MANUFACTURING WASTE SCOPE
This Imperative looks at waste production associated with the inputs required to produce the product seeking certification at the final manufacturing facility or facilities. Therefore, packaging for supplied materials, and the materials themselves are in-scope. Packaging used by the manufacturer to protect and ship the finished product is excluded from this calculation. Though Life Cycle Waste impacts may be calculated by the manufacturer, they are not required for this Imperative.
MAXIMIZING DIVERSION FROM LANDFILL
Manufacturers of Living Products must exhaust opportunities to decrease waste created and they must also divert any unavoidable waste from landfills. This can either be achieved by maximizing the recycling of waste material created during the manufacturing process, or by increasing the efficiency of the manufacturing process to create minimal waste in the first place, or a combination of the two.
Recycling, reuse, and composting are considered acceptable methods of diversion from landfill. Incineration is not accepted under this Imperative. Waste-to-Energy will only be considered on a case by case basis per MT-011 Waste-to-Energy Exception.
WASTE HANDPRINT SCOPE
Waste Handprints, like all Handprints, require action versus business-as-usual to create a measurable positive impact. Waste Handprinting in LPC is different from energy, water and carbon, however, because it is used to offset a mass of waste material based on only on-site impacts (not the entire life cycle). The mass of the waste Handprint should offset an equivalent of the mass which cannot be diverted from landfill. For example, if table production results in 1,000 kilograms of non-recyclable waste annually, the manufacturer must take action to create Handprints that result in the removal or diversion of at least 1,000 kilograms of waste elsewhere annually.
Key to the creation of waste Handprints, and Handprints in general, is the concept of ‘additionality’. This term indicates that the action taken results in the recycling or composting of materials that was otherwise unlikely to be recycled. In essence, the action creates new recycling streams within their facility, industry or the greater community. One example would be to initiate, or be a cause of, additional post-consumer collection of material for recycling. For example, putting recycling collection bins somewhere that recycling is not now taking place, ensuring that the collected material is recycled, and tracking and reporting the material amounts recovered.
The use of materials that are already readily recyclable, and are being recycled, for a different purpose, would not be considered a waste Handprint, because it is not necessarily causing additional landfill diversion than what would have otherwise occurred. For example, taking recyclable water bottles in a municipality with recycling infrastructure and using them for the creation of new materials is an inventive use of recycled material, but does not necessarily prevent landfilling of additional materials. However, installing recycling bins in an area that previously did not have recycling, could count.
The diagram below illustrates both the diversion requirements for this Imperative and the concept of Waste Handprints. For more information on Handprinting, refer to the Handprinting Guide.
