COVID-19 has been disrupting commercial activities globally, affecting, among others, the composition and volume of waste generated by various organisations. Transparency about how waste management systems are designed and function, has become a key issue.

Some companies now have to offer adequate protection for workers dealing with waste, while others face new waste-related impacts and re-think their business models, as both resource supply and product demand have been interrupted.

To guide companies through a holistic assessment of their activities from the proxy of waste, with opportunities for improvement, GRI launched, in May 2020, a new Waste Standard for any company around the world to freely access and use.  Tweet This!

Where to begin

Sustainability reporting according to the GRI Standards starts by identifying material topics, from an impact perspective. Waste, although key, is seen as something unpleasant and, as a consequence, its value is often underestimated. Additionally, people who handle waste usually don’t have decision-making power and are not listened to.

The new Waste Standard helps reporters acknowledge waste in their operations and identify relevant impacts. It recommends that companies visualise and understand how inputs and outputs move through their own activities and value chain, so as to identify interventions and decisions for addressing the root-causes of their waste-related impacts.

Why context is important

As a result of the pandemic, waste generation rates fall in some sectors of the global economy and rise in others, as a consequence of increased or decreased activity. While urban retail, for example, has decreased, e-commerce or medical services have rapidly increased. Keeping good records of volumes of waste generated, its composition, and movement, is therefore essential. In addition, the new Waste Standard sets out what is universally appropriate and forward thinking as regards waste management and its challenges.

How much to report

Sustainability reporting is not a check-box exercise. It is a self-assessment tool to help companies identify the most important negative impacts of their activities. Accordingly, GRI’s Waste Standard guides companies through the reporting process to help them better understand their own waste management system and collect and filter relevant data. Companies can also build their reporting gradually: start from an overview of waste generated and disposed in their activities and progress to the most important impacts and their causes.

…and to whom

Companies have to understand who their report users are (e.g. investors, civil society, or other stakeholders), and what information they need. The new Waste Standard helps companies communicate relevant information to different stakeholder groups, as its set of metrics already represents consensus from civil society, business, investors and labour organisations on what needs to be known about the issue, how to measure the information and how to deliver it.

Where do we go from here?

History has shown that it is crises moments like this pandemic that can create the urgency and openness needed to achieve change. Waste management is one such area where companies can learn from the crisis, understand the root-causes of why waste is generated, acknowledge the wider impacts on the environment and people and collaborate to find solutions.

Download the Waste Standard

About the author

Anna Krotova works in Amsterdam for Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), provider of the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting standards. Anna leads the development of Standards covering environmental issues, such as water, waste, and biodiversity, to ensure they steer organizations toward addressing present-day challenges through transparent reporting.

Prior to joining GRI in 2016, Anna was a consultant for environmental services firm Metabolic, and worked in stakeholder outreach for the International Finance Corporation. She holds a Masters in Industrial Ecology from Delft University, and a Diploma in Environmental Policy, Lomonosov Moscow State University.

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

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By including updated disclosures, circularity and waste prevention concepts, the Waste Standard reflects global best practices on waste management. This provides for a practical and usable tool and harmonisation with SDG 12. GRI 306: Waste 2020 includes two management approach – beyond the GRI 103 guidelines – and three topic-specific disclosures, that will support organisations to:

• Understand and publicly report how procurement, design and use of materials lead to waste-related impacts.
• Provide comprehensive insights into the quantity and quality of waste – including its causes, where it is generated and how impacts are managed.
• Identify and report on circularity and waste prevention opportunities and actions.
• Assess and take responsibility for waste generated throughout the value chain, both upstream and downstream.

The Waste Standard updates, expands and replaces GRI 306: Effluents & Waste 2016. It is applicable for organisations of all sizes, wherever they are in their waste management and reporting practice. The content of GRI 306: Waste 2020 was developed by a 15-member expert working group and underwent an open public comment period in 2019. There is a grace period regarding the use of the previous standard, as GRI 306: Waste 2020 will be effective from 01 January 2022.

The reporting requirements for management approach disclosures 306-1 και 306-2 (that are specific to the waste standard) are as follows:

Disclosure 306-1 Waste generation and significant waste-related impacts

The reporting organization shall report the following information:
a. For the organization’s significant actual and potential waste-related impacts, a description of:
i. the inputs, activities, and outputs that lead or could lead to these impacts;
ii. whether these impacts relate to waste generated in the organization’s own activities or to waste generated upstream or downstream in its value chain.

Disclosure 306-2 Management of significant waste-related impacts

The reporting organization shall report the following information:
a. Actions, including circularity measures, taken to prevent waste generation in the organization’s own activities and upstream and downstream in its value chain, and to manage significant impacts from waste generated.
b. If the waste generated by the organization in its own activities is managed by a third party, a description of the processes used to determine whether the third party manages the waste in line with contractual or legislative obligations.
c. The processes used to collect and monitor waste-related data.

Ready to download: GRI 306 Waste 2020 with management approach requirements specific to waste

The new Waste Standard also includes the following process flow examples:

• Process flow A. Generic example (left)
• Process flow B. Electronic consumer goods manufacturer
• Process flow C. Food products manufacturer
• Process flow D. Waste management organization

Globally, only the GRI Standards provide a complete set of standards that uniquely addresses all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sustainability reporters worldwide do not need to use any other sustainability framework for their report. GRI 306: Waste 2020 corresponds to the following SDGs:

• SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

• SDG 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

• SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

• SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

• SDG 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

• Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
• Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
• Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
• Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.
 

References:

This article is based on published information by GRI. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the publication’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:

https://www.globalreporting.org/information/news-and-press-center/Pages/No-wasted-opportunities-enabling-full-disclosure.aspx

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