Managing waste in the circular economy
Managing waste is key to meeting our sustainability goals, as we aim to repurpose 75 percent of all waste and reduce our landfill to zero by 2030.
GRI 306–1, 306–2, 306–3
To achieve this, it is imperative that we shift to a circular economy model, where materials are used and reused over and over. Although this is now widely accepted, companies are only just beginning to find ways to shift to these new models. At Beckers, we are not only pursuing these goals at our own operations, but also collaborating with partners in the value chain to achieve them.
Fantastic results for landfill
More than 1,000 immediate actions to make our operations more sustainable were created and started in 2021, to run for the next three years and beyond. The action plans have already borned fruit: In 2021, we decreased the total landfilled waste by 39 percent. The reduction was due mainly to the switch from landfilled to incineration at Beckers France in Montbrison. In addition, the site in Shanghai has also stopped using landfill for waste treatment since Q4 2020.
Focus on repurposing waste
At Beckers we aim for reused or recycled waste, which together is defined as repurposed waste. In 2021, while generally moving in the right direction, we had some fluctuations due to the reclassification of waste. The hazardous waste that was repurposed rose by 17 percent, while non-hazardous waste in the same category decreased by 16 percent.eastFor detailed information on our waste figures see GRI report 2021
Our total waste increased 3 percent, resulting from our higher production volume in 2021:
Reusing intermediate bulk containers (IBCs)
Repurposed waste is reused or recycled waste. Reuse refers to the refurbishing of materials for a second use without major re-manufacturing processes to alter it. On the site in Bangladesh, 45-50 percent of the raw materials are polyester resins imported from India with plastic intermediate bulk containers. The largest amount of waste on site is generated from raw material packaging. To support the spirit of the circular economy, employees started to reuse plastic IBCs, reducing raw material packing waste. The IBCs have been altered, and now feature brass instead of a plastic valves to make them IBCs last longer.eastSee also Operations Sustainabiliy Award
