Reducing waste in manufacturing

What are the benefits of reducing waste?

Research from the IfM calculates that if every factory in a sector moved towards optimum sustainable performance, there could be 24% profit gained, 30% more jobs generated and 9% less greenhouse gases shared across that sector. 

Shifting from methods of waste disposal to processes of waste reduction can bring a range of benefits of reducing waste including:

• Increased profit by saving money through the more efficient use of raw materials, packaging and technology. 
• Improved reputation among customers, suppliers, potential employees and insurers.
• Greater environmental responsibility makes it easier to meet environmental standards and regulations.

There are huge benefits to be gained by embarking on a journey to reduce manufacturing waste. For example, using lean principles, one jeans factory was able to reduce the amount of water they used to make each pair of jeans from 800 litres to less than 1 litre. 

How to increase interest in reducing manufacturing waste

It can be daunting to begin a sustainability journey in your organisation.  

Firstly, you need to ensure the alignment of sustainability with key issues. Consider what your key business drivers are for growth and risks. It does take time, but if you engage the leadership of your business and demonstrate that sustainability can positively influence those key drivers, you should find support.

Next, you need to get people involved from across the organisation. There are four levels of activities that people can get involved with:

• Engage and get the most of what you have now with minimal investment. 
• Get technical and optimise – technology, especially digital, can be a massive facilitator of sustainability.
• Use investment to increase efficiency – this can result in quick wins but requires confidence and the right management and delivery skills.
• Innovate to transform your business and supply chain – think across sectors. For example, one company’s waste is another company’s raw materials for new products!

When people begin to engage, make sure you track your sustainability results to the bottom line and talk about your success stories to build your sustainability brand within your business.

Creating sustainability momentum that endures will test a wide range of skills, so don’t be afraid to seek help!

How can manufacturers generate value whilst reducing waste?

Learning from some of the companies that have excellent continuous improvement programmes, we have found that they have followed these four steps successfully: 

1. Find the 4 biggest impacts – these will most likely be related to energy, water and waste.
2. Start by asking simple questions – ask simple questions such as ‘On which day of the week do we use the least energy and why?’ to start your sustainability journey.
3. Use your normal processes – once you have identified the waste, use your standard techniques for continuous improvement.
4. Widen the search for value – begin to move outside of the direct manufacturing processes.

How to reduce manufacting waste – three case studies

Seeing the ‘hidden’ waste is an important part of waste identification, but without being able to value that waste, it can be hard for companies to build a case for action and difficult to get the team on board. 

At the Centre for Industrial Sustainability in the IfM, we have developed tools and methods to support resource efficiency. The three case studies below outline examples of how these tools have helped organisations reduce manufacturing waste in practice.

Case study one: Reducing plastic waste

The IfM’s Zero Loss Yield Analysis (ZLYA) tool helps manufacturers to identify hidden losses by using existing data streams and putting waste value into the context of the business as a whole. 

The results from this approach are often very illuminating. One manufacturer we worked with to reduce plastic waste, discovered that their actual waste was 14 times greater than they had thought. Using this approach uncovered all sorts of underlying problems within the factory including the imbalance in the production system. 

The factory, which produces plastic products by using injection moulding believed they were only rejecting 1% of their main product (plastic coffee capsules which comprise of a cup and a lid). Based on their ‘reject rate’, they thought they had a 99% yield. But when looking at what was actually happening, the waste was 14 times that amount. They also discovered there was a major imbalance in product production. They produced 14m capsules and 16m lids – so a 2m surplus waste of materials. 

Case study two: Working with communities to recapture value from waste

In Thailand, a project used local industrial and ocean plastic waste alongside local community knowledge and commitment to develop sustainable products and services and identify circular economy business opportunities for local entrepreneurs. 

Thailand, which is one of the biggest ocean plastic polluters in the world, has limited waste management systems, combined with very high consumption of plastic packaging, and a lack of awareness of the toxic impact of littering.

This grass-root circular economy case study shows how one project created momentum to address waste problems at a local level, and an understanding of how to generate real business ideas from the circular economy. 

Case study three: Discovering ways to eliminate waste at a sugar factory

Anticipated changes to the European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy and the need to stay competitive within the EU, inspired the British Sugar plant in Wissington to evaluate step changes in its manufacturing approach. 

The factory looked at all waste streams to become a no-waste biorefinery; successfully building on the core business to utilise all co-products and wastes.

After consolidating plants and expanding capacity at its Wissington facility, they successfully implemented a combined heat and power plant. This simultaneously increased the factory’s financial efficiency and its capacity to expand beyond sugar production. 

Revenues are generated by the sale of co-products, and costs are avoided by sending less material to landfill. Wissington is now the most efficient beet producer in Europe. Read more on the AB Sugar case study here.

Future research: circular bioeconomy centre (CBC)

At the IfM, we are looking at how we can take lessons from successful case studies (such as the Wissington sugar factory) and are in the process of seeing up a Circular Bioeconomy Centre. 

The Centre will look at co-creating new value chains involving farmers, processors, retailers, policy makers and citizens to develop solutions to deconstruct all imported waste biomaterial; giving the whole of the UK a national plan for a Zero Waste Bioeconomy. 

To find out more or to get involved with the Centre, don’t hesitate to get in contact. 

If you are trying to create a plan when you have not travelled this road before, why not consider joining the Sustainability Association, where you can get together with others going on the same journey and learn from those who are already ahead.

You can also draw on the Cambridge Centre for Industrial Sustainability’s extensive research. The Association will provide training, tools and practical leadership support to enable businesses to progress sustainability initiatives.