Date: August 6, 2024
Achieving sustainability can look different based on industry standards and the materials at hand. One thing we know for certain is more companies are looking for ways to weave sustainable solutions into their daily operations. As a result, the way we view waste is changing. The phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” has never been more applicable. Envita Solutions, a premier total waste management provider, is dedicated to helping its customers set and reach sustainability goals through material recovery, energy recovery, composting, and creative reuse. Envita’s Senior Director of Operations and Sustainability, Shaun Miller, recently served as an expert on the Good Garbage podcast to discuss sustainable packaging, industry challenges, and total waste management solutions.
The podcast explores the themes of innovation, collaboration, and regeneration in the packaging industry. Host, Ved Krishna and producer, Alex Moore are on a mission to leave the planet cleaner than they found it. Through their interviews, they discuss science, the packaging industry, and the state of our environment providing insights into the question, “What is good garbage?”
Envita works alongside its customers, as a true partner, to highlight the most sustainable use for each byproduct. They understand and embrace the concept of “good garbage.” Most waste streams can be reused, recycled, or repurposed. It is Envita’s job to deliver solutions, be flexible, and support the customer in whichever way is most appropriate.
“We look at material and waste streams that our customers have that perhaps can be either used to develop a new business, a new enterprise for a larger problem or a larger feedstock,” said Miller. “It can be as simple as a customer has ceramic disks that they’re struggling to get rid of, but we happen to have another customer in battery space that can use those broken-down ceramic components in their own waste stream.”
Over the last 20 years, Envita has built a vast supplier network to help reduce customers’ environmental impact while also providing efficient and innovative solutions. Miller says it takes a lot of investigation to ensure that one person’s problem can become somebody else’s solution.
“If you can do that well, that’s the nature of circular economy,” said Miller. “That’s why it’s a total waste management program. We are working across the aggregation of all waste streams and all facilities. We aim to find cost reduction and savings elsewhere that can help fund those sustainability journeys from a higher level.”
Envita works to provide a holistic approach to total waste management. By examining an operation, they can find savings that help fund sustainability initiatives. “A long-term customer once said that environmental health and safety is rarely a contributor to the bottom line,” said Miller. “He said we helped them flip the script on that. I always loved the way he phrased that.”
Miller went on to compare Envita’s total waste management approach to that of a road map, with the destination being sustainability. Whether you are at the beginning of your journey or near the end of it, Envita provides recommendations that cultivate continuous improvement.
“We have customers that have been working with us for over 20 years and all their facilities are zero waste to landfill and their waste percentages are extremely small. But we’re always looking to see what we can do better, from an economic perspective or a sustainability perspective,” said Miller.
The conversation wrapped with an open-ended question: What does good garbage mean to you? Miller said his family collects their recycling and drops it off at a segregation center weekly. It may not be feasible for everyone, but he believes it’s on all of us to move forward and recognize what can be done to create real change.
“You have to start with your habits as an individual,” said Miller. “I hope to lift others up and enable meaningful change to make it easier for everyone to be able to do those things. That’s a big lift and big ask but I hope that’s where we end up.”
You can listen to the full interview with Shaun Miller by visiting this link. To learn more about how Envita Solutions can help you turn your trash into “good garbage” visit envitainc.com.