BUSINESS LEADERSHIP TATA awards 2017 Background The quantum of industrial and non-industrial WASTE production globally and in India has increased manifold, to the tune of several millon units (as the measure may be) a year. Thus, WASTE management has increasingly become a very significant and deliberated matter, for ensuring long-term sustainability. It is the responsibility of corporate citizens to address this with high priority. At the Tata group, there is momentous thrust in this area, where our companies are looking for innovative and Introduction to WASTE feasible solutions for the reduction, efficient disposal, productive use and effective The best way to understand WASTE is to think management of WASTE, that gets generated in of all those resources from which we are not the process of doing business able to unlock full (expected) value and thereby ‘end up leaving behind some opportunity. For the purpose of this note, WASTE would have the following scope: © Material, substance or by-product discarded as it is no longer useful or required after the completion of a process © Use or expend carelessly, extravagantly or to no purpose © Area of land, typically an urban one not used, cultivated, or built on © Those resources (raw material, by-product, finished goods or even people) from which one is not able to extract the desired value Types & Causes of WASTE 1. WASTE getting generated in our companies Industrial by-products such as slag, sludge, ash, chemicals, paint, etc. © Less value unlocked from finished products: Left over food, steel scrap, unsold/perishable items like hotel room, food or power © Unconsumed resources or overconsumption of resources: People (low utlisation because of variable demand during the year OR mismatch of capability OR ageing workforce OR closure of units), IT bandwidth, real estate (or any other infrastructure), grades of coal/ore mines. Examples of overconsumption of resources could be: Bandwidth, hardware, data centre, software applications, paper, vehicles, real estate 2. WASTE due to lower value extraction from finished products and services This type of WASTE is generated at the end of processes either due to defects or over-production (or lower sales) of perishable goods: © Stoel scrap © Unsold perishable items like hotel room, restaurant and canteen food or electric power. For instance, it is estimated that globally, around a third and a half of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted, amounting to approximately 1.3 billion tonnes per year 3. WASTE due to unused (or under-utilised) resource OR due to over-designed capacity This type of WASTE is mostly generated due to certain management decisions which would have been appropriate at the time when the decisions were made based on business scenarios and industry trends. Examples (not exhaustive) of this WASTE could be as follows: © Under-utlised assets which could be real estate, data centres, bandwidth © Perishable raw material © Unutilised material like iran ore or coal which could be due to grade or size © Under-utilised people due to seasonality © Under-utilised people due to competency gaps or closure of some units So put on your thinking caps. Get ready to convert waste to worth Got an idea? Have a voice? We are