Collaborating for a greener future: Achieving sustainability goals through effective waste management

An increasingly hot topic, addressing environmental obligations and targets has surged in significance within boardrooms and on corporate agendas in recent years. The UK Government’s commitment to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 has prompted numerous businesses to intensify their efforts towards this objective.

With a focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting, many businesses have already committed to reducing their carbon emissions. They set specific science-based targets and draw up action plans, as frameworks to guide their approach. Yet despite such proactive measures, certain objectives remain challenging to set in motion.

Professional and business services, in particular, face a unique set of challenges. Employing more than 14% of the UK workforce, the sector contributes 19.1% of all UK emissions. However, most of these emissions fall under Scope 3, which includes travel, waste disposal, and the supply chain – specifically, purchased goods and services. As a result, improving the sustainability of waste management and other outsourced services is a key focus for many companies. Achieving this requires collaboration between suppliers and clients.

The right facilities management (FM) partner can help support your company in attaining its sustainability objectives.

Collaborating to deliver sustainable waste management

Workplaces often host large numbers of people. This engenders specific challenges in terms of trying to create a positive and sustainable working environment whilst also working towards carbon reduction. Proactively thinking about procurement, and asking for information and support from your trusted suppliers, are a must for all companies looking to reduce their carbon emissions.

Facilities management is an area of service that connects many businesses and can support turning companies’ environmental commitments into tangible results. It achieves this by working together across the supply chain to ensure that cleaning practices and waste management are delivered in the most sustainable way, by advising on recycling, and by helping individual businesses to reduce waste overall.

Why focus on waste?

Waste management falls distinctly under Scope 3, in its own subcategory. This focus is a recognition of the scale of the challenge. The UK produces more than 200 million tonnes of waste per year, accounting for just over 4% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions, with 19% coming from commercial and industrial waste and 16% coming from homes. Furthermore, while more than 40% of domestic waste is recycled this figure falls to below 20% for commercial. The significance of waste streams in meeting our sustainability goals (or not) is a national and global challenge.

Waste management practices are also crucial to achieving the SDGs. The UN set these global goals with a number of targets to mitigate environmental degradation and resource depletion, and climate change more generally, by 2030. There are specific goals to reduce waste in a number of key areas including food, the management of chemicals, and all solid domestic and commercial refuse.

The SDGs highlight that waste is a shared challenge. In order to protect the environment and ensure a cleaner and fairer future, we need to work together to find the best solutions.

Our responsibility

We understand that sustainability matters to you. Our approach is comprehensive, starting with our own practices. It includes reducing the use of and implementing efficient cleaning methods, which minimise water use and recycle as much waste as possible.

As a FM service provider we understand it is important to work together to have the biggest impact in fostering a more sustainable future. Pyndar is committed to helping our clients meet their strategic goals via our sustainable approach and conscientious waste management practices.

Helping you make a positive impact

In our homes we are all increasingly aware of our choices regarding sustainable practices – embracing renewable energy, reducing paper and plastic usage, recycling, and reducing chemical usage in cleaning – and are committed to reducing our impact. We can help your people translate this passion to the workplace, offering practical solutions for waste stream management to ensure that key targets, such as reducing plastic usage (especially of single-use items), are met.

We are dedicated to supporting you in reaching your goals. In today’s highly competitive landscape, where sustainability is significant for many consumers, we are committed to enabling an environmentally conscious and/or carbon-neutral office. Whether it be optimising the use of space and equipment in the workplace, maximising recycling efforts or reducing waste, Pyndar is your reliable partner – every step of the way.

Read our previous articles in the ‘Sustainability’ series: ‘Full disclosure: how much do you know about your supply chain’s sustainability practices?’, and ‘The connection between sustainability and staff retention’.

To find out more about how we partner with businesses like yours to support sustainable goals, get in touch at transform@pyndar.uk.