subject: Do You Contemplate Your Waste Management Facts And Figures? [print this page] If you are not sure of your waste management facts and figures, how can you develop a plan for sustainability that is ultimately tenable? Many companies still believe that they should handle waste by recycling, just because it is a requirement imposed by society today. They should realize that significant cost savings can be achieved if they take a cold, hard look at proper waste management.
Waste management facts generally show us that as a society we are grossly inefficient. 95% of solid waste ends up in landfills, which are highly ineffective and can be responsible for greenhouse gas pollution.
Just consider how inefficient a typical landfill is as we try and get rid of mountains of waste. Solid waste is not degradable and can languish in these landfills for years upon years. The entire site is not very pleasant to look at and can also be responsible for the generation of methane, carbon dioxide and liquid leachate.
Burning waste in a furnace can sometimes produce steam for electricity as many companies try and use waste efficiently and effectively, in this way. In many cases, however, other pollutants can be produced and released causing problems in the general vicinity or on an environmental scale.
Global warming is a major problem these days and one of the greenhouse gases produced by landfills is methane. However, some 500 landfill- gas-to-energy projects in the USA are effective and this little-known waste management fact tells us that these establishments can help generate power for over 1 1/2 million homes around the country.
Waste management facts and figures appropriate to each and every organization should be gathered so that the scale of the problem is apparent. A systematic waste management program can sometimes save the equivalent of 1% of a company's annual turnover and remember that the savings are bottom-line and generally long-term.
In an increasingly critical world, stakeholders and customers may insist that your organization is as sustainable as possible before engaging. Due to this trend, any company that goes out of its way to address sustainability, publishing its waste management facts and figures as an example, can gain exponentially.
Waste management extends throughout a company's product lifecycle and includes supply chain as well. Every company should take a leaf out of Wal-Mart's book and insist that its suppliers become equally as sustainable as the purchasing company!
