In a circular economy, today’s waste is tomorrow’s raw material. What is left over from one process is used as a raw material for another process, thus not only reducing the need for virgin resources on the input side, but also minimizing the amount of generated waste on the output side.
Similar to other environmental issues, Lenzing identifies the generation of waste from life cycle perspective and extends the assessment of impacts up and down the value chain. In 2021, Lenzing has standardized the approach to environmental aspects and impact assessment according to ISO 14001. This standardized approach will be further rolled out in the year 2022.
Within Lenzing, waste management is set out in its internal Waste Management Guideline, which was launched in 2018. The guideline was further developed in 2021 and resulted in a full consolidation of Group waste data. It is an integral part of Lenzing’s environmental management system. Activities relating to waste management – e.g. the collection, separation, storage, transportation, and treatment of waste – are planned and implemented based on possible utilization as well as an understanding of their environmental impact and risks.
Further details on waste management are set out in the site waste management systems, which also concern external service providers. The company’s approach to waste management uses a management hierarchy as its guiding principle. This means that Lenzing plans and prioritizes waste management as follows:
- Prevention and reduction
- Reuse and recycling
- Energy recovery
- Landfill
Wherever possible, waste is avoided or reduced, e.g. by modifying processes to increase material efficiency or by adopting good housekeeping and operational practices. Recyclable fractions of waste are separated. Unrecyclable fractions are disposed of in accordance with local legislation. Lenzing recovers energy from unrecyclable fractions in facilities such as incinerators wherever possible. Landfilling of waste is subject to strict national regulations. Hazardous waste is either treated or disposed of according to the applicable regulations. An overview of waste generation, broken down by disposal method and waste type, is shown in table “Waste by type and disposal method”.
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Hazardous waste (t) |
Non-hazardous waste (t) |
||||
Reused |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recycled |
2,910.01 |
196.17 |
450.14 |
75,454.64 |
65,857.37 |
50,829.81 |
Composted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recovered including energy recovery |
69,454.24 |
52,189.11 |
37,094.85 |
29,392.44 |
32,834.33 |
35,126.01 |
Incinerated (mass burn) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Deep well injection |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Landfill |
2,724.04 |
2,261.53 |
36,678.98 |
13,882.40 |
12,650.64 |
13,535.16 |
On-site storage |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other (to be specified by Lenzing) |
225.99 |
48.05 |
0.22 |
316.02 |
377.90 |
828.13 |
Total waste |
75,314.29 |
54,694.86 |
74,224.19 |
119,045.50 |
111,720.23 |
100,319.11 |
|
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
Hazardous waste (t) |
75,314.29 |
54,694.86 |
74,224.19 |
Non-hazardous waste (t) |
119,045.50 |
111,720.23 |
100,319.11 |
Total waste (t) |
194,359.79 |
166,415.09 |
174,543.30 |
As shown in table “Total waste generated”, compared to 2019 (as 2020 was a special year) both hazardous and non-hazardous waste decreased accounting to a reduction of total waste generation at 10 percent. Lenzing uses licensed contractors to dispose of waste. Audits of these service providers are conducted in site-defined intervals. Any contractor found to be non-compliant has its contract terminated. There were no cases of this happening in 2021.
Waste is categorized according to national legislation. In Europe, the end-of-waste criteria defined under the Waste Framework Directive may be applied to certain waste streams resulting in the de-classification of those waste streams when criteria are met. There may also be long delays in obtaining the related data and information when an external party, such as an authorized waste management company, determines the management option of a waste stream. All these factors may result in significant fluctuations in waste reporting from year to year.
