What is a Carbon Footprint and how does it apply to waste?

It is not a secret that climate change is a global crisis. The earth as we know, it is being heavily impacted by the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, the primary driver of global climate change, that are being emitted into its atmosphere (Ritchie and Roser, 2022). Collectively we all must urgently seek to reduce our carbon output – but how?

According to experts, we have approximately 10 years to save our planet from a catastrophic temperature rise of 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels, before the disastrous effects of global warming begin (Cooke, 2022). One specific way that we can prevent this from happening is by reducing our carbon footprint.

Carbon foot-printing is the measure of the greenhouse gas emissions from products that are emitted into the earth’s atmosphere, which can be produced through the actions of an individual, company or even an entire country.

A carbon footprint consists of a range of different greenhouse gases, with the most frequently occurring component gases being carbon dioxide (CO2), Nitrous Oxide (N2O) and Methane (CH4) (Galvin and Auer, 2021).

To calculate emissions produced, an environmental conversion factor is used (UK Gov, 2022). This is a set of already developed figures that allows one to calculate their own emissions based on data including raw material, manufacturing methodology, use, and end of life. This equation is used to convert the data into a figure known as “Carbon Dioxide Equivalent” or CO2e. This can be represented in kg or tonnes.

It is not only the production and transport of goods that produce emissions, but also how a product is disposed of. For example, single use food storage bags which are used once and then disposed of have a much higher carbon footprint in comparison to using to multi storage container that may be used over 100 times and can be recycled efficiently.

The process of monitoring a product from cradle (raw material) to grave (end of life) is known as lifecycle analysis and is vital for manufacturers as it identifies a waste stream for each material and helps them to understand the impact of the products (and by-products) they produce, particularly with respect to the extended producer responsibility in the UK.

At present, waste to landfill is one of the most damaging ways we are creating emissions that will feed into the atmosphere and result in higher rates of global warming. This is due to increased amounts of methane being produced in the breakdown processes of organic wastes in landfills - with the largest emitters of methane being food waste, paper and wood.

However, methane produced in landfills is not the only issue, due to fly-tipping many products which are unable to undergo waste breakdown processes such as fridges containing chemicals like Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which cause significant environmental damage and accelerating accelerate climate change.

One of the most significant ways a business can reduce their carbon footprint and make strides towards achieving net zero is to focus on their waste and ways the carbon impact of its disposal can be mitigated.

This can be achieved in two ways – the first being increased efficiencies in the recycling process and practicing the circular economy throughout the lifecycle of a product.

Recycling is the process of breaking down unwanted materials and creating new ones (Villalba et al., 2002). Although a proportion of waste in the UK still ends up in landfills due to poor management efficiency, a significant proportion of materials in the UK is recycled in practice. The processes involved in this fall predominantly into two categories.

The first method of recycling is mechanical recycling, this includes the process of breaking down recyclable materials such as glass, steel cans and PET plastic bottles. To break the materials down and reconstruct them is energy-intensive and can produce significant quantities of carbon dioxide during the process.

The alternative is chemical recycling which is more complex than mechanical recycling. One process breaks oil-based materials down to their chemical structures which are known as polymers. The synthetic oil that is produced from this process can then be remade into new plastic products. This process is not widely available and needs large amounts of plastics.

There are also several other types of chemicals which can be used to carry out this form of recycling which includes converting plastic packaging into monomers to make materials including vinyl used in the coating of wires and styrene - which makes polystyrene a difficult to recycle form of plastic.

The Circular Economy is a model designed to change the way we produce and dispose of waste (Anaerobic Digestion Strategy and Action Plan, 2022). It aims to eliminate waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use and regenerate natural systems (European Parliament, 2015). By using this model, we know that the UK must reduce the amount of refuse that is sent to landfill each year and although recycling is an excellent way of eliminating materials ending up in landfill, it is a still highly energy intensive process.

The circular economy sets out as a model of production and consumption that involves sharing, leasing (such as car share schemes (Zipcar - Car Sharing, 2022)), reusing (with initiatives such as Loop (Tesco, 2020)), repairing (UK Government lifetime right to repair rules apply to this (Right to repair rules will extend lifespan of products, government says, UK Gov 2021)) and refurbishing goods to ensure they exist as usable products for as long as possible. As a result of this, we are preventing products from going through the energy intensive recycling processes and ensuring that they last as long as possible.

How can your business benefit from Carbon Foot-printing?

To meet targets in relation to Scope 3 emissions, it is clear that significant changes need to be made in how we do business. Scope 3 emissions are greenhouse gases which are indirectly produced by a company’s supply chain (How to tackle Scope 3 value chain emissions, 2022). These include employee commuting, manufacturing, waste disposal, investments, and transportation. It is essential for businesses to tackle their scope 3 emissions in order to achieve sustainability targets and net zero.

Carbon Foot-printing provides a framework to identify where those changes would be most effective and help you find new ways to improve your own processes, including optimising your purchasing behaviours to meaningfully impact your overall carbon output. To meet the challenge of Net Zero, we need to think creatively, beyond “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”, to “Eliminate, Re-Engineer, and Re-Purpose”.?

If you are ready to take the first steps into reducing your waste footprint, visit us at VisionRe: the environmental consultancy | Resource not waste and Waste - Mitie

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References

2022.?Anaerobic Digestion Strategy and Action Plan. [ebook] Government. Available at: <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anaerobic-digestion-strategy-and-action-plan> [Accessed 2 March 2022].

BBC News. 2020.?Tesco starts online refillable container trial. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53406881> [Accessed 2 March 2022].

BBC News. 2021.?Right to repair rules will extend lifespan of products, government says. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57665593> [Accessed 2 March 2022].

Cooke, L., 2022.?Scientists say we have 10 years to save Earth. [online] Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building | Green design & innovation for a better world. Available at: <https://inhabitat.com/scientists-say-we-have-10-years-to-save-earth/> [Accessed 2 March 2022].

Deloitte United Kingdom. 2022.?How to tackle Scope 3 value chain emissions. [online] Available at: <https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/focus/climate-change/reducing-scope-3-value-chain-emissions.html> [Accessed 3 March 2022].

Europarl.europa.eu. 2015.?Circular economy: definition, importance and benefits | News | European Parliament. [online] Available at: <https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/economy/20151201STO05603/circular-economy-definition-importance-and-benefits> [Accessed 2 March 2022].

Galvin, J. and Auer, S., 2021.?How can you reduce your carbon footprint?. [online] BBC News. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-56822950> [Accessed 2 March 2022].

GOV.UK. 2022.?Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2021. [online] Available at: <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2021> [Accessed 2 March 2022].

Ritchie, H. and Roser, M., 2022.?CO? and Greenhouse Gas Emissions. [online] Our World in Data. Available at: <https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions> [Accessed 2 March 2022].

Villalba, G., Segarra, M., Fernández, A., Chimenos, J. and Espiell, F., 2002. A proposal for quantifying the recyclability of materials.?Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 37(1), pp.39-53.

Zipcar.com. 2022.?Zipcar - Car Sharing | Hourly Car Rental. [online] Available at: <https://www.zipcar.com/en-gb> [Accessed 2 March 2022].