Article
What can you do better on waste management?
In brief
ENV3549 asks: "What actions has your company implemented to manage waste?" — five sub-actions to document. Most industrial SMEs already have the essentials (procedures, collector registers, certificates); the work consists of linking each document to the right sub-action, filling the recurring training gap, and purging contradictions between documents before uploading.
What are the five sub-actions and their evidence?
1. Internal waste reduction (reuse, recovery, recycling). Documents to attach: waste-management instructions, contract with a third party, registers of reused materials, website extract on avoided waste. The document must demonstrate methods that reduce waste generation internally: reuse of components, refurbishment of used materials.
2. Employee training on reduction and sorting. Training material (slide decks, summaries) and proof of delivery (reports, certificates). The training must aim at more reuse and recycling, and less inadequate separation and disposal.
3. Internal sorting and disposal by stream. Sorting instructions, invoice for the sorting system, transport or treatment contract, waste-management plan. The streams: organics, paper, glass, metals, plastics, hazardous (batteries, chemicals). Typical actions: bins labelled by type to sort at source, partnerships with waste managers.
4. Inventory / mapping of waste streams. Mapping analysis report, waste-management report, mapping instructions. Mapping follows each waste type from generation to disposal, recycling or recovery — it is part of planning and reveals the points to improve.
5. Other actions not covered elsewhere in the question.
What does a real file look like at a Walloon printer of size S?
| Sub-action | Main evidence | Supporting evidence |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Internal reduction | Waste-treatment procedure — recovery and sorting of cores by length, return of cores and plastic plates to the supplier, reuse of ink buckets by the colourists, pallets taken back | Valipac recycled-wood certificates (53.5 t of type-C reusable packaging) + filtered water fountain and removal of disposable cups + cartridge-recycling invoice |
| 2. Employee training | ⚠️ Nothing usable — see below | — |
| 3. Internal sorting by stream | The same procedure — 5 film families by colour code, bins and balers, paper-cardboard container, wood, plastics, metals, PMC: exactly the expected "sorting instructions" | Collector's 2024-2025 removal register (contract/treatment) + WEEE certificate |
| 4. Inventory / mapping | The 2025 regional environmental declaration file: stream → waste code → licensed receiver → region → final treatment code (R1-R12) → measurement method → year N and N-1 — a genuine mapping | 2023-2025 trend analysis (intensity kg/t of product) + official 2023-2025 reports |
| 5. Other actions | On-site solvent distillation: 112 t regenerated (R2) out of 144.6 t, i.e. 77% treated in-house — the strongest action in the file | No dedicated evidence exists → to be produced |
What should you fix before uploading?
Training is the gaping hole. The training plans contain no "waste" or "sorting" line; the lines that would cover the procedure are marked "to be scheduled". Without evidence, sub-action 2 is lost — and it is the cheapest point to recover: a half-hour toolbox talk on sorting, with a signed attendance sheet, modelled on an existing toolbox.
A detectable contradiction. The multi-year analysis states "no disposal (D) over the 3 financial years"; the regulatory file shows two streams under D9 (inorganic acid 0.407 t, batteries). Marginal in tonnage, but an assessor who cross-checks will read it as a reliability defect. Rephrase as: "99.9% of tonnages routed to R recovery channels".
The strongest action is documented nowhere. Solvent distillation appears only as a spreadsheet line. A one-page factsheet (process diagram, meter, tonnages regenerated over three years, virgin-solvent savings) turns it into standalone evidence — reusable on the energy and procurement questions too.
Which operational details should you not forget?
Remove any "to be validated by the client before external distribution" notices from a collector's report before uploading. When a collector's tonnages do not reconcile with the regulatory declaration (different perimeters: several collectors), add a perimeter note — otherwise the gap looks like an error. Finally, a rise in hazardous waste (+20.7% in absolute terms here) will be read as a deterioration: EcoVadis forgives it if it is commented on and paired with a quantified target ("−10% kg/t by 2028") written into the environmental policy.
Key takeaways
- Five sub-actions; most of the evidence already exists (procedures, registers, certificates) — the work is to link it and make it reliable.
- Sorting training is the recurring gap — and the cheapest to fill (toolbox talk + attendance sheet).
- Purge contradictions between documents before uploading: assessors cross-check.
- Document the most valuable action as a standalone factsheet rather than a spreadsheet line.
- An unfavourable trend + a narrative + a quantified target beats a missing data point.