Communicating Sustainability Success

Is your company green or sustainable? Is it doing all that it can to reduce waste, recycle, reuse, and reclaim materials to protect the environment? If you answered yes to these questions, how do you know your plant is sustainable? Who or what are you being compared to? How do you communicate success?

That’s a challenge for today’s manufacturing leaders – how to justify claims of being green advocates with sustainability programs. Without a system in place to substantiate sustainability and green claims, even well-intentioned companies can put their reputations at risk or even run afoul of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Green Guides.

Waste Management and the Four R’s

The motivation for sustainable waste management is clear: It can help both a company’s bottom line and the environment. Manufacturers that adhere to the waste hierarchy by reducing waste at its source, reusing materials, and recycling–and with what’s left over, recovering energy–can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, and lessen other environmental impacts (see Figure 1).

Figure 1:
Manufacturers that reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover energy reduce emissions and other environmental impacts.

You may know that it is the right thing to do, but evaluating the performance of your sustainable waste management efforts is notoriously difficult. Tracking waste and measuring total tonnage out the door can be tough enough, let alone quantifying the environmental benefits of handling it sustainably. Changing waste streams, using numerous service providers, and calculating the volume of waste not generated, with the accompanying benefits, compound the complexity.

Despite the challenges, many manufacturers continue to introduce or improve and maintain internal sustainable waste management programs. They may be at various points on the journey of reporting and certifying their successes. Although they may have focused on recycling and waste reduction for years, they may just now be seeing a benefit to communicating their successes externally. Other manufacturers may be communicating about their recycling and zero-waste-to-landfill programs publicly but have never sought verification.

Confirming Your Claims

Many manufacturers feel comfortable substantiating their claims using their own data and management systems. Others turn to their suppliers for help, both to track their waste management and calculate their environmental footprint. Those who are looking for the highest level of confirmation seek third-party verification by an independent audit.

Data, Management Systems. One of the biggest challenges for manufacturers is pulling together the data to substantiate their claims; however, doing so is a critical aspect of credibility. Whether you use internal spreadsheet tools, accounting software, or customized sustainability programs, maintaining accurate records of the waste you generate from your operations and its deposition is necessary to demonstrate that your claims are valid.

Waste Management, Recycling Vendors. These service providers can provide additional expertise and assistance in bolstering data collection and tracking. You’ll likely need their help in securing documentation. They can help track what happens to your material from your dock to the final site of recycling, reuse, or energy recovery.

Waste management companies and recyclers that take a holistic approach to meeting their customers’ needs and delivering sustainable waste management solutions can be your partner in this effort. Look for providers who can provide an internal verification that the waste they manage on your behalf is tracked transparently and who have the technical expertise to advise you on the relative environmental impacts and benefits of their service.

If you are looking for the highest level of assurance, third-party verification is an option. An independent audit that assesses the validity of your claims, such as zero-waste-to-landfill, provides assurance that the claims are true. During the verification process, a third-party verifier will look both at how well you did and whether your management system is designed to sustain your performance. The audit doesn’t replace the legwork you and your waste and recycling vendors need to do; it provides an independent check and can help identify weaknesses and places for potential improvement. At the successful completion of an audit, your business will receive a certificate and permission to use the verifier’s logo and name.

Generally, the most commonly cited benefit of third-party verification is credibility. Various organizations–from the FTC to nongovernment organizations to sustainability reporting and rating organizations—have an increasing interest in making sure public claims are accurate and verifiable. Adding this third-party verification provides an additional level of confidence.

By backing up your claims with the right data and strong vendor partnerships, you can track, quantify, and defensibly communicate your sustainable waste management success.

Michael Van Brunt is director of sustainability at Covanta where his primary focus is on sustainability reporting, climate change, carbon offset project development, and life cycle assessment, 445 South St., Morristown, NJ 07960, [email protected], www.covanta.com