Everything you need to know about the Carbon Trust Waste Standard

Carbon Trust is an independent organisation with a mission to move towards a more sustainable and low carbon economy. They are able to advise businesses and offer effective and innovative solutions to those looking to make improvements to their environmental impact.

The Carbon Trust Standard for Waste is an internationally recognised certification awarded to organisations that measure, manage and reduce their waste output, year on year. Through this certification, recognition is awarded to organisations who are able to show real reductions in their waste.

As identified on the Carbon Trust Standard page, over 1,700 certifications have been awarded over the last decade, demonstrating that a tremendous number of organisations are paying more attention to waste and placing a greater focus on reducing their impact on the environment from a waste point of view, something that is often overlooked.

How to Achieve the Carbon Trust Waste Standard

The essential point emphasised by the Carbon Trust Standard for Waste is that preventing, reusing and/or recycling waste rather than depositing it in landfill reduces emissions and resource consumption, an essential feature of the ‘circular economy’.

For organisations to achieve the Waste Standard by Carbon Trust, they must be able to demonstrate ‘year-on-year improvements’ in the following areas:

1. Reduction in Absolute Waste – Demonstrating a reduction in total waste in an absolute sense, being able to compare the waste from one year to the next.

2. Reduction in Waste Intensity – Showing a reduction in waste tied in to an appropriate metric, for example tonnes of water/£m turnover.

3. Overall Movements in Hierarchy – Exhibiting a net positive movement of waste along the hierarchy, demonstrating an improvement in the amount of waste not being sent to landfill and instead being recycled, for example. There needs to be a positive movement on the hierarchy towards less landfill.

Benefits of the Carbon Trust Standard for Waste to Organisations

Aside from the many fantastic benefits to the environment when striving for the Standard for Waste certifications, there are many other fantastic advantages to benefit an organisation, as identified by Carbon Trust themselves.

The Carbon Trust encourage take up by emphasising:

• Enhanced Reputation

Many customers now want more than just a statement that an organisation is doing their bit for the environment; they now want evidence and reassurance that it is the case. The Standard for Waste certificate demonstrates just that.

Additionally, this can be a fantastic way for an organisation to get ahead of their competitors and stand out from the crowd.

• Delivering Efficiencies

Tracking statistics and results also brings the opportunity to identify improvements that can be made, and striving towards these improvements can be motivating for staff and customers.

• Facilitating Compliance

The certification can allow an organisation to meet contracting and procurement expectations and also comply with regulatory requirements. It also gives an organisation verified environmental impact data.

The move already has some big names onboard, with organisations such as Selfridges holding the Carbon Trust Standard for Waste.

Alongside the Standard for Waste, Carbon Trust also have certifications for Standard for Water, Carbon, Zero Waste to Landfill, and Supply Chain.