Is the Waste Management Sector Doing Enough to Ease Scope 3 Stress for Businesses?

By Dr Stephen Wise, Chief Strategic Development Officer, Advetec

Reducing and reporting on scope 3 emissions has steadily moved up the corporate agenda and presents an additional challenge for businesses as they seek to tackle carbon in their supply chains. But it also adds an opportunity for the commercial sector to make major carbon cuts  and for the waste sector to help it achieve this planet-friendly outcome.

As we move closer to 2024, the deadline for thousands of UK businesses to sharpen their scope 3 emissions reporting and the efforts to reduce it looms large. Now, across all sectors, senior leadership teams are pushing scope 3 further up the priority list as they seek to decarbonise their operations and prove to customers that they take supply chain environmental impact seriously.

With data suggesting that businesses are struggling to access the data they need to report on scope 3, and FMs feeling overwhelmed by the process, it's time for waste handlers to provide a solution.

Reduce waste.

No matter how stringent an organisation's commitment to recycling, there will always be an element that cannot be sorted for recycling, due to organic matter contamination.  Typically, this waste goes to landfill or for incineration. Neither is a desirable option for FMs seeking to limit their scope 3 emissions – but there is a more sustainable alternative. 

Pioneering biotechnology treatment processes can digest the organic matter in unrecyclable waste using blends of bacteria inside enclosed aerobic digestors. The digestors are installed on-site and dovetail with waste handlers’ existing operations.   The process reduces the mass of contaminated waste by up to 50% and diverts it all from landfill or incineration, cutting GHG emissions by over 70%. These gains can be fed back up the value chain for businesses wanting to boost their ESG performance and scope 3 progress.

As biotechnology halves the mass of waste it also means less needs to be transported for disposal, so fewer waste lorry journeys are required. Cutting diesel miles – and therefore fuel emissions –will help to galvanise scope 3 gains further. 

Make waste a commodity.

Biotechnology can also turn contaminated waste into Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF), for use as a high-quality fuel replacement product.  By moving materials from the linear economy to the circular economy in this way, we can extract more value from waste and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

One waste handler we've been working with is supporting thousands of customers in their pursuit of net zero by turning contaminated waste into high-quality SRF. This SRF is being used as a coal replacement product at a local cement kiln and is preventing thousands of tonnes of carbon from being produced each year. Crucially, it places the waste handler's customers in a green loop -  using their contaminated waste to benefit the circular economy and positively impacting their Scope 3 responsibilities.

The opportunity is ripe for waste handlers and key commercial decision makers to rethink waste disposal now.

To find out how Advetec could help you, visit www.advetec.com