASURES
• Landfill Tax
– Now £64/tonne
– Are you paying landfill tax on waste that is being recycled?
• Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs)
– If you use packaging are you registered?
– If you recycle packaging could you sell PRNs
• Water & Sewerage Charges
– Are you being charged too much?
• Waste Disposal Charges
– Are you using the correct EWC code?
– Are you being charged twice?
• Rebates
– Are you being properly paid for recyclable waste?

8. TECHNIQUES AND
TECHNOLOGIES
• Techniques
– Internal audits
– Waste mapping
– Green teams
– Environmental
Management Systems
– Measuring and
Monitoring
– Key Performance
Indicators
• Technologies
– Clean technologies
– Energy reduction
– Recirculation systems
– Solvent substitution
– Segregation
– Preparation for
recycling

9. RETHINK AND REDESIGN
(PREVENTION)
• Hardest place to start
• Most costly
• Most beneficial
• We’ve always done it this way
• Should always be on the agenda at Board
level
• Circular Economy

11. REDUCE / MINIMISE
• Solid waste
– Skips
– Bins
– Stores
– Dispatch
– Offices
– Canteens
– Garages
• Liquid waste
– Taps/ hoses
– Process plant
– Coolers
– Tanks and bunds
– Toilets & Canteens
– Vehicle washes
– Drains
– Effluent treatment plant
– Chemical stores
– Leaks
• Air Emissions
– Chimneys
– Vents
– Dust
– Smells
• Noise

13. COMMITMENT
• Courtauld Commitment
– Sustainable use of resources throughout the retail supply chain
• Halving Waste to Landfill
– Reducing waste from construction
– Site waste management plans
• Zero Waste
– Yes, ZERO WASTE
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
– Taking social and environmental responsibility seriously

14. • Moved from 64% landfill
diversion to 98%
• Talc
• MetFab
• Carbon Black

15. MONITORING AND
TARGETING
“If you don’t measure it you can’t manage it!”
• Sources of information
– Duty of Care notes
– Weighbridge dockets
– Number of skips/ bins/ bags
– Bales of waste
– Meter readings
– Bucket & stopwatch
– Number of tankers
– ASK YOUR PEOPLE!

16. KEY PERFORMANCE
INDICATORS (KPI)
Reference wasted resources to units of
production.
• Examples of KPIs
– Tonnes of waste per tonne of production
– % of product produced but not sold
– % of product returned from customer
– Tonnes of raw material per tonne of production
– Volume/ cost of water per tonne of product

17. REUSE
• Pallets
• Packaging
• Production waste
• Rainwater harvesting
• Grey water reuse in toilets

18. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS
WASTE – FLIPCHART EXERCISE
1. What is it?
2. Could it be reduced?
3. Could it be reused?
4. Could it be recycled?
5. And the answer is?

19. Astro Turf
• End of life Astro Turf
• Soil protection
• Dock sides
• Golf tee boxes

20. Astro Turf – Green Car!

21. Gully Waste
• Road sweepings/ gully waste
washed and screened
• Artificial topsoil
• Aggregates
• Recycled packaging

22. Window Profile
• Chop and shred to recover
uPVC and metals
• Granulate uPVC and re-
extrude as new profiles
• Recycle aluminium as
engine blocks
• Recycle steel as recycling
machinery

23. Conveyor Belt
• Shred to a range of sizes
• Cow comfort products
• Play and sports surfaces
• Cement kiln fuel

24. Hot Air
• Insulate!
• Heat a school, swimming
pool or hospital
• Dry biomass
• Use in refrigeration

25. RESOURCE EFFICIENCY SUPPORT
Guidance
• European Waste Catalogue (EWC) Codes
• Quality Protocols
• End of Waste criteria
• www.wrap.org.uk

26. RESOURCE EFFICIENCY SUPPORT
– Invest NI
• Resource Efficiency Capital Grant
• Audits
• Technical Consultancy
• EMS Support
• Industrial Symbiosis
– Trade Organisations
– Council
– Nibusinessinfo.co.uk
– NetRegs
– Other businesses

27. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS (EMS)
• ISO 14000 or BS8555 or CSR or Internal
System
An EMS
should work
for you but
NOT make
work for you

28. www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk

29. www.environment-agency.gov.uk/netregs/
legislation/current/63546.aspx