This report examines the waste management practices of ASDAS Supermarket in the UK, focusing on sustainability and the benefits of waste management. It discusses waste hierarchy, reuse, packaging, re-manufacturing, repair, recycling, and reusable packaging.
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Table of Contents TOPIC..............................................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1 Waste management......................................................................................................................1 Waste Hierarchy...........................................................................................................................2 Reuse............................................................................................................................................2 Packaging.....................................................................................................................................3 Re-manufacturing........................................................................................................................4 Repair (require extra energy).......................................................................................................4 Recycle.........................................................................................................................................5 Reusable Packaging.....................................................................................................................6 E -Waste management (Waste Electrical and Electronics Equipment, WEEE)..........................8 Circular Economy Process...........................................................................................................9 Land Fill.....................................................................................................................................11 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
TOPIC Examining the waste Management Practices of ASDAS Supermarket in the UK INTRODUCTION Sustainability can be explained as focus of business organization to meeting all current needs without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their future needs. The concept of sustainability is based on three pillars which are economic, environmental and social. By considering these concepts organization can full fill the requirement of the sustainability. This is report is providing brief of ASDA Supermarket in United Kingdom(Ikhlayel, 2018). It is a retail sector organization which was established in year 1949 by Peter and Fred Asquith and Sir Noel Stockdale. Various concepts of suitability will be considered in the report that can help the ASDA Supermarket to develop sustainable business practices with in operations. The aspects like financial, social and environment will be considered for different organizational practices that can help the company to achieve the level of sustainability. MAIN BODY Waste management Waste management is one of the most important practises which is required to be focused on by organizations so that they can monitor, manage, transport and process waste material (Aazam and et al., 2016). Waste management helps in improving environmental, social and financial aspect of an organization. ASDA also uses various kinds of waste management practises to reduce environmental impact on their operations, reduce overall operational cost and increase awareness related to waste management. Benefits: Environmental: One of the main benefits that waste management practise provides to ASDA is environmental benefits. Today government regulations related to carbon footprint of company have increased because of which all the organizations need to focus on reducing their overall carbon footprint. This waste management practise help ASDA to reduce their methane and carbon dioxide emission and control their carbon footprint. Financial: Waste generated from production process is reused or recycle which helps ASDA to reduce their overall operational cost and also helps them to reduce waste disposable cost. Social: Waste management practises adopted by organizations helps them to increase awareness among their employees(Tabrizi and et al., 2018). ASDA focuses on educating their employees 1
about waste management ways such as: reduce, reuse and recycle so that they not only learn to reuse or recycle their waste products to be further used but they also focus on increasing efficiency of their employees. Therearemanyorganizationsthatusesandfocusesondifferentaspectsofwaste management for example: ASDA uses reducing aspect of waste management i.e. they try to reduce their overall consumption and emission of fuel. Waste Hierarchy It is a kind of tool which is used for evaluation process of environment protection in order to increase efficient and effective use of natural resources. There are six main ways through which waste management can be done(Sudeep and et al., 2017). All the methods are ranked according to the preferability of the environment. These steps help in waste management from reduce to management of waste. It is one of the best way or initiatives that organizations can take towards environment. One of the top most priority of waste hierarchy is prevention of waste products and reusing waste products. Both the ways are basically ways to avoid creation of waste. If the product can be reused or waste cannot be prevented then those products are recycled and then high-quality recovery of energy is second priority. At last if recycling is not possible then least preferred way is opted which is burning of waste and disposing it off. As ASDA operates on Zero waste policy, they follow this hierarchy to reduce their usage of natural resources(Sarker and Rahman,2018). There are many other organizations who have take an initiative towards environment such as Rolls Royce. In order to gain sustainability, increase operational performance they focus on waste hierarchy and maximum products that can be reused are reused by them. For example: reuse of coffee cups helped them to reduce 25 percent of disposable coffee cups. Reuse Reuse of waste is basically an operation by which components or products can be reused again either for same purpose or for some other purpose. ASDA mainly operates on zero waste policy i.e. they focus on all the three aspects of waste management that are reduce, reuse or recycle. ASDA offers an option to their customers where they can drop off their used or old products into the stores to be recycled such as mixed plastic, waste paper etc. to be reused. Some of the most common benefits of reuse for ASDA are as follows: Environmental benefits: Reusage of waste products provides an excellent environmentally 2
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preferred alternative to reduce air, water and land pollution and limit usage of natural resources (Di Vaio, Varriale and Trujillo, 2019). With the helps of reuse waste management technique ASDA can contribute in keeping their environment clean and healthy. Social benefit: Reusability of the best way in which company can provide required products to people who desperately need those products. In other words, reusability technique used by ASDA can help in benefiting whole community. Economic Benefit: Instead of creating new products for new materials and disposing unwanted material can increase pollution whereas reusing products for creating new products can provide economic benefit to organizations like ASDA. However, there are someChallengesassociated with this technique such as: One of the main challenges associated with this technique is that reusability of products is sometimes quite costly sometimes as organization first of need to segregate reusable products and focus on enhancing its quality. Other than this many times products that are made of reusable products are sold in lower price which many times decreases overall profit of organizations. Packaging Packaging is one of the main factors because of which one third of the waste is creased and in this most of the packaging is done unnecessarily. ASDA has taken a step to reduce this unnecessary packaging waste and are focusing on making all of their packaging 100 percent recyclable. In fact, they are focusing on reducing material used for packaging so that at least 10 percent of plastic used for packaging can be reduced(Agovino, Ferrara and Garofalo, 2016). They also provide their customers a change that they can drop off their additional packaging material within the stores to be reused or recycled again. It is important for organizations to focus on waste generated because of packaging as it is one of the main reasons because of which one third of the waste is products. Focusing on Packaging factor can provide various kinds of benefits to the organization such as: Environmental: Reducing overall packaging or reducing usage of non-decomposable products such as plastic can help organizations to reduce energy consumed for handling waste and also help them to reduce emission of methane or carbon dioxide. Financial: Reducing consumption of raw material for packaging can help organizations to reduce their overall cost by limiting usage of raw material and energy consumption(Sandhu, Burton and Dedekorkut-Howes, 2017). 3
However, there are come challenges associated with packaging for waste management such as: In order to reduce packaging of products or using recyclable products for packaging organizations need to provide training to their employees so that they can focus on giving their best efforts to reduce or recycle packaging waste. It is quite energy consuming process as organizations first need to reduce usage of raw materials for packaging, then need to segregate materials that can be reused or recycled. Re-manufacturing Re-manufacturing is a kind of process in which products are rebuild using a combination of reuse, repair and usage of new parts.This process helps in remanufacturing or original product as per their specification by repairing or replacing worn out components(Verma, Borongan and Memon, 2016). There are many organizations that use this process to reduce waste and improve original product by removing or repairing few components of the original product. ASDA focuses on remanufacturing of various products for example they remanufacture ink cartridges for HR printers. worn out ink cartridges are again sent back to ASDA to be remanufactured. There are many more organizations that uses this remanufacturing process as oneofthewastemanagementprocess.Therearevariouskindsofbenefitsofthis remanufacturing process such as: It helps in reducing usage or consumption of raw materials which reduces overall raw materials requirements for the organization (Sandhu, Burton and Dedekorkut-Howes, 2017). Increases overall profit margin for the organization as compared to traditional manufacturing process. Using this process manufacturers can increase availability of products for their customers within a shorter duration of time period. However, there are some challenges associated with this process that can be faced by organizations such as: organizations are required to have appropriate and sufficient information of the product so that they can remanufacture the product again but many times organizations lack required information related to the product. Other than this many times because of this process overall quality of the product is compromised if companies do not focus on overall process in a proper manner. Repair (require extra energy) Repair is another type of waste management process that is used by most of the 4
organizations(Sarker and Rahman, 2018). Using this process broken items or products are restored or fixed. It is another way that helps organizations to reduce their overall waste production. Many times, just because an item is broken it is considered as waste and is disposed off. Repairing can also help in reduction of waste that is generated within organizations. ASDA has taken initiative to repair all kinds of plastic bags or baskets to be reused. Using this process raw materials from waste are used and repaired and can be sold to the customers. This process has their own benefits for organization such as: Waste generation can be reduced so that all kinds of harmful products that can damaged the environment can be reduced. It can also reduce their overall manufacturing cost associated with production and manufacturing department. It can provide a business opportunity for organizations to open a separate department where products are only repaired. But there are many challenges associated with this process as well such as: many times, consumers do not bring damaged product back to the organization and simply throw off because of which it becomes quite difficult for the organizations to repair products and reduce waste. Recycle Recycling can be defined as a process that can be used by organizations to convert waste materials into something new(Yeh, Tseng and Lee, 2018). It is one of the most commonly used waste management process which is used by organizations for reduction of waste. Many organizations and even government are taking initiative for recycling of products. Today most of the customers are informed that they should segregate degradable and non-degradable waste so that if there is any kind of product that can be recycled and used in something else then it can be done easily. ASDA has created their own recycled in-stores where any one can drop off anything so that people are sure that their products will be recycled in a proper and effective manner. it is one of the most efficient and best method they have opted in order to reduce waste (Di Vaio, Varriale and Trujillo, 2019). There are many benefits of this recycling process such as: Reduces overall amount of waste that are send to landfills. Natural resources can be conserved in much better and effective manner other than this it also helps organizations to save energy. Helps organizations to reduce their overall cost spending on purchasing raw materials and many 5
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times it also helps organizations to increase their overall profitability. However there are many challenges associated with this recycling process such as: it is important for organizations to know correct way or method to be used for recycling a particular product because lack of this knowledge can not only increase difficulty for organizations to recycle products but can also waste their time and resources used for recycling. Reusable Packaging Reusable packaging is considered as packaging that is made of durable material and this type of packaging is designed for multiple trips with extended life. The main purpose of this concept is to avoid the use of certain material like plastic to prevent its negative impact on environment. This also can help the company to save cost in packaging process for company. Reusableplasticalsocanimprovesocialaspectsbyimprovingenvironmentandreduce pollution. There are different type of packaging material are used by organization for their product for preservation and prevent the products from damage(Gündüz, Aslanova and Abdullah, 2019). There are different type of packaging material are used by the retail sector companies. Plastic is one of the most common which is mostly used by organizations in packaging process. The plastic that is used for packaging purpose can not be reused for other purposes. This is important for the organization to implement use of reusable material to prevent its impact on society, environment and production cost of company product. There are different benefits of reusable plastic that can help ASDA Supermarket to maintain high sustainability standards. For example organizations like Air bus are using Pallets in the transporting of luggage that can be used multiple time with extended life. Benefits of Reusable Packaging Environmental Benefits of Reusable Packaging Reusable packaging help can help the organization to reduce the plastic waste of organization. It can also reduce the requirement of raw material that is used to manufacture packaging material for different products(Tozlu, Özahi and Abuşoğlu, 2016). By using these process of packaging can be used to reduce the environmental cost of damage. This process can be used to reduce the environmental impact of company on the environment. This process also can help to prevent the high amount of land filling cause of plastic material used in the packaging process. Other benefit of this process is related to save energy. The energy required in 6
manufacturing product can be avoided by using concept of reusable packaging. This can improve the environmental sustainability of organization. For example the Pallets that are used by the Air can be reused again and again and there is no need of any manufacturing process so it can help to save energy required in manufacturing process of packaging material. Social Benefits of Reusable Packaging There are different social benefits of social benefits of reusable packaging. This can help ASDA Supermarket to develop designs that are labour friendly and this also can create jobs by developing new industry. It can provide capability to the organization to reduce carbon footprint which is effective for environment. By using reusable packaging process production of the plastic waste can be prevented. By this process company can reduce the impact of environmental pollution on people(Coban, Ertis and Cavdaroglu, 2018). This can help to improve safety and goods handling for labours. For example the Pallets that are used by Airbus are easy to handle and it can provide flexibility to handling unitified goods through fork lift. Economic Benefits of Reusable Packaging Reusable packaging can help the organization to save cost that require to product or purchase packaging material for their products. There are many economic benefits of reusable packaging for ASDA Supermarket. The material that is used in the reusable packaging is durable and long lasting. This packaging material can be used for long term. By this procedure organization can save huge cost of manufacturing material. Use of this kind of material can help to improve the ergonomic conditions that can help organization to reduce the cost of health concerns of employees and labourers(Carleson, Wai and Chipman, 2017). This is how there are some major benefits of using reusable packaging in retail industry. For in Airbus wooden pallets are used to unitified public luggage. This processes can help them to prevent cost of lost luggage and damage to vulnerable goods in the supply process. This is how effective packaging can help ASDASupermarkettoimprovethecosteffectivenessininventorymanagementand transportation of goods. Challenges of Reusable Packaging 1.The pallets that are used for the packaging purpose are always not suitable for the purpose of transportation. After damage these packaging objects can not be reused again. 2.The process of recollecting reusable packaging can cause cost to company. 3.The cost of manufacturing is initially too high. 7
E -Waste management (Waste Electrical and Electronics Equipment, WEEE) WEEE is also known as European community directives on electrical waste and and electronics equipments. In this process some directives has been setted by European law regarding Collection, recycling and recovery of various type of electronics goods. This law includes all the electrical and electronics equipments like batteries, plugs and other electronic waste. According to community standards it is financial responsibility of the producer is to manage the environmental impact of products that are manufactured by them(Majumdar and Ganguly, 2019). This is their responsibility to manage the e waste of their products. There are three process are provided in this standards in which collection of E waste, recycling of wastage material or recovery of this material is considered. There are different type of categories are provided in this guidelines which are about the e waste produced through electrical and electronics products. These categories are- large house hold appliances, small house hold appliances, consumer equipments, lighting equipments, electrical and electronics tools, medical devices and monitoring and control instruments. There are some advantage of these directives that are provided in law. This regulations help the organization to to manage the standards that are effective to manage the e waste that is produced by their products. This can be considered as E waste management and there are various benefits of e waste management. This process can help ASDS to implement some standards that can be used to manage E waste produces by products that are sold by them. Currently ASDA is working with recycling instores concept used to manage E waste produced by their products. Environmental Benefits of E Waste Management There are various environmental benefits of E waste management. This process of handling E waste can help to reduce the negative impact environmentalby prevention of dumping e Waste in dumping yards. Some type of e waste can cause hazardous conditions. Some electrical waste products can release hazardous chemicals in soil that can later affect biodiversity and fertility of soil(Rajan, Robin and Vandanarani, 2018). This process of e waste management also can help to prevent excessive use of natural resources in production of electronics products by using concept of recycling. For example the copper that is extracted form the e waste can be reused in the production of new electrical or electronics products. For example Samsung company reuse and recycle the E waste and use these waste products in manufacturing of new products keep their business sustainable. 8
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Social Benefits of E waste Management The process of e waste manage is also beneficial for society in different ways. By reducing environmental impact of e waste organization can improve the lifestyle of people improving environmental standards. Other social benefits of E waste management process are related to the creation of whole industry that performs the recycling of E waste material. This can generate job opportunity for people. This is how this process of E waste management can help to develop job opportunity and improve the well being of people. Economic Benefits of E Waste Management The process of managing Electrical and electronics waste can help organization in different manner. This process can reduce the processing cost of company. The by reusing waste material like Electronics equipment ASDA can save large cost by reducing use of raw material. By process of recycling and reusing ASDA Supermarket is saving a lot cost with in electronics and electrical products. Circular Economy Process The Circular economy is an economical system that is aiming to eliminating waste and continuous use of resources. This is also known as systematic approach for the economic development to improve the benefits of the organization, society and environment. In the approach of circular economy a cycle that starts from making, using, reusing remaking and recycling. By following this process organization try to reduce the economical, environment and social impact of waste material produced by a organization(Joshi and Ahmed, 2016). The process of making is developed of products with concept of sustainability that can help the organisationtodevelopproductsthatcancauseleastharmtoenvironment,societyand organization's economy. In this process they use the concept of recycling to produce products. This can help them to reduce use of raw material and help them to reduce the manufacturing am processing cost f products. The other stage the products are provided to the consumer for use in house holds. After using this products customer can provide these products back to company and company can reuse or recycle some parts of those products in manufacturing to reduce the over all cost of the company. This is how ASDA Supermarket can use the concept of Circular economy to make their business process more efficient. This is completely different from linear economy that works on linear process that do not include concepts of recycling and reusing. There are some 9
benefits of circular economy that can help ASDA Supermarket to Maintain sustainability in business operations. Benefits of Circular Economy Circular economic process can reduce the use of fossil fuel in the manufacturing process that can help the organization to reduce negative impact of their operation on the environment. The process of reusing can help organization to reduce the manufacturing cost of products and services. Challenges of Circular Economy This process needs larger economical investments in order to develop processes that can help the organization to perform operations like reuse and recycling of waste materials. It can 10 Illustration : Linear Economy vs Circular Economy (Source:From a line to a circle: a new shape for the economy, 2019)
slow down the processes of organization cause recycling and reusing process can affect the supply of raw material for production and operations of ASDA Supermarket. Land Fill Land filling is the last option which is used by the organization in the process of the waste management. The waste products that can not be reused or recycled by the organization is used to dumped in the land fill sites which are used for the process of waste management of material that can take long time in biodegradation process(Agrawal and Desai, 2019). This is systematicprocessthatisusedtodumpthewasteproductstoreducetheirimpacton environment, society and operations of organization. By using this process ASDA Supermarket will be able to reduce the negative impact of waste products on environment, society and economy. CONCLUSION From the above assignment it has been summarized that there are various kinds of methods that can be used by organizations for management of waste. It has been analysed that there are various kinds of waste management practises that have been adopted by ASDA that not only helps them to reduce consumption of nature and other resources but also helps them to increase their profitability, production process and reduce generation of waste. ASDA has taken many initiativesnot only to reduce waste generationbut to create awarenessrelatedto generations and management of waste.It has also been analysed that adoption of such waste management practises provides benefits to organizations in terms of environment, finance and social aspects. However, it can be concluded that there are various kinds of challenges associated with all waste management processes and in order to overcome such challenges it is important for organizationsto have appropriate and required knowledge so that they can take appropriate initiatives to reduce waste generation and manage them. 11
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