GRI waste circular economy reveals value chain resource waste new business model
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), an international authority on sustainability frameworks, officially released its latest GRI 306: Waste (2020) Guideline on May 19. Covering two management principles and three specific disclosures, it emphasizes the connection between materials and waste, helping organizations identify circularity and waste opportunities and further actions, empowering them to assume responsibility and influence across their value chains.
This updated standard provides businesses and organizations with a clearer definition between "materials" and "waste." More importantly, it will attempt to change the way businesses and organizations understand, measure, and manage waste.
With the rise of global environmental awareness, the "circular economy," which creates new value by reusing existing or previously used resources, is booming. Regions and industries around the world are feeling this green transformation trend. In response to this trend, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has released the latest version of its waste management guidelines, "GRI 306: Waste (2020) Guidelines," following its 2016 release.
GRI 306: Waste 2020 covers two management guidelines and three specific topic disclosures. The key features and benefits of this updated standard are as follows:
- Helping organizations to more fully understand and communicate the impacts associated with their activities, products, services and waste.
- Strengthen the connection between materials and waste, and help organizations understand the related impacts of design, usage processes, and waste generation.
- Assist organizations in identifying and reporting opportunities and actions related to recycling and waste.
- Assist organizations to assess and take responsibility for waste generated upstream and downstream of the entire value chain.
- Assist organizations to identify and confirm management decisions and actions that may lead to systemic changes.
The most important aspect of the GRI: 306 Waste (2020) Guidelines is that they change how businesses and organizations understand and measure waste, and encourage businesses to start thinking about reducing resource waste and reuse from the source of production and procurement, creating more opportunities for the development and practice of the circular economy.
GRI CEO Timothy J. Mohin said, "Now is the opportune time for organizations to transform themselves toward sustainable practices." Given the significant disruptions to supply chains and industries brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, companies seeking resilience must rethink how to identify and develop new business opportunities. "The GRI:306 Waste (2020) standard will enable organizations to assess waste from generation to final disposal with more rigorous standards, allowing them to view it as a driving force for improvement and progress."
Judy Kuszewski, Chair of the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), explained that this international standard reflects a global trend for organizations to shift from the traditional "take-make-waste" model to developing new business models with minimal resource waste. GRI Waste will assist visionary organizations with a sustainability mindset in communicating with stakeholders and demonstrating their effective or incremental waste management methods.
"How an organization manages waste is crucial for investors," emphasizes Amisha Parekh, Product Manager of Sustainable Finance Solutions at Bloomberg. She notes that in recent years, investors have increasingly focused on the costs organizations invest in sustainability and the business opportunities they discover. Furthermore, investors are demanding higher quality information disclosure. This guideline will help organizations communicate their waste management processes to stakeholders and demonstrate how they integrate circularity and waste management considerations into their decision-making throughout the entire supply chain.
Arne Ragossnig, former managing director of the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) and current editor-in-chief of the journal Waste Management and Research, pointed out that the GRI: 306 Waste (2020) Guideline is the first to incorporate the waste impact generated from upstream and downstream of the value chain. It is expected that this guideline will help support the transformation of the overall value chain and have a positive impact on waste management.
Source: Environmental Information Centre
