by Shane Henson — December 9, 2013—The Carbon Trust recently announced the launch of the Carbon Trust Waste Standard, the organization’s latest initiative that serves to help in its mission of accelerating the move to a sustainable, low-carbon economy, and said to be the first such standard in the world.
The Carbon Trust Waste Standard requires organizations to measure, manage and reduce their solid and hazardous waste. To achieve the standard, organizations need to demonstrate that waste streams are being reduced every year, or used more effectively, for example through increased reuse, recycling or recovery.
The standard also includes a qualitative assessment to show that waste is being managed responsibly. This will include considerations outside of an organization’s direct control, such as having a diligent procurement policy for goods and waste management services, and looking at downstream impacts through products and packaging.
According to the Carbon Trust, following the successful completion of a pilot stage, five leading businesses have become the first to achieve the award: Whitbread, PwC, AkzoNobel Decorative Paints UK, Renishaw and the Football Association.
The Carbon Trust hopes that more businesses will work toward obtaining the standard.
“Reducing waste and resource use, along with carbon emissions and water, is a crucial part of the transformation that all businesses will need to make in the next decade,” says Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust. “By taking early action and opening themselves up to independent certification showing real reductions, the businesses that hold our standards are showing themselves to be genuine leaders and are putting themselves in a much stronger competitive position.”
Unfortunately, a majority of companies are currently missing this message. A recent Carbon Trust survey of executives in large companies in the U.K., USA, China, South Korea and Brazil found that only a third (33 percent) saw waste as a priority environmental area to focus on in order to compete effectively, and only a fifth (21 percent) had targets in place.
