Cleaning the house, throwing away garbage, clearing out old clothes from the closet, or cooking, separating leftovers from the food eaten and the packaging in which it was purchased – all of the above are routine actions common in everyday life that create waste. After you throw that waste out of your house, do you ever think about where it ends up? And no, it does not disappear; it becomes a problem in some other corner outside your home. Every year, 2.01 billion tons accumulate worldwide. Experts predict that this gigantic pile of waste will continue to grow, reaching 3.40 billion tons by 2050, according to sustainablereview.com. We have brought our planet to its limits, which we feel in the form of climate change, so this is our last call to awaken awareness of the importance of waste management and a lifestyle that promotes resource conservation and less waste – zero waste. Simply put, the zero waste concept refers to a zero waste generation rate and includes reusing everything instead of throwing it away. This concept also reexamines the ways we manage resources through responsible production, recycling, and composting – not just as private individuals but also as entire organizations.
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—– Zero waste is a concept that refers to reducing or completely eliminating waste generated during production processes, consumption, and daily activities. Its goal is to maximize resource use, minimize energy, raw material, and waste disposal space usage, thereby reducing the negative impact on the environment – explains Marko List, director of the company Consultare, adding that when applied in a company’s operations, it means that it seeks to minimize the waste it produces during its operations, which includes monitoring and analyzing all processes in the company to identify ways to reduce waste.
Good practice
Elena Wolsperger Dolezil, director of Corporate Communications at Dukat, emphasizes that they strive to minimize or completely eliminate waste throughout the supply chain by applying this concept, from milk production on farms, its processing in factories, transportation to the sale of finished products in retail chains.
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—– Zero waste is something we strive to apply in all segments of our business. I will mention just a few examples: we reuse waste multilayer cardboard packaging, i.e., Tetra Pak, which is generated in production as raw material for producing toilet towels and paper and their holders. The toilet towels, paper, and holders produced this way are returned to Dukat where our employees use them. We aim to optimize the packaging of our products by reducing the amount of plastic. In the last three years, we have reduced the use of plastic materials in our packaging by 32 tons – explains Wolsperger Dolezil.
She also states that regarding food waste reduction, they launched a systematic donation project back in 2015, as well as selling products nearing their expiration dates at significantly reduced prices. And it is not all in vain – there are several advantages to adopting a zero waste lifestyle. First of all, it helps reduce the impact of production and waste disposal on the environment. Furthermore, by promoting the reuse of products and materials, valuable resources are preserved, which reduces the need for extracting and processing raw materials. Additionally, zero waste encourages community involvement and fosters a sense of responsibility towards the environment.
And it is no different for companies, as the application of the zero waste concept has several advantages in business – including cost reduction, improving the company’s reputation, and contributing to sustainability and social responsibility, adds List.
Key strategies
However, as good as all this sounds, as with everything, it is easier said than done. Managing residues and surpluses requires a strategic approach and engagement at all levels of the organization to ensure business sustainability and a positive impact on the environment, notes List. So what are the key steps for a company to embrace this important concept in its operations? There are several key strategies. First of all, there is demand analysis and inventory planning. As can be inferred, this strategy involves analyzing demand for products to properly plan inventory. Then, production optimization is important, meaning it is essential to align production with actual demand to avoid overproduction and storage, and to monitor production performance and adjust production capacities to prevent surpluses.
Consideration should also be given to donating unsold products to non-profit organizations or redirecting them to recycling, as this reduces overall waste. Regarding waste reduction in general, it is important to introduce processes that reduce it in production, which may include better resource management, process optimization, and reducing unnecessary steps in production.
– It is also important to consider reusing surpluses in one’s own processes or selling them to other companies that can utilize them. This can bring additional revenue and reduce waste. It is important to establish good cooperation with suppliers and ensure that the supply chain is well coordinated. It is necessary to act in a partnership to reduce unnecessary orders and excessive storage. Lastly, it is crucial to ensure employee awareness of the importance of waste reduction and its impact on business, as well as education on proper management of surpluses and residues, as these can encourage changes in behavior and practice – explains List.
Destructive waste
To illustrate that all this is not just fiction and that it is indeed necessary to reduce waste, Wolsperger Dolezil cited the data that Croatian households contribute to the total food waste at the national level with a high 76 percent. And since we do not lag behind other countries in waste production, the question arises as to how we are in the application and dissemination of the zero waste concept. This can be viewed from several perspectives, believes List.
– If we analyze global awareness of the zero waste concept, there is a tendency for this idea to spread faster in some foreign countries. This may be the result of various factors, including cultural, economic, political, and educational differences. Some foreign countries may have better-developed policies and regulations that support the zero waste concept. Foreign countries with better-developed infrastructure for recycling, composting, and reusing materials can progress faster in applying zero waste. This may include various waste collection programs, recycling and composting facilities, as well as educational programs for the public – notes List.
In this sense, there is certainly room for progress in the future: investing in education and raising public awareness about the importance of the concept and changing daily habits; developing and implementing appropriate policies, including legal regulations that encourage the reuse of items and things, recycling, and composting; investing in infrastructure that enables efficient waste management; promoting innovations, i.e., supporting solutions and entrepreneurial ventures for waste reduction, and international cooperation and exchange of experiences to learn from others’ experiences and apply best practices in our country. All these are ways we can take a step in a better direction, and the introduction of these strategies can contribute to the faster spread of the zero waste concept and reduce lagging behind other countries, emphasizes List.
Namely, the question is how long we can continue to ‘plunder’ resources and bury the planet under unnecessary garbage. Along with all the other damage that humans have done to nature, the issue of waste is one of the key problems that must be solved if we want a secure future.
– The zero waste concept is today an imperative not only in the business sector but also in the everyday life of individuals. Reducing the carbon footprint is no longer just a matter of responsibility for companies or individuals towards the environment; it has become a crucial issue of long-term sustainability and coexistence between us and planet Earth – concludes Elena Wolsperger Dolezil.
