It’s not sexy but it works:
Reaching the top of the waste
hierarchy without breaking the bank
Content
• Urgent call to action due to significant market failure
• Awareness and adoption of resource efficiency is low
• Efficiency is difficult to picture, just not sexy
• But it is possible
• ENWORKS experience
• Role of the model of delivery, the scope of support and the
metrics used in increasing resource efficiency in business
• Independent review of recent projects
• Discussion…
Market Failure – NW Business Survey
• Only 26% have heard the term resource efficiency
• 80% think resource efficiency is important to their business
• Just 33% have taken action to increase their resource efficiency
• ~30% turned off lights, changed bulbs, increased recycling
• ~75% anticipate no return on investment
• Only 20% plan future improvements in resource efficiency
• 71% have not looked for support
• Common perception is that new equipment & capital investment is
always necessary… Efficiency is under-rated
Challenging perceptions on Efficiency
Residual Waste
Management
“I need a
compactor”
Process
Improvements
“I need a new
bit of kit”
Eco Design
“I need an R&D
project”
Challenging perceptions on Efficiency
• £100 million annual savings identified
• £27 million of these are achieved
• 92% are achieved through a reduction in resource use
• 72% of opportunities achieved with no capital cost
• 58% of cost savings achieved with no capital cost
• Of those achieved with capital cost…
• 57% have payback period less than 1 year
• 75% have payback period less than 2 years
% Savings Achieved with/without Capital Cost
£ Savings from
Resource Reduction
No
Capital Cost
£ Savings from
Substitution
With
Capital Cost
No
Capital Cost
£ Savings from
Waste Diverted from Landfill
With
Capital Cost
No
Capital Cost
With
Capital Cost
£12,352,312
£8,911,552
£59,314
£47,980
£1,026,274
£686,196
58%
42%
55%
45%
60%
40%
Contributing factors
•
•
•
•
Model of delivery
Scope of support
Triage system
Metrics
Model of Delivery
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Regional programme
All business sizes eligible
All sectors eligible
Removes barriers to engagement
Collaborate regionally & nationally
Ongoing support where appropriate
Act in the interests of the business…
Wide Scope
• Eco design of products and packaging
• On site facilitation / change management
• On site technical advice
• Monitoring & measurement
• Research, options analysis
• Audit / review of practices
• Opportunity identification & quantification
• Training & networking
• Information provision & signposting
• Referrals to other support
• Sustainable procurement
• Business continuity / risk
• Biodiversity
• Staff / community engagement
• Legal compliance
• Environmental policies
• Customer demands
Wide scope
• Energy efficiency
• Residual waste management
• Material efficiency
• Process efficiency
• Water efficiency
• Eco design
• Knowledge and skills transfer
• Tools, information, equipment
• Facilitation & technical advice
• Difficult to describe the offer
• Can maximise opportunities available
Targeting support
• No barriers to light touch support
• Nature, duration and depth of support determined by triage
• Criteria must be flexible
• Multiple interactions may be needed to obtain sufficient
information to make the assessment
Light touch support (1:Many)
Long term support (1:1)
TRIAGE
Low savings potential
Low commitment to action
Non priority sector
High savings potential
High commitment to action
Priority sector
Metrics
• Public funding = lots of measures
• Important to maintain focus on key objectives
• Target outcomes not process metrics
• Activity is driven by the metrics employed
Using metrics to focus activity
Targeting our delivery partners to help businesses make:
• Cost savings (£) through:
• increasing energy efficiency (CO2)
• reducing material consumption (tonnes)
• reducing water consumption (m3)
• diverting waste from landfill (tonnes)
The effects of other metrics on activity and impact
Target =
number of businesses advised
Activity = light touch, one off interventions
training events, basic site visit
no triage
Impact =
difficult to measure
likely to be minimal
The effects of other metrics on activity and impact
Target =
jobs and sales
Activity = ‘Corporate Responsibility’ support
environmental policy, legal compliance
Impact =
little or no efficiency savings
If Metrics = Saved
£, CO2, materials, water
• Eco design of products and packaging
• On site facilitation / change management
• On site technical advice
• Monitoring & measurement
• Research, options analysis
• Audit / review of practices
• Opportunity identification & quantification
If Metrics = Created
Jobs & Sales
• Sustainable procurement
• Business continuity / risk
• Legal compliance
• Environmental policies
• Customer demands
No relationship
• No risks
• No opportunities
• No awareness
• A delivery model
that is locally
embedded to gain
wide outreach and
engage
Want some form
of support
Initial stages of
the relationship
Commitment to
action
No Relationship
Want some form
of support
• No risks
• No opportunities
• No awareness
• No engagement
• Single issue
• Often risk related
• Fear and greed
• A delivery model
that is locally
embedded to gain
wide outreach and
engage
•
•
•
•
Wide scope
Light touch
Tailored
No constraints on
eligibility
• Business assists
Initial stages of
the relationship
Commitment to
Action
No Relationship
Want some form
of support
Initial stages of
the relationship
• No risks
• No opportunities
• No awareness
• No engagement
• Single issue
• Often risk related
• Fear and greed
• Broaden scope
• Highlight
potential
• Transfer skills &
knowledge
•
•
•
•
Wide scope
Light touch
Tailored
No constraints on
eligibility
• Business assists
• Wide scope
• No constraints re
data sets
• Triage
• Savings identified
Commitment to
Action
No Relationship
Want some form
of support
Initial stages of
the relationship
Commitment to
Action
• No risks
• No opportunities
• No awareness
• No engagement
• Single issue
• Often risk related
• Fear and greed
• Broaden scope
• Highlight potential
• Transfer skills &
knowledge
• Facilitate change
• Onsite support
• Long term
•
•
•
•
Wide scope
Light touch
Tailored
No constraints on
eligibility
• Business assists
• Wide scope
• No constraints re
data sets
• Triage
• Savings identified
• Wide scope of
support needed
• Tailored
• Data is valued
• Savings achieved
ENWORKS Innovation Projects
• 7 projects, 2009-2010, ~£650k
• Examining different models & scope of delivery
• Aim to identify key success factors for future activity
• Independent review - Arup
ENWORKS Innovation Projects - Results
• £5+ million annual cost savings identified
• of which £625,000 is achieved
• 400 tonnes CO2 savings
• 6,000 tonnes material savings
• 50,000 m3 water savings
Innovation Projects – Results of
Procurement (7 Innovation Projects)
Delivery Typology
Projects
(1) Sector Focused Supply Chain
Food & Drink
Automotive
(2) Generic Supply Chain Focus
Carbon Supply Chain Management
(3) Strategic Single Firm
Sellafield
(4) Single Solution Focus
Renewables Brokerage
Eco Design
(5) “Green Through Lean” Alignment
Lean & Resource Efficiency
(1) Sector Focused Supply Chain Lessons
• Guard against design stage assumptions concerning the effectiveness
of “representative” sector bodies in securing recruits – Optimism bias
• Importance of the strategic firms in motivating participation down the
supply chain
• Effect of change in a firm’s mid course leadership
• Allow sufficient time to convert identified opportunities into outcomes
• Globalisation of supply chains in the NW may mean that many links in
the chain are “out of area” yet these may be key drivers for resource
use
(2) Generic supply chain - Lessons
• Screening out low resource intensive firms especially in the service
sector (drag on effectiveness)
• Differentiate between the level of leadership available through the
top tier (quality of management systems/ knowledge can vary)
• Spatial mapping of likely beneficiaries may be necessary to verify
eligibility
• Importance of leadership from top tier to drive participation down
the tiers
• Harmonised measurement approach
• Be prepared to move away from initial target companies
(3) Strategic Single Firm
• Allow sufficient lead time for getting initial corporate “buy in”;
converting pipeline opportunities (e.g. capital approval
processes, etc).
• Complex approval processes and systems to navigate
• Potential high yield resource savings if prepared to wait
(4) Single Solution Focus
•
•
•
•
•
•
Benefit of a clear focus
Supply push model
Relatively low unit cost of outputs achieved
Recruitment constraints less significant but still there
Outcomes per unit output are relatively smaller
Spillover opportunities less easy to include if outside the scope of
whatever the “single solution” happens to be e.g. energy efficiency
on a renewables brokering project
• Strategic focus less evident
(5) Lean “Green” Alignment - Issues
• Lean principles should create compatible drivers within firms that
encourage resource efficiency but a “green” outcome can not be
assumed from a lean activity
• Lean interventions can lead to non green outcomes especially in
relation to the treatment/ management of inventory where decreased
inventory is made at the expense of more transport resource
consumption leading to more carbon use
• Need to have clear methodologies and specific material resource
measurement
GENERAL LESSONS
Delivery Typology
Risk on Across the Evaluation Model
(1) Sector Focused Supply Chain
Poor sector “multipliers” leads to poor project resource
use dragging down economy and efficiency measures
(2) Generic Supply Chain Focus
Lack of focus on resource intensive activities and non
regional priorities reduce effectiveness
(3) Strategic Single Firm
High unit output costs due to “transaction time” but
better effectiveness
(4) Single Solution Focus
“Supply push” misses wider resource efficiency gains
creating an opportunity avoided.
(5) “Green Through Lean” Alignment
Lean optimisation at expense of green may reduce
effectiveness.
Eco Design innovation project
• 12 businesses supported across 7 sectors
• 4 product specification / redesign projects
• 8 packaging improvement projects
• £1+ million annual cost savings identified
• £42k achieved
• Less than 1 year payback
• 6,000+ tonnes of material savings from 2 opportunities
• 2 case studies
Pushing businesses up the waste hierarchy
• Accepting market failure
• Challenging perceptions
• Demonstrating that efficiency is achievable and delivers significant
benefits
• Understanding the influence of delivery model, scope of support and
metrics on activity and ultimately outcomes
• Getting the balance right