Date: May 6, 2024
Circular economy is a hot topic in the sustainability world and it’s not hard to see why. With goals such as eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials at their highest value, and regenerating resources, it’s easy to see how circularity is nature’s design for prosperity within the limits of a finite planet.
Three of our sustainability experts, Shaun Miller, Senior Director of Operations & Sustainability, Angela Baker, Director Business Development, and Drew Steuer, Operations Manager, were joined by Louise Norman, Global Waste and Environmental Strategy Manager at Cummins, and Jonathan Nelson, Green Factory Lead and the Environmental Manager at Honda on a Circular Indiana webinar to dive in deep about implementing successful waste minimization programs.
Embrace Your Why
The Envita team kicked it off, outlining the steps to get sustainability ideas off the ground in a company. Before getting into the nitty-gritty details of the plan, Miller discussed how important the reasoning behind starting is, or as he referred to it, the why. This is the driving force behind making a change and varies from company to company or even person to person.
“My personal why is that it’s so important that you are not implementing solutions to today’s problems that will jeopardize the livelihood of future generations,” said Miller.
Customize Your How
Getting everyone on board may be a challenge, as it’s often switching bad habits to green habits and we’re all just human Baker pointed out. She presented several ways to personalize the steps your company takes to implement the plan. This involves developing a coalition of support, finding strategic solutions, embracing circular economy, tracking and reporting data, and disrupting the status quo. One of these steps Baker holds to a higher priority: a coalition of support.
“We have to retrain and get that level of support inside, whether it’s on-site or corporate level, to develop new standards,” Baker pointed out.
Persist Through Challenges
The road to your goals isn’t always a smooth one. Even with your why and how in place, you will still find challenges in your sustainability journey, but it’s important to prevail and find a way through them. Steuer discussed how to address some of the common road bumps they’ve seen companies encounter including cost management, zero waste roadmaps, progress over perfection, and organizational buy-in.
“You can have all the goals you want, however, if you don’t have everyone across the organization invested and knowing how they fit in you’re going to have a very hard time executing,” said Steuer.
Implementing Your Plan with Cummins & Honda
Having the steps is a great beginning point, but putting it into practice is different. Norman and Nelson break down how their companies embrace the sustainability mindset. Highlighting Cummins’ waste footprint, Norman explains how they used this data to set their waste goals starting back in 2014 and how they have evolved since then. “We have big aspirational targets all the way out to 2050,” stated Norman. She went on to dive deeper into what they have planned including setting up a waste hierarchy and focus areas for their goals. When it comes to Honda, Nelson explained they have three main environmental impact sections: carbon neutrality, resource circulation, and clean energy. He also highlighted their best practices and discussed how they face challenges head-on with creative solutions.
You can watch the full Circular Indiana webinar with our sustainability panel and guests by visiting this link or viewing the video below.
Learn more about how Envita Solutions transforms its customers’ complex waste challenges into sustainable results or connect with one of their experts to find out how Envita can help your business.