Cutting waste could save Scottish business 2.36bn

The advisory body, which is led by the Waste & Resources Action Programme, claims that if firms in the country all embraced even slight measures to address residual waste generation, water wastage and energy use, it could save each company an average of 1% of its annual turnover.

At the forefront of the study, Zero Waste Scotland claims that the major Scottish industries manufacturing, construction and services could save an average of 605 million-a-year with waste reduction efforts.

Zero Waste Scotland, which receives funding from the Scottish Government, said it had published the findings in order to help dismiss the belief that going green adds cost and to bolster its ongoing work on waste in the business sector under the banner Business Resource Efficiency.

Iain Gulland, director of Zero Waste Scotland, said: Businesses must overcome the perception that going green adds cost the opposite is true. Those companies that have addressed their environmental performance with even small changes have measured savings in their bottom line which could hit as much as 1% of turnover.

In the study, Zero Waste Scotland took the 1% savings figure from a report published by Envirowise in 2004 and calculated 1% of the turnover of each sector of Scottish industry based on the Scottish Annual Businesses Statistics for 2008, whichis the most recent data available.

The Envirowise report, entitled Measuring to manage: The key to reducing waste costs, indicated that businesses could save 1% of turnover or 1,000 per employee with simple waste reduction methods.

Findings

The findings show that the services sector stands to make the greatest savings if it introduces waste reduction measures, amounting to 1.19 billion-a-year.

Zero Waste Scotland claims the savings could be achieved through checking for leaks, identifying materials that can be reused, switching off electrical equipment, and working more effectively with their supply chain.

Elsewhere, it is suggested that the construction sector, which is the largest producer of waste among business sectors in Scotland, could save 171 million-a-year by introducing site waste management plans at the start of projects. This could potentially help cut waste to landfill.

Zero Waste Scotland claims that the manufacturing sector could save 454 million-a-year by addressing environmental concerns in hand at the design stage. This would include ensuring products are longer-lasting, reusable and recyclable at the end of life.

Mr Gulland warned that companies often view changing business practices as a last priority and urged them to embrace waste reduction methods as part of efforts to weather difficult economic circumstances.

He said: Reducing waste is an ongoing process. You have to determine a benchmark against which you can measure future progress, and constantly identify cost-effective opportunities to prevent and reduce waste. The companies that are always setting themselves new targets are the ones that save the most money.