Client
Multinational health insurance company with campuses across the country.
Summary
Great Forest worked with this leading health insurance corporation to develop a strategic roadmap for achieving TRUE Zero Waste certification at two of their major campuses. Our TRUE Feasibility Assessment evaluated each of the 81 potential TRUE credits across 16 categories. The corporation now has a clear plan and timeline to drive waste reduction, diversion, and circularity to achieve their goals.
Challenge
The client was interested in achieving TRUE Zero Waste certification, but faced significant challenges:
- They lacked an understanding of what the certification process entailed.
- They had no internal team dedicated to waste management or the pursuit of TRUE certification. As a result, no progress was being made to move them towards this goal.
Solution
To set the corporation on the path to TRUE certification, Great Forest implemented a two-pronged approach to build a baseline understanding of the corporation’s waste profile.
1. Comprehensive Waste Audit
Great Forest audited each campus’s waste to determine:
- How much waste was being generated.
- The sources of that waste–i.e. the generation points (eg: common office areas, deskside office areas, front-of-house cafeteria, back-of-house kitchen).
- The types of material being discarded–each waste stream and generation point was sorted into 22 material type categories.
2. Infrastructure Assessment
Our team conducted a detailed walkthrough of each campus, reviewing:
- Waste infrastructure to assess all areas where waste was generated, transported, and stored.
- Existing waste-related operations to determine if handling and removal processes and protocols were in compliance with local and state waste-related regulations.
- Opportunities for optimization and improvement.
With this waste data, Great Forest conducted a TRUE Feasibility Assessment to evaluate each of the 81 possible TRUE credits across 16 categories, taking into consideration cost, effort, and impact. The assessment provided a clear breakdown of:
- Achievable Credits: Actions that could be implemented immediately or with modest adjustments to the existing program.
- Potential Credits: Goals that could be achieved through considerable time, effort, and programmatic changes and/or available local markets/opportunities.
- Credits that would not apply or are unachievable: Targets that were either irrelevant or unattainable due to a variety of constraints.
Results
Great Forest’s TRUE Feasibility Assessment delivered a 3-5 year plan designed to cultivate a culture of Zero Waste that would lead to TRUE certification.
Our recommendations included infrastructural adjustments and optimization, guidance for purchasing and procurement to reduce waste at the source, and programs for employee education, engagement, and cultural buy-in to secure active participation across all levels of the organization.
NOTE: While designed to align with TRUE Zero Waste certification requirements, our recommendations would deliver measurable results in waste reduction, efficiency, and cost savings, even without certification.
Photo: dylan-gillis, unsplash