GG277

Finding and reducing waste in

plastics processing
Finding and reducing waste in
plastics processing

This Good Practice Guide was produced by

Envirowise

Prepared with assistance from:

Enviros Aspinwall
Summary

Waste is any aspect of your operations that fails to add value. It is a significant hidden
cost for many plastics processing companies and typically costs 10 - 15 (or even 20) times
more than the costs of disposal. While some waste is unavoidable, much of it is not.
Most companies can achieve savings of at least 1% of turnover by implementing a
systematic waste minimisation programme. Improving environmental performance can,
therefore, make a large contribution to business success.

This Good Practice Guide aims to help managers in the plastics processing industry to track
business efficiency using waste as a key performance indicator. Taking action to reduce waste
will result in significant cost savings, leading to increased profits. It will also help your company
to remain competitive and to comply with environmental legislation.

The Guide is intended to help companies wishing to make quick savings from an initial
assessment of their environmental performance. Companies are urged to start by preventing
waste (ie before value is added to polymer) and to aim for a first-time yield for each polymer
equal to their mass balance yield. Making your mass balance yield as close as possible to 100%
will reduce polymer waste and increase your business efficiency.

The Guide describes:

■ the benefits of waste as a key performance indicator;

■ how to identify and collect performance data;

■ how to prioritise areas requiring improvement;

■ how to gain the support of all employees;

■ how to overcome barriers to improving performance;

■ a range of no-cost and low-cost measures to reduce waste;

■ how to realise quick cost savings and other benefits by reducing waste;

■ the need for regular assessment and review to maintain continual improvement in
performance.

A series of 11 checklists are provided, as Microsoft® Word files on the CD-ROM in the back
pocket of the Guide, to help companies assess their current performance and to identify
opportunities to make quick savings. The CD-ROM also contains PDF files of a number of other
useful Envirowise publications. Printed copies of these publications are available free of charge
through the Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794.
Contents

Section Page

1 Environmental performance as a business indicator 1

1.1 The benefits of waste as a key performance indicator 1
1.2 Assessing your environmental performance 2
1.3 How to use this Guide 3

2 Plastics processing and the environment 5

2.1 Prevention is better than cure 6
2.2 Does your company have an effective waste minimisation programme? 7

3 Planning your assessment of environmental performance 8

3.1 Setting priorities 8
3.2 Identifying base-line information 8
3.3 Benchmarking 9
3.4 Gaining senior management commitment 9
3.5 Overcoming barriers 10
3.6 Who else should be involved at this stage? 12

4 Assessing your environmental performance 13

4.1 Process inputs and outputs 13
4.2 Measuring performance 16
4.3 Assessing progress 19

5 Gaining operator support and involvement 20

5.1 Messages that motivate 20
5.2 Awareness-raising techniques 21

6 Practical measures to reduce waste costs 22

6.1 Ask why 22
6.2 Measuring to Manage 22
6.3 Quality assurance 23
6.4 Materials and packaging 23
6.5 Mould tools 24
6.6 Moulding 24
6.7 Cooling systems 26
6.8 Printing and coating 26
6.9 Energy 26

7 Next steps 27

Appendices
Appendix 1 Other sources of information 29
Appendix 2 Printed versions of the checklists 31
Appendix 3 About the CD-ROM 44
Environmental performance as a 1

section
business indicator

This Good Practice Guide is intended to help managers in the plastics processing sector
to track business efficiency using waste as a key performance indicator. Waste is any
aspect of your operations that fails to add value. It is a significant hidden cost for many
companies and it includes the costs associated with:

■ regrinding products that are not utilised first time, eg reduced value, and increased labour,
energy and maintenance costs;

■ managing scrap polymer, waste packaging and other solid wastes;

■ wastewater collection, treatment and disposal;

■ inefficient use of utilities and processing fluids, eg water, electricity and hydraulic oil;

■ emissions to the atmosphere.

The cost of waste is usually much more than the cost of disposal. It is typically 10 - 15 (or even
20) times more, when the costs of polymer, other materials, consumables, rework, energy, water,
labour, landfill tax, coatings, printing and lost opportunities for producing saleable product are
taken into account. While some waste is unavoidable, much of it is not. It may have been
ignored or described in other ways, eg allowance, purge, regrind, rejects, rework, runners, scrap
and sprues.

Even efficient companies produce waste. The average cost of waste is approximately 4% of
turnover. Most companies can achieve savings of at least 1% of turnover by implementing a
systematic waste minimisation programme. If your gross profit is 5%, then avoidable waste
amounting to 1% of turnover is equivalent to 20% of the profit margin. Improving
environmental performance can, therefore, make a large contribution to business success.

What was 1% of your turnover last year? This is how much you could save by
implementing a systematic approach to waste minimisation.

If the true cost of waste is ten times the cost of waste disposal, then reducing waste
disposal costs by just £10/week is equivalent to saving £5 000/year. At a gross profit
of 5%, this is equivalent to sales of £100 000/year.

1.1 The benefits of waste as a key performance

indicator
1.1.1 Reducing costs and increasing profits

Environmental performance and business success are closely related. For example, you pay for
the polymer, energy and other resources used in your manufacturing process. You then pay
again when a proportion of these resources is not used productively and/or is disposed of as
waste. Regrinding and re-using polymer in-house is still waste because it requires more labour
and energy, and effectively loses the labour and energy used during first-time processing. The
opportunity to manufacture saleable product the first time the polymer enters the manufacturing
process is also lost.

1
1
section Although it is not possible to eliminate all waste, you can achieve significant cost savings by
reducing waste. Many of the measures described in Section 6 are no-cost or low-cost.

1.1.2 Complying with legislation

Improving your environmental performance means less polluting outputs from your business.
These smaller quantities should be easier to manage, represent less risk and, in many cases, make
it easier to comply with relevant environmental legislation.

1.1.3 Winning more business and keeping existing customers

Increasingly, companies and organisations are taking an interest in the environmental

performance of their suppliers. For example, some expect suppliers to implement an
environmental management system (EMS) certified to the international standard, ISO 140011.
Others seek to work in partnership with their suppliers to improve environmental performance.

Improving your environmental performance is likely to help you win new work and to keep
existing customers by meeting their environmental purchasing criteria. While this Guide does
not explain how to meet specific customer criteria, it does describe a cost-effective and practical
strategy for improving environmental performance. It will help you to demonstrate to customers
that your company is taking a responsible approach to environmental issues.

Improving environmental management is a work-winning strategy

A company with fewer than 20 employees was required by one of its customers in
the automotive industry to implement an environmental management system. Soon
after the system was certified to ISO 14001, new work valued at around £20 000 was
won from another customer.

1.2 Assessing your environmental performance

To make improvements to your environmental performance, you need to establish the current
position. You can do this by looking at:

■ Changes to the environment as a result of business activities, ie environmental impacts.

These impacts are usually considered by looking at the activities likely to cause them,
particularly business inputs and outputs. This approach is likely to maximise resource and
cost savings.

■ How well the company complies with environmental legislation.

■ Existing environmental management practices and procedures.

■ Accidents and incidents with adverse environmental impacts, ie their occurrence,

management and prevention.

If you want to implement an EMS that complies with ISO 14001, you need to consider all aspects
of your environmental performance. This Guide concentrates on business inputs and outputs,
as this is where you can quickly reduce your costs. However, companies working towards the
implementation of a formal EMS will still find this Guide helpful.

1 For practical advice on how to implement an EMS, see Good Practice Guide (GG251) Environmental
Management Systems for the Plastics Industry. GG251 is available in PDF format on the CD-ROM in the back
pocket of this Guide or as a printed copy, free of charge, through the Environment and Energy Helpline on
freephone 0800 585794.

2
Complying with environmental legislation is also important. For the latest advice about the
1

section
environmental legislation governing your operations, contact the Environment and Energy
Helpline on freephone 0800 585794.

1.3 How to use this Guide

The different Sections of the Guide take you through the various stages of assessing your
business performance based on waste as a key performance indicator. Advice on how to enlist
the help and support of others is given and specific tasks relating to data, analysis, investigation
and recruiting others are described. Table 1 shows the Guide’s structure and what to expect from
each Section.

Checklists are provided, on a CD-ROM in the back pocket of the Guide, to help you to assess
your environmental performance and to identify ways of saving money by reducing waste. These
checklists and forms are provided as Microsoft® Word files for you to print out as required. A
disk icon in the margin indicates when you should look on the CD-ROM for a particular file. The
checklists are also given as printed versions in Appendix 2.

The scoring system used in the checklists allows you to assess current performance in terms of
the answers to a series of questions. Completing these checklists regularly (say, quarterly), and
comparing the results with the previous time, will help you to identify where to concentrate your
efforts. This work will also help you to achieve continual improvement.

In addition, the CD-ROM contains PDF files of a number of other publications from Envirowise
that you may find useful. If you would prefer a free printed copy of any of these publications,
contact the Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794. The contents of the
CD-ROM are listed in Appendix 3.

The techniques described in the Guide will allow you to make quick savings following a rapid
first assessment of business efficiency and environmental performance. The Guide is not
intended to provide comprehensive advice on how to carry out the detailed evaluation of
environmental performance required to achieve certification to ISO 14001.

3
4
section
1

Table 1 The Guide’s structure and key outputs

Section Title Topics Checklists

1 Environmental performance as a Benefits of assessing environmental efficiency.

business indicator
2 Plastics processing and the environment Benefits of following the waste hierarchy. 1 Do you have an effective waste minimisation
Environmental impacts of plastics processing. programme?
3 Planning your assessment of Collecting base-line information. 2 Identifying priorities for improvement.
environmental performance Benchmarking. 3 Identifying sources of environmental data.
Importance of gaining senior management 4 Progress towards setting priorities and
commitment. gathering base-line data.
How to gain commitment. 5 Progress towards gaining organisational
Involving others. commitment.

4 Assessing your environmental Techniques for gaining a better understanding 6 First-time yield for polymer use.
performance of environmental performance, including: 7 Mass balance calculation and allocation.
■ identifying process inputs and outputs; 8 Progress towards reducing the true cost of
■ process mapping; waste.
■ determining first-time yield;
■ performing a mass balance;
■ determining mass balance yield.
5 Gaining operator support and Reasons for staff to become involved. 9 Progress towards gaining support from
involvement Awareness-raising techniques. operators.
6 Practical measures to reduce waste costs Suggestions used by other plastics companies 10 Progress towards implementing measures to
to improve. reduce waste costs.
7 Next steps Suggestions to enable further progress. 11 Progress towards implementing an EMS.
Plastics processing and the 2

section
environment

Many aspects of plastics processing can - and usually do - have an impact on the
environment. Do you know how your business impacts on the environment? Table 2
summarises the main potential impacts likely to be under a company’s direct control.
Many of these impacts either result from waste or are made worse by waste, ie solid
waste, liquid waste, trade effluent, inefficient use of energy, inefficient use of water and
emissions to the atmosphere of dust, noise, gas, particles and steam.

Table 2 Potential environmental impacts under the direct control of plastics processors

Process/activity Potential environmental impact

Design ■ Decisions at this stage have positive and/or negative

implications for most of the potential environmental
impacts that arise during plastics processing. Aim to
design the most efficient product while seeking to
minimise the environmental impacts that may arise at
all stages of its life.

Materials purchasing ■ Air pollution, water pollution and litter arising from the
disposal of waste packaging.

Processing and use ■ Air and water pollution arising from the processing and
of materials disposal of solid and liquid wastes (including effluents).
■ Contamination of land and water through mishandling
and poor storage.
■ Contribution to the formation of photochemical smog
through the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
■ Noise, litter and dust nuisance.

Energy use ■ Depletion of finite resources.

■ Climate change resulting from carbon dioxide emissions
during electricity generation etc.

Water use ■ Loss of habitats, alterations in the seasonal cycle of

plants and animals, impaired amenity, water pollution
and lowered water tables.
■ Impacts associated with water treatment (eg related to
chemicals, energy and wastes).
■ Potential for Legionnaires’ disease.

Products ■ Depletion of resources used for packaging.

■ Climate change resulting from carbon dioxide emissions

released during the transportation of materials and
packaging.

Other environmental impacts will arise:

■ before materials arrive on-site, eg depletion of finite resources such as hydrocarbons and
climate change caused by carbon dioxide emissions associated with the manufacture and
transportation of the materials;

5
2
section ■ during the use of some plastics products, eg premature breakage has a range of
environmental implications while the weight of a car part can affect fuel consumption;

■ at the end of each product’s useful life, eg impacts associated with litter, recycling and/or
disposal.

2.1 Prevention is better than cure

There is a priority in the ways that waste should be dealt with to maximise cost savings and the
benefits to the environment. Understanding the waste hierarchy (see Fig 1) can help companies
to identify the most cost-effective opportunities to reduce waste and save money. Eliminating
or preventing waste from occurring in the first place is the best way of reducing your
environmental impacts and thus improving your environmental performance.

Fig 1 The waste hierarchy

One-trip
cardboard boxes

Low mass
plastic sacks

Rejects

1E
li m i n a t e Yield

97% Target

Weeks

2R
educe
■ Re-usable transit
packaging
■ Supply chain
partnerships

3R
e-use

WASTE Rejects
ONLY

■ Segregate waste parts

■ Maintain cleanliness
■ Negotiate incorporation
of regrind in customer
Segregate waste specifications
to minimise
disposal costs

5D 4R
is p o s e e c y cl e

6
Water re-use saves money
2

section
Styropack (UK) Ltd employs 60 people at its Aberdare site in South Wales where
expanded polystyrene mouldings are manufactured 24 hours a day for use in
packaging by a range of customers. Styropack produces 5 m3/day of effluent as a
result of softening water for boilers. This effluent used to be discharged directly to
drains, but it is now captured in storage cisterns for use in cleaning operations. The
capital cost of this initiative was £800. Water supply costs have fallen by
approximately £1 600/year, giving a payback period of just six months.

2.2 Does your company have an effective waste

minimisation programme?
Use Checklist 1 to assess your company’s attitude to waste minimisation and the environment.
The checklist uses a scoring system to help you to decide whether you could improve your
company’s waste minimisation programme. The higher your score, the better your performance
and the lower your score, the more scope there is for improvement.

GG277
checklist1.doc

7
 3 section Planning your assessment of
environmental performance

Planning is the key to success of any task - from making a new moulding to
implementing a waste minimisation programme. This Section will help you to set
priorities and to identify the data you need to make waste one of your key performance
indicators. It also contains advice to help you gain the support of other people in the
company - another vital element of a successful waste minimisation programme.

3.1 Setting priorities

Every aspect of plastics processing has cost and environmental implications. However, it is not
sensible to try and investigate them all immediately. It may also not be realistic, or productive, to
implement a number of changes at the same time. As time and resources for the project are likely
to be limited, decide your priorities before beginning to assess your environmental performance.

Use Checklist 2 to decide the priorities for your company. Base your decision on:

■ how much you spend each year on different items;

■ the inputs and outputs most likely to yield opportunities to improve efficiency.

The checklist suggests certain priorities. Consider whether these are appropriate to your
GG277 circumstances and alter them as necessary.
checklist2.doc

3.2 Identifying base-line information

Base-line data provide a yardstick against which to measure your progress and to compare your
performance with other sites and companies (see Section 3.3). You may already have more
information about your current environmental performance than you realise. For example,
invoices are a useful source of amounts and costs.

Checklist 3 shows possible sources of existing environmental performance data. Use it to identify:

■ the sources relevant to your priority areas;

■ who holds that data;

■ if you think new data are needed to fill gaps, to bring data up-to-date and/or to increase your
understanding.
GG277
checklist3.doc
When collecting data, ensure that all data:

■ are still applicable, eg they relate to current production methods;

■ are accurate, eg delivery quantities are checked;

■ do not contain built-in allowances for waste, eg yield loss and tolerances;

■ use consistent units;

■ are adjusted for changes in stock levels.

A waste base-line tool, developed by Envirowise, may help you to record quantities and costs.
Waste Account: Count the cost of waste for your business and measure your savings (ET225) is
available in PDF format on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of this Guide or as a printed copy
free of charge through the Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794.

8
3.3 Benchmarking
3

section
Comparing your performance with that of other companies will help you to put your
environmental performance into context and it will give you an idea of what can be achieved. It
should also help to persuade senior management of the need to improve.

Use Environmental Performance Guide (EG252) Benchmarking Waste in Plastics Processing2 to

compare your company’s polymer costs, polymer utilisation, waste costs, utility costs and
packaging costs with others in the plastics processing industry.

Benchmarking between sites boosts performance

British Polythene Industries plc monitors the environmental performance of its

subsidiaries every month. This gives individual sites the incentive to identify any
problem areas as well as striving for continual improvement.

The following are monitored and benchmarked:

■ waste disposal to landfill;

■ waste recovery;

■ expenditure on waste;

■ materials;

■ electricity;

■ gas;

■ oil;

■ water.

Use Checklist 4 to assess your progress in setting priorities for improvement and obtaining base-
line information.

3.4 Gaining senior management commitment

People have a key role to play in the success or failure of plans to assess your environmental GG277
performance. Because changes to the culture of the whole company may be necessary, senior checklist4.doc
management must be committed to ensuring the initiative is a success. Resources need to be
allocated and staff empowered to take the process forward.

Middle managers need to understand both how to gain senior management commitment and
why environmental performance is important. A good way to begin is to seek allies. Identify a
senior manager or director who may be sympathetic or whose department would benefit
directly. Approach senior managers responsible for relevant areas, eg the senior manager
responsible for waste disposal. Choose a good moment to broach the subject - outline your
ideas and, perhaps, promise more detailed information. Offer the manager a copy of this Guide,
explaining why it is relevant to the company.

2 Available in PDF format on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of this Guide or as a printed copy free of charge
through the Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794.

9
3
section
3.4.1 Making a presentation to the board

Once you have gained an ally or key contact within the senior management team, consider your
strategy for introducing suggestions to the board. This might entail your contact gaining a slot
on the board agenda or an approach to the company secretary.

Make the most of your opportunity to address the board. Prepare a formal and professional
presentation, using colour, figures and diagrams to make it interesting and attractive. Make the
presentation relevant to the company and to the audience. Allow time for a short ‘questions
and answers’ session after the presentation and remember to be enthusiastic.

You may find the set of PowerPoint overheads contained in Good Practice Guide (GG125) Waste
Minimisation Pays: Five business reasons for reducing waste helpful when planning your
presentation. The text of GG125 is provided as a PDF file on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of
this Guide, together with a copy of the overhead templates in Microsoft® PowerPoint®. A
printed copy of GG125 (with a disk containing the PowerPoint® file) can also be obtained free
of charge through the Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794.

Tips for gaining corporate commitment

■ Emphasise opportunities for early success and any cost savings already achieved.
This will help to gain and maintain senior management commitment to the drive
to improve environmental performance.

■ Stress short payback periods for any investment needed.

■ Highlight known major sources of waste. Explain that the greatest waste is often
a waste that cannot be seen.

■ Indicate the implications for human resources.

■ Discuss any perceived difficulties.

■ Point out the potential impact of environmental legislation, eg packaging waste

regulations3.

■ Gain the support of line managers. Without their support, it will be difficult to
make any progress.

3.5 Overcoming barriers

In efforts to gain allies and in presentations, you need to anticipate the barriers that might be
encountered. These may include statements such as:

“It will cost too much money” or “All environmental controls cost money”.
“We don’t have the expertise to do anything about it.”
“We’ve tried it all before. Jim did it three years ago but found…”
“We cannot spare your time or anyone else’s time. Increasing sales is a much
more important task.”
“We don’t have much waste to minimise.”
“We don’t have any impact on the environment.”

3 Ask the Environment and Energy Helpline, on freephone 0800 585794, for advice on the latest environmental
legislation affecting your operations.

10
Use the information given in Section 1 to explain why reducing waste warrants just as much
3

section
attention as increasing and/or maintaining turnover. Stress that any cost savings go straight to
the bottom line whereas only a small proportion of turnover ends up as profit.

3.5.1 Stress the hidden cost of waste in plastics processing

Counter arguments that there is little scope for reducing waste costs by pointing out that:

■ Waste may not be recognised as such because it is assumed to be inevitable or because some
other word is used to describe it. Finding Hidden Profit: 200 Tips for Reducing Waste (ET30)
includes a list of 121 euphemisms for waste. These include allowance, purge, regrind,
rejects, rework, runners, scrap and sprues.

■ The cost of waste is usually much more than the cost of disposal. The true cost of waste is
typically 10 to 15 (and up to 20) times more. For polymer waste, the true cost of waste is
greater the later it arises in the production process.

The true cost of waste polymer includes:

- costs incurred in all previous processing stages;

- lost opportunities for producing saleable product because labour and equipment have
been used to make waste (includes regrinding, reprocessing or reworking);

- costs of materials, ancillary materials, consumables and part-processed materials;

- labour associated with handling and processing materials, ancillary materials and part-
finished products (includes regrinding, reprocessing and reworking);

- energy (including energy used for compressed air) used during the transportation,
processing and handling of polymer and other materials (includes regrinding, reprocessing
and reworking);

- packaging of subsequently wasted materials that has to be disposed of;

- management and monitoring of wasteful processes;

- waste disposal costs at each stage, including the discharge of any trade effluent.

■ Landfill tax is set to increase at a rate of £1 per tonne per year so as to be £15/tonne by
2004/2005. Trade effluent charges are also increasing significantly as a result of higher
wastewater treatment standards.

Tips for overcoming barriers

■ List the barriers you expect to be raised by senior management and sketch out the
basis of your counterarguments. For example, to counter the argument “All
environmental controls cost money”, explain that there are many examples in
plastics processing where improving environmental performance can reduce costs.
Point out that the company currently has insufficient performance data to decide
what environmental controls and management interventions are required. Cite
Industry Examples from this Guide in support of these arguments.

■ Identify and estimate the costs and benefits of some no-cost and low-cost
measures (see Section 6) to reduce waste. Use your figures to convince senior
management that benefits can be realised quickly with a rapid payback. Don’t
forget to reflect the true cost of the waste concerned.

11
 3 section
3.5.2 Highlight the benefits of improving environmental
performance

Barriers usually focus around financial and resource issues. However, pointing out the benefits
of complying with environmental legislation and keeping/winning customers can also help to
gain senior management support:

■ Identify some non-financial benefits that are realistic and which will help senior management
to appreciate that support is warranted. Improved relations with environmental regulators
and higher staff morale are common consequences of improved environmental performance.

■ Gather together relevant Industry Examples from this Guide, other publications and from
other plastics processors.

3.6 Who else should be involved at this stage?

Unless the company is very small, it is not generally effective if only one person carries out the
assessment. Involving a team of people will help to ensure the workforce is committed to
achieving and maintaining improved environmental performance:

■ Set up a team involving machine operators and other relevant operating staff as well as line
managers. Operators often have good ideas and suggestions about how to improve
performance.

■ Nominate someone to take responsibility for implementing the drive to improved

environmental performance. The tasks of the project ‘Champion’ include:

- setting up a project team to undertake the assessment and to implement measures to

improve performance;

- allocating tasks and resources;

- establishing appropriate forms and channels of communication to keep everyone in the

company informed of progress and to encourage them to contribute.

■ Ensure senior managers have given authority to the Champion and that adequate resources
have been made available.

■ Obtain more information about people issues from Good Practice Guide (GG27) Saving
Money Through Waste Minimisation: Teams and Champions. GG27 is provided as a PDF file
on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of this Guide. Alternatively, a printed copy of GG125
(with a disk containing the PowerPoint® file) can be obtained free of charge through the
Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794.

Use Checklist 5 to plot your progress towards gaining organisational commitment to the project.
This checklist uses a simple yes/no scoring system.

GG277
checklist5.doc

12
Assessing your environmental 4

section
performance

Your first-time yield (FTY) and mass balance yield (MBY) provide numerical measures of your
environmental performance, as part of your business efficiency.

FTY = annual weight of saleable polymer production × 100

total annual weight of polymer throughput

MBY = annual weight of saleable polymer production × 100

annual weight of virgin polymer consumed

They can also be combined to establish the cost of polymer waste. The other elements of the
true cost of waste can then be added:

True cost of waste = FTY cost + MBY cost + Other costs

where:

FTY cost = (100 – FTY) × annual cost of running the process*

100

* wear and tear, energy, manpower etc.

MBY cost = (100 - MBY) × annual cost of materials

100

When seeking to improve your environmental performance by reducing polymer waste:

■ aim for an FTY equal to your MBY;

■ make your MBY as close as possible to 100%.

If first-time yield is tackled as your main priority, mass balance yield will probably improve without
significant additional effort.

In most companies, where regrind use is allowed in most products, the amount sent to waste
will be much less than the amount reground and the mass balance yield will be closer to 100%
than in the example given in the ensuing Checklists 6 and 7. These are from a medical products
company where regrind was prohibited. Typically, mass balance yield may be 98% and first-time
yield may be 90%.

First, you need to determine the amounts of the inputs and outputs to your process in a given
period, say a year.

4.1 Process inputs and outputs

Start by identifying the main inputs and outputs for your process. Copy and amend Fig 2 to
show any additional inputs and outputs applicable to your business. Delete any that do not
apply. An electronic version of the diagram is provided as a JPG file on the CD-ROM in the back
pocket of the Guide.

GG277fig2.jpg

13
4
section
Fig 2 Typical overall inputs and outputs for plastics processing

Heat Dust
Solvent
fumes Noise

Airborne wastes

Raw materials
Polymer, additives, masterbatch,
paint, ink, adhesives, labels

Ancillary materials
Oil, oil filters, antifreeze, solvent,
metals, degreasant, refrigerant,
release agents, cleaning and
specialist purging materials

Consumables
Personal protective equipment PLASTICS
(PPE), rags etc. PRODUCT
PROCESS
Packaging
For incoming raw materials
and for outgoing products

Energy
Electricity, compressed air, cooling

Water

Solid and liquid wastes

Cooling water, Other waste

contaminated Oil, oil filters, PPE,
effluent Waste packaging, scrap
polymer metal, degreasant,
and solvent, cleaning
reject and specialist purging
Regrind Cooling products wastes, rags etc.

Drain

Disposal

Now look more closely at the different stages of your process and identify where inputs are used
and outputs arise. For example, waste polymer can occur at many points during the production
process. Where the waste occurs has considerable implications for its true cost. Preparing a
detailed process map will help you to identify the waste saving opportunities with the greatest
potential to reduce costs.

14
Fig 3 shows a process map for the main injection moulding processes and the links between
4

section
these processes. Process maps for blow moulding, film moulding or extrusion moulding differ
in some aspects but share many common elements.

Remember, what comes in must come out in some way and somewhere. Any input
could be a waste if it does not leave as part of a value-added product.

Fig 3 Simplified process map for injection moulding

Polymer

Polymer, packaging (including

boxes, pallets, containers, sacks,
Energy Goods inwards
tape, wrapping, binding and
tying materials), heat

Energy Storing Polymer, packaging, heat

Additives,
Polymer, masterbatch,
masterbatch, Blending
energy packaging, heat
Heat,
air emissions

Oil, Compressed Regrind Energy

energy air

Oil,
water
Oil, filters, PPE, Process Reject parts, polymer
rags, mould tools, including rejects and
energy, release agents, sprue
cleaning and specialist
purging materials Cleaning and specialist
purging wastes,
Refrigerant, masterbatch, oil, filters,
heat PPE, rags, heat
Water,
antifreeze, Cooling Plastic parts
refrigerant, damaged in
energy, oil handling
Water,
antifreeze, oil Scrapped mouldings,
Boxes, pallets,
boxes, pallets, labels,
labels, sacks, Packaging sacks, tape, wrapping,
tape, wrapping,
binding, tying
binding, tying materials, energy
materials

Finished product

Copy and adapt Fig 3 to map out each of your company’s processes. You may wish to show
different machines separately, but try not to make your map too complicated. An electronic
version of the diagram is provided as a JPG file on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of the Guide.
Alternatively, draw your own map.

GG277fig3.jpg

15
4
section Some companies may need to produce process maps for a wider range of processes, including:

■ assembling; ■ finishing; ■ printing;

■ blending; ■ goods inwards; ■ regrinding;
■ compounding; ■ maintenance; ■ space heating;
■ compressed air production; ■ mould-making; ■ storing;
■ converting; ■ moulding; ■ trimming;
■ cooling; ■ packaging; ■ vacuum raising;
■ cutting; ■ painting/coating; ■ washing.

Help in identifying waste

Various tools have been produced by Envirowise to help companies identify where
waste arises and where environmental performance is poor. Contact the
Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794 for advice on which
ones are best for you.

4.2 Measuring performance

Process mapping helps to identify many environmental performance issues, but it does not
distinguish their importance. Applying the priorities you selected using Checklist 2 (see Section
3.1) will allow you to focus on those processes that may have poor environmental performance
or, at least, warrant further investigation.

■ Use your base-line data (see Section 3.2) to mark total quantities of your priority inputs and
outputs on your process map(s). Don’t forget to include the quantities of polymer sent for
regrinding.

In most cases, you should be able to obtain the data you need from that identified in
Checklist 3 (see Section 3.2). Some inputs and outputs may need more detailed measurements
or estimates. However, pinpoint accuracy is not required the first time.

■ Where possible, convert quantities to a common unit, eg tonnes or kg.

■ Give quantities for a given period, eg a year, and adjust them for stock changes, ie:

Annual quantity of input materials or products =

Opening stock + Inputs/outputs in the year – Closing stock.

■ Record the numbers of each product produced during this period and the average weight of
polymer that each contains. This will allow you to calculate the total output weight of
finished products.

■ Do not adjust your figures to make them balance. Any discrepancies may well be
the waste you are seeking to identify.

16
Tips on measurement
4

section
■ Obtain an initial indication of water and effluent flows using a bucket of known
capacity and a stopwatch. Establish the quantity collected during a measured
period. Scale up this amount to estimate annual flow.

■ Use simple weighing scales to measure small quantities of solids.

■ Obtain the amounts of larger quantities of waste from waste disposal

documentation, invoices, observation and/or estimation.

■ Estimate energy use by individual processes on the basis of rated consumption or

using portable meters. Fixed meters are much better - contact the Environment
and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794 for advice.

■ The weight in grammes that passes in 36 seconds is equivalent to the weight in

kilogrammes that passes in one hour.

Some useful conversion factors:

1 000 litres = 1 m3
1 gallon = 0.0045 m3
1 cubic foot = 0.0283 m3
1 cubic yard = 0.7646 m3
1 imperial pound = 0.4536 kg
1 m3 of water = 1 tonne

4.2.1 Calculating first-time yield

First-time yield is a better measure of efficiency and environmental performance than mass
balance yield because it allows for the inefficiencies associated with producing waste and
regrinding it.

Although regrinding rejects for re-use in production may be better than sending them off-site
for recycling or disposal, it is an inherently wasteful activity. It requires significant inputs of
additional energy, labour and ancillary materials such as oil. It also means lost opportunities for
moulding machines to make saleable product; such opportunities have costs associated with
them in terms of sales capacity and additional maintenance.

Short-term factors affecting first-time yield

As first-time yield is a hidden cost of waste, it is more difficult to ascertain its true level within a
business. At best it will inflate any costs which truly scale with production. Obviously, over the
short term most overheads such as back office operations, sales, space heating, factory rent,
depreciation, maintenance etc are mainly fixed. First-time yield will inflate more direct
controllable costs, including a high proportion of direct labour and some overhead costs such as
energy, consumables and some additional labour charges.

Long-term factors affecting first-time yield

Over the long-term, however, any cost associated with production or support of production will
be directly related to production levels. This is because over long periods of time your factory
premises will have to be larger (to accommodate more machines, more workers, more back
office operations etc), and you will need more equipment, people etc. You will even need more
sales effort to reach break-even. It is, therefore, fair to say that over the long term, almost all of
these costs will be inflated by low first-time yield. All of this extra cost will be unrecoverably lost
as the rejects go back into the process through the regrinding machine.

17
 4 section
Typical hidden costs of waste in first-time yield

At a typical plastics firm, gross margin may be 40%, and profit before tax may be
around 10%. As proportions of total production costs, overheads may represent 30%,
labour 15%, and materials 55%. Making some reasonable assumptions from these
figures, the short-term estimate (low bound) of the first-time yield cost is that it will
be impacting on about 13.5% of turnover. Long term, FTY will affect around 41% of
turnover. A steady first-time yield of 90% implies wastage of 10% and, therefore,
costs around 1.4% of turnover (equal to nearly 15% of profits) in the short term.
However, in the long term it will cost 4% of turnover (equal to nearly 50% of profits).

Complete Checklist 6 to determine the first-time yield for the various polymers used by your
company. During the early stages of improving environmental performance, your first-time yields
GG277 may be significantly less than your mass balance yields. The aim is to make first-time yield the
checklist6.doc same as mass balance yield, while making mass balance yield as close as possible to 100%.

4.2.2 Performing a mass balance calculation

Use Checklist 7 to perform a mass balance calculation for waste polymer, amending it as
necessary to suit your circumstances. The checklist includes example data from a real injection
moulding process as an illustration. The performance of companies with good quality
management and environmental management practices may be significantly better.

The mass balance involves finding the difference, for a specified period, between the amount of
GG277
polymer that enters the business and the amount that leaves it as saleable product. The result
checklist7.doc
represents waste (or waste associated with variations in the weight of saleable product that have
not been accounted for). The waste is then allocated to each process as appropriate. If the total
amount of waste does not equal the total of the allocated quantities, then there may be an
output that you have not yet identified or an inaccurate allocation.

Because polymer is the most expensive raw material and the main component of finished
mouldings, it is worth spending some time producing a detailed balance.

Use a similar approach for other priority inputs such as water and packaging. For water, you can
check your allocation of input quantities by measuring the amount of effluent leaving the site.

Your mass balance calculations will highlight which areas give rise to significant amounts of
material that do not leave the business as product. Consider the scope for improving
performance and minimising these wastes. Allocating costs to each point where an output
occurs will help to focus attention on areas with the greatest potential for cost savings.
Remember to calculate the true cost of each waste as far as possible.

4.2.3 Calculating mass balance yield

Calculating your mass balance yield is a good starting point for evaluating the mismatch
between polymer coming into the business and leaving as product. It is also a key performance
indicator for business efficiency, which can be used for benchmarking (see Section 3.3).

The mass balance yield for plastics processing should be at the upper end of the 90 - 100%
range. However, high percentages do not necessarily indicate efficient businesses because they
fail to take account of the reworked product. Reworking is inherently inefficient; it reduces the
capacity available to make saleable product because scrap has been made instead. (This is why
first-time yield is a more useful overall indicator.)

GG277 Use Checklist 7 to calculate the mass balance yields for the various polymers used by your
checklist7.doc company.

18
The value of polymer wasted can be calculated from the mass balance yield and the annual cost
4

section
of polymer purchased. This calculation will indicate the financial importance of minimising
polymer waste.

The financial importance of maximising first-time yield and mass balance yield

Continuing the example shown in Checklists 6 and 7:

Our example firm makes medical products where quality standards are very high,
and scrap cannot be reground. It has a turnover of £631 000, and it is spending
£315 700 on materials. The FTY is 82% and the MBY is 88%.

FTY cost
% of turnover
FTY cost = (100 – FTY) × actually affected by waste × turnover
100 100

Low bound (operating on ≈13.5% of turnover in the short term)

= (100 – 82) × 13.5 × £631 000

100 100

= £15 333

High bound (operating on ≈41% of turnover in the long term)

= (100 – 82) × 41 × £631 000

100 100

= £46 568

MBY cost

Value of polymer wasted = (100 – MBY) × Annual cost of materials

100

= (100 – 88) × (451 tonnes × £700/tonne)

100

= £37 884

These figures can be compared with the company’s actual profit before tax of
£63 100.

4.3 Assessing progress

Calculating first-time yields and mass balance yields provides key indicators of business efficiency
and environmental performance. These values should be reviewed weekly, or at least monthly,
so that problems are spotted early and the results of improvements can be measured.

Use Checklist 8 to assess your progress towards improving your first-time yields and reducing
waste costs.
GG277
checklist8.doc

19
5
section Gaining operator support and
involvement

Operators are key players in improving any aspect of business efficiency. Raising
people’s awareness of efficiency in terms of environmental performance will help to
enlist their support and encourage participation.

Approach a recognised member of the workforce, eg a union representative, about the project.
Point out the advantages to operators of a successful waste minimisation programme and allay
any concerns about potential extra duties.

Seek out operators with interest or knowledge of environmental issues, eg use a poster on the
company notice-board.

Having a project team (see Section 3.6) that meets regularly and consists of people who are
motivated will help to maintain momentum. To encourage volunteers, agree with management
to offer a small incentive to encourage participation, eg providing a free meal for a lunchtime
meeting. Make it clear that every member has something to contribute and do not exclude
people on the basis of their position within the company. Someone working on a process may
well have the best ideas on how to improve it and on how to involve their workmates.

For more advice on how to win support, see Good Practice Guide (GG27) Saving Money Through
Waste Minimisation: Teams and Champions and (ET228) Workforce Partnerships to Reduce
Waste and Save Energy. Both are available in PDF format on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of
this Guide or as a printed copy free of charge through the Environment and Energy Helpline on
freephone 0800 585794.

‘Spot the Waste’ competition leads to significant savings

Six teams at Lever Brothers Ltd’s Warrington site generated over 200 ideas for
reducing waste as part of an innovative ‘Spot the Waste’ competition launched
jointly by the site’s Safety and Environment Manager and the Operations Manager.
Many of the ideas were justified on economic grounds and estimated savings of
£30 000/year have been achieved.

For more details of the competition, see Industry Example 9 from Good Practice
Guide (GG27) Saving Money Through Waste Minimisation: Teams and Champions.

5.1 Messages that motivate

Operators may have little knowledge of environmental issues and may see environmental
initiatives as more work for no reward. They may also feel that they have nothing to contribute
to such projects.

Explaining the benefits to operators of reducing waste will help to overcome these barriers, eg:

■ increased profits mean that the company is more able to reward staff and to invest in better
equipment;

■ a profitable and competitive company offers greater job security;

■ an improved working environment.

Helping to protect the environment can make people feel good about themselves. Raising
money for charity through environmental improvement can add to this feeling of goodwill.

20
Tips for increasing motivation to improve
5

section
■ Develop a suggestions scheme to encourage people to think about
environmental performance. Offer an incentive for successful ideas, eg tokens,
cash or a contribution to a charity chosen by the workforce.
■ Treat all ideas with respect. Acknowledge each idea and provide feedback on
why a suggestion is being implemented or why it is considered impracticable.
Without feedback, people will lose interest and morale will suffer.
■ Give public recognition to ideas. This makes people feel appreciated and proud.

Excellent payback on investment in a suggestions scheme

“We spend a fortune on bonuses to reward workers’ ideas and their performance on
waste. Every year we pay out a total of one month’s worth of the annual savings
from their efforts. It’s the best payback of any of our investments.”

Manager of a plastics company.

5.2 Awareness-raising techniques

Use on-the-job training and short formal presentations to raise environmental awareness.
Include basic facts about environmental problems, how the company and the individual
contributes to them, current performance and the advantages to staff of taking more notice of
environmental issues. You can also use the opportunity to outline some simple improvement
measures. Keep records to make sure that everyone receives training.

Tips for raising operator awareness

■ Use posters to stress the advantages of environmental responsibility, provide

information on best practice or report positive results.
■ Run a competition for the operators’ children to design the posters. Give prizes
for the best posters and display them.
■ Keep posters clear, concise and free from jargon. Avoid being dictatorial. Use
colour, humour, cartoons etc.
■ Choose carefully the locations where posters are put up and change them
regularly, eg operational areas, next to the moulding machines or places where
people queue for food and drink.
■ Use other media, eg e-mail, intranet pages, audio-visuals and newsletters.
■ Attract interest with a competition, eg measure an aspect of environmental
performance for each shift and create a league table with prizes/perks for the
winners.

Awareness-raising is a priority

The Managing Director of Visqueen Building Products believes that staff awareness,
involvement and motivation are key factors in achieving environmental
improvements. Environmental awareness training, involving video and overhead
presentations, is supported by a booklet and quizzes with prizes. Meetings are held
regularly to keep all employees informed of progress.
GG277
checklist9.doc
Use Checklist 9 to measure your progress in gaining support from your operators.

21
6
section Practical measures to reduce
waste costs

This Section suggests some simple no-cost and low-cost measures that other companies
have found useful when seeking to reduce their operating costs by improving their
environmental performance. For more ideas, contact the Environment and Energy
Helpline on freephone 0800 585794 and ask about the range of free publications
specifically for the plastics sector and about waste minimisation in general. Some of
these publications are provided as PDF files on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of this
Guide.

6.1 Ask why

■ Question statements that a waste or environmental impact is unavoidable. Find out why it
is occurring and then think of as many ways as possible to eliminate or reduce it. Ask
questions and view practices with a fresh pair of eyes.

■ Discover why performance has changed and make the necessary adjustments. Learn from
the experience and from successes, eg a high first-time utilisation of polymer.

■ Review each stage in the production process to see if it can be simplified. Processes that fail
to add value are particularly questionable.

Monitoring waste helps to deliver more ‘right first time’ product

Dragon Plastics Ltd uses a variety of polymers to make caps and closures for the
pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, automotive and household products sectors. Rework is
considered an unacceptable waste by the company, which has kept records
concerning this since 1992. The quantities associated with each type of defect are
recorded, including colour variation, start-up, trials, flash, shorts, voids, gate pip,
scrap and old stocks. Costs are then allocated to each category to raise awareness
among employees and to drive through performance improvements. A similar
approach is adopted for controlling the costs of scrap produced by the finishing
department.

6.2 Measuring to Manage

Effective management requires knowledge of how performance is changing. An on-going and
regular programme to measure and monitor key performance indicators such as waste is
essential. You will then be in a position to set and review your targets for improvement.

Remember: If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it.

22
Measuring to Manage increases efficiency
6

section
The extensive and flexible software monitoring system operated by Styropack (UK)
Ltd is used to increase efficiency by:
■ producing shift monitoring reports that highlight production problems;
■ making shift managers accountable for production capacity;
■ enabling information to be reported to staff;
■ allowing optimum procedures to be determined through comparative
monitoring of resource use;
■ automating certain aspects of production, eg compressor operation;
■ improving production logistics;
■ identifying problems at an early stage, thus minimising downtime.

6.3 Quality assurance

■ Aim for ‘right first time’ production.

■ Apply quality assurance procedures at all stages of production to ensure defects are identified
before they are processed or handled further (ie before any more money and effort are wasted).

■ Track reject rates in real time.

■ Take action to correct variations in quality as soon as they are detected.

■ Have quality assurance staff present during the final stages of making changes to machine
settings. Approval can then be given as soon as the product is made within specification,
thus minimising waste.

■ Apply statistical process control (SPC) to determine whether your process is performing
satisfactorily and thus minimise waste. This technique is described in Good Practice
Guide (GG223) Preventing Waste in Production: Industry Examples4 and Good Practice
Guide (GG224) Preventing Waste in Production: Practical Methods for Process Control 4.

6.4 Materials and packaging

■ Supervise all deliveries to minimise the risk of spills and waste.

■ Buy recompounded waste polymer in lieu of virgin polymer whenever practicable. Discuss
this option with your customers, particularly when the physical properties, eg colour, are
critical for the product’s end use.

■ Use a gear pump (liquid pump) to ensure that accurate doses of cheap regrind are delivered
to the die-head.

■ Store polymer in silos when appropriate to reduce waste during handling and reduce
packaging disposal costs. The unit cost of the polymer may also be less.

■ Where silos are not practicable, use ‘octobins’ which provide a more cost-effective storage
and delivery solution than bags or sacks.

■ Take care when transferring polymer to silos from octobins that have previously contained
reground waste polymer. Residual contamination in such octobins can ruin the entire
contents of a silo.

4 Available in PDF format on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of this Guide or as a printed copy free of charge
through the Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794.

23
6
section ■ Train operators on how to avoid spills when handling raw materials. Use of correct
techniques will reduce waste and minimise the risk of polymer, additives or masterbatch
entering drains or sewers.

■ Where possible, convey materials to machines automatically, with feeders operating on

demand rather than constantly.

■ Maintain high levels of housekeeping.

■ Involve suppliers and customers in discussions about how to reduce packaging.

■ Where possible, re-use incoming packaging as outgoing packaging or for storage.

Tips for reducing packaging costs

For advice on reducing the amount of packaging your company uses and the
associated costs, see:

■ Good Practice Guide (GG140) Cutting Costs and Waste by Reducing Packaging Use
■ Good Practice Guide (GG141) Choosing and Managing Re-usable Transit Packaging
■ Unpack those Hidden Savings: 120 Tips on Reducing Packaging Use and Costs
(ET250).

All three publications are available in PDF format on the CD-ROM in the back pocket
of this Guide or as a printed copy free of charge through the Environment and
Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794.

6.5 Mould tools

■ When designing components and injection moulds, consider ways of minimising waste and
reducing the amount of polymer needed to meet customer specifications.

■ Maintain tools and replace them as necessary to minimise waste due to worn tools.

■ Simulate moulding conditions using computer technology to check performance before

making moulds.

■ Rework old mould tools for new components.

■ Bolster-type moulds with replaceable cavities can reduce the effort and cost required to make
new moulds.

6.6 Moulding
■ Balance shot weight to the machine capacity.

■ Maintain equipment regularly to prevent oil leaks. Use a drip tray where oil leaks still occur.

■ Plan production to minimise mould changeovers. This saves time and reduces waste during
set-up.

■ Avoid unnecessary waste when feeding raw materials to moulding machines. Gravimetric
control of masterbatch additives gives better control of additive levels and reduces the hidden
cost of overdosing.

24
Simple changes reduce pre-moulding wastes
6

section
Dragon Plastics Ltd used to mix polymer and colour in a mezzanine storage area and
then feed the mixture by gravity through tubes to the moulding machines located
almost 5 metres below. This arrangement wasted the raw materials remaining in the
tubes every time a colour change was required. To avoid this waste, the company
now uses volumetric dispensing units that mix polymer and colour at the point of
blending in the moulding machines. The change has produced savings of over
£35 000/year in the costs of raw materials and waste disposal. This excludes the cost
savings associated with reduced handling and packaging disposal.

■ Implement a system to ensure that the optimum moulding machine settings are used for
each product run. Allocate responsibility for checking the settings each day and restrict the
number of people authorised to change settings. These steps will maximise operating
efficiency and minimise waste generation during set-up.

Optimised machine settings reduce waste

Media Moulding Technology Ltd makes components and assemblies for blue chip
companies in the automotive, teletronic, garden and kitchenware markets. The
company realised that machine setting was viewed as a ‘black art’ and that different
operators used very different settings. Furthermore, shift changes gave rise to
unnecessary waste. The company now records optimum settings on machine setting
sheets that are referred to every time a job is run. These sheets are checked during
the product audit procedure; any departures from the settings have to be recorded
and approved. Where real improvements are confirmed, the sheets are amended.

■ When moulding one part around another, avoid making too many or too few of the inserts
(particularly when different colours are involved).

■ Fit hydraulic oil bypass filtration systems to injection moulding machines to increase the
lifetime of the oil and main oil filter. These systems, which filter oil continually rather than
just when it is used, consist of additional pipework, a small pump and a filter.

Oil cleansing systems save money

A plastics company produces disposable plastic products used in research and

medicine. Injection, extrusion and blow moulding are carried out at its site, which
operates 24 hours a day. The company now fits oil cleansing systems to all injection
moulding machines. The benefits include:
■ reduced frequency of oil changes from approximately once a year to about every
two or three years;
■ reduced volume of hydraulic oil bought, saving approximately £100/year on each
moulding machine;
■ less wear and tear on equipment;
■ reduced downtime;
■ lower maintenance costs with inexpensive filters used by the bypass system;
■ extended life of the main filters (giving significant annual cost savings);
■ payback period of approximately 15 months for each machine.

25
 6 section ■ Reduce damage to finished mouldings by automated rather than manual removal.

■ Minimise contamination of waste polymer by not allowing purged polymer to mix with other
materials and not allowing waste polymer to fall onto the floor or into drip trays. Waste
polymer loses value when it is contaminated with substances that make regrinding or
recycling less feasible.

■ Regrind unavoidable waste polymer in-house. This has lower cost and environmental impacts
than off-site processing.

6.7 Cooling systems

■ Enclose all water cooling in closed-circuit systems.

■ Consider controls on make-up water.

■ Check regularly for water leaks and drips, and eliminate any that are found.

■ Reduce the volume of cooling water required for cooling in extrusion troughs to its optimum level.

■ Run cooling systems to match production needs. Leaving cooling systems running when they
are not needed is extremely wasteful. Built-in closed circuit cooling systems on injection
moulding machines avoid this problem.

6.8 Printing and coating

■ Use high solids or water-based inks and coatings where possible instead of solvent-based products.

■ Use high volume, low pressure (HVLP) spray guns. They are more efficient and use less
coating material than conventional spray guns.

■ Contact the Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794 for details of free
publications giving advice on how to reduce waste and environmental impacts during
printing and coating processes.

6.9 Energy
■ Switch off machines and/or fit timers to reduce energy use during idle time. This will also
reduce the polymer waste associated with purging polymer degraded by excess heat.

■ Fit insulation jackets to heater barrels.

■ Check compressed air installations every week for leaks and repair those found immediately.

■ Match motor size to equipment demand and specify higher efficiency motors (HEMs). Fit
variable speed drives and soft start units.

■ See Appendix 1 for details of some of the many useful free publications produced by
Envirowise. Contact the Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794 or
visit the web site: www.envirowise.gov.uk

Insulation cuts energy costs

A plastics company calculates that fitting lagging jackets and downrating the heater
bands has reduced the heater band energy consumption by as much as 33%. The
company plans to explore the possibility of fitting jackets to extrusion and blow
moulding machines as well as its injection moulders.

GG277 Use Checklist 10 to assess your progress towards implementing measures to reduce waste costs.
checklist10.doc

26
Next steps 7

section
Once you have completed the checklists supplied with this Guide, you should have:

■ a better picture of your environmental efficiency and the extent of your hidden waste,
eg your polymer mass balance yields and first-time yields;

■ identified which processes have the worst financial and environmental performance;

■ decided your priorities for taking action to reduce waste costs;

■ identified why current practices in priority areas are less than efficient and produce more
waste than necessary;

■ identified what can be done to make improvements in these priority areas;

■ gained the support of senior management for improving business efficiency and
environmental performance;

■ involved the entire workforce in your programme to reduce costs by reducing waste;

■ realised that improving environmental performance is a journey not a destination.

On-going measuring and targeting are vital to ensuring continual improvement in business
efficiency and environmental performance. Continued success will also depend on maintaining
senior management commitment and employee involvement.

Completing the 11 checklists at least once each quarter will help you to monitor progress and
to identify where further attention needs to be concentrated.

Once you have gained high scores or answered ‘yes’ to most of the questions, your business will
be ready for further initiatives to improve performance. These could include:

■ Undertaking an initial review as described in ISO 14004, which gives general guidelines on
principles, systems and supporting techniques for environmental management systems. This
would give you a wider perspective on your environmental performance, including
compliance with legislation, all environmental impacts (not just direct impacts from
processes), management practices, procedures, policies and incident management.

■ Implementing an environmental management system (EMS) complying with ISO 14001,

which gives general guidelines on principles, systems and supporting techniques for
environmental management systems. This would build on your initial review, and cover a
wide range of environmental management issues, including formal environmental policy,
procedures and plans, setting objectives and targets, management plan, training,
documentation, emergency preparedness, auditing and corrective action.

Implementing an EMS provides a systematic way of ensuring that efforts are maintained and
improved in all aspects of environmental management. Your customers may also require you
to implement an EMS. For practical help in implementing an EMS, see Good Practice
Guide (GG251) Environmental Management Systems for the Plastics Industry. GG251 is
available in PDF format on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of this Guide or as a printed copy
free of charge through the Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794.

■ Undertaking an Environmental Performance Evaluation as defined by ISO 14031. This might

entail setting and taking periodic measurements against management performance
indicators, environmental condition indicators and operational indicators such as waste.

27
 7 section ■ Publishing reports containing information on your environmental performance. Such reports
serve the needs and interests of the public, shareholders, financiers, regulators, Government,
employees and other stakeholders.

Use Checklist 11 to assess your progress towards implementing an EMS in your company and
achieving even greater cost savings and other benefits. An EMS will help you to integrate
environmental issues into everyday management and to make waste minimisation part of your
company culture.

If you need more help

GG277 The Environment and Energy Helpline (0800 585794) can:

checklist11.doc
■ Provide free up-to-date information on environmental issues, equipment
suppliers and techniques described in this Guide.

■ Tell you about relevant environmental and other regulations that could affect
your operations.

■ Send you copies of relevant Envirowise publications (see Appendix 1).

■ Tell you about the free advice on energy technologies and energy management
provided by The Energy Efficiency Best Practice Programme (see Appendix 1).

■ Arrange for a specialist to visit your company free of charge if you employ fewer
than 250 people (at the discretion of the Helpline Manager).

28
Other sources of information 1

appendix
Envirowise
Free publications that will help you to save money by implementing a systematic approach to
waste minimisation include:

■ Think about how much waste is costing:

- Cutting Costs by Reducing Waste - a video introducing the benefits of waste

minimisation (V159)

- Waste Minimisation Interactive Tools (WMIT) - easy-to-use software (IT96).

■ Obtain top level commitment:

- Good Practice Guide (GG125) Waste Minimisation Pays: Five business reasons for
reducing waste.

■ Find out where waste is occurring in your company:

- A Fresh Pair of Eyes: Identifying Waste Minimisation Opportunities - a video to help you
find out where waste is occurring in your company (V217)

- Waste Mapping - Your route to more profit (ET219)

- Good Practice Guide (GG38C) Cutting Costs by Reducing Waste: A self-help guide for
growing businesses.

■ Record your base-line information:

- Environmental Performance Guide (EG252) Benchmarking Waste in Plastics Processing

- Waste Account: Count the cost of waste for your business and measure your savings
(ET225) and CD-ROM (IT249).

■ Begin your waste minimisation programme:

- Finding Hidden Profit: 200 Tips for Reducing Waste (ET30)

- Good Practice Guide (GG25) Saving Money Through Waste Minimisation: Raw
Material Use

- Good Practice Guide (GG26) Saving Money Through Waste Minimisation: Reducing
Water Use

- Good Practice Guide (GG27) Saving Money Through Waste Minimisation: Teams and
Champions

- Good Practice Guide (GG253) Finding Hidden Profit for Smaller Companies.

■ Tackle specific areas:

- Good Practice Guide (GG67) Cost-effective Water Saving Devices and Practices

- Good Practice Guide (GG140) Cutting Costs and Waste by Reducing Packaging Use

- Good Practice Guide (GG141) Choosing and Managing Re-usable Transit Packaging

- Unpack those Hidden Savings: 120 Tips on Reducing Packaging Use and Costs (ET250)

- Good Practice Guide (GG152) Tracking Water Use to Cut Costs

- Free Help to Stop Your Profits Evaporating - Practical Advice for Cost-effective Solvent
Management (ET209).

29
1
appendix ■ Implement an EMS:

- Good Practice Guide (GG251) Environmental Management Systems for the Plastics
Industry.

Many of these publications are available as PDF files on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of this
Guide. Alternatively, free printed copies are available through the Environment and Energy
Helpline on freephone 0800 585794.

Abstracts of these and other Envirowise publications can be seen on the web site:
www.envirowise.gov.uk

Energy Efficiency Best Practice Programme (EEBPP)

Energy efficiency is a key aspect of environmental performance in the plastics processing
industry. Detailed information on how to reduce your energy bills is available from the Energy
Efficiency Best Practice Programme. Its free publications are available free of charge through the
Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794 or via its web site (www.energy-
efficiency.gov.uk).

Good Practice Guide (GPG292) Energy in Plastics Processing - a Practical Guide is a good starting
point for information about all aspects of energy use in the plastics industry.

Environment Agency
The Environment Agency’s NetRegs web site (www.netregs.environment-agency.gov.uk) provides
practical advice to help companies in England and Wales to understand their legal obligations.

30
Printed versions of the checklists 2

appendix
This Appendix contains printed copies of the checklists provided on the CD-ROM disk in
the pocket at the back of this Guide as Microsoft® Word files. The 11 checklists provided
on the CD-ROM are listed in Table A1.

Table A1 Checklists to help you assess and improve your environmental performance

File name Checklist

GG277checklist1.doc Do you have an effective waste minimisation programme?

GG277checklist2.doc Identifying priorities for improvement

GG277checklist3.doc Identifying sources of environmental data

GG277checklist4.doc Progress towards setting priorities and gathering base-line data

GG277checklist5.doc Progress towards gaining organisational commitment

GG277checklist6.doc First-time yield for polymer use

GG277checklist7.doc Mass balance calculation and allocation

GG277checklist8.doc Progress towards reducing the true cost of waste

GG277checklist9.doc Progress towards gaining support from operators

GG277checklist10.doc Progress towards implementing measures to reduce waste

costs

GG277checklist11.doc Progress towards implementing an EMS

31
 2 appendix

GG277
checklist1.doc GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794

32
 2

appendix

GG277
GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794 checklist2.doc

33
 2 appendix

GG277
checklist3.doc GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794

34
 2

appendix

GG277
GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794 checklist4.doc

35
 2 appendix

GG277
checklist5.doc GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794

36
 2

appendix

GG277
GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794 checklist6.doc

37
 2 appendix

GG277
checklist7.doc GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794

38
 2

appendix

GG277
GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794 checklist8.doc

39
 2 appendix

GG277
checklist9.doc GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794

40
 2

appendix

GG277
GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794 checklist10.doc

41
 2 appendix

GG277
checklist11.doc GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794

42
 2

appendix

GG277
GG277 published by Envirowise Helpline 0800 585794 checklist11.doc

43
3
appendix About the CD-ROM

The CD-ROM in the back pocket of the Guide contains electronic versions of the Guide’s
11 checklists as Microsoft® Word 97 files and a number of Envirowise publications as PDF
files. A copy of Acrobat® Reader™ 4.0 is supplied to enable PDF files to be read. The
slide presentation from Waste Minimisation Pays: Five business reasons for reducing
waste (GG125) is provided as a Microsoft® PowerPoint® 97 file. The contents of the
CD-ROM are listed in Table A2.

The CD-ROM is designed to run on PCs operating Windows® 95/98/NT. Simply insert the disc
in your PC’s CD-ROM drive and follow the instructions on your screen. If you use the CD-ROM,
you agree to the disclaimer printed on the inside back cover of the Guide.

If you have any problems with either the CD-ROM or the files it contains, please contact the
Environment and Energy Helpline on freephone 0800 585794.

44
Table A2 Files on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of the Guide
3

appendix
Finding and reducing waste in plastics processing

GG277checklist1.doc Do you have an effective waste minimisation

programme?
GG277checklist2.doc Identifying priorities for improvement
GG277checklist3.doc Identifying sources of environmental data
GG277checklist4.doc Progress towards setting priorities and gathering
base-line data
GG277checklist5.doc Progress towards gaining organisational commitment
GG277checklist6.doc First-time yield for polymer use
GG277checklist7.doc Mass balance calculation and allocation
GG277checklist8.doc Progress towards reducing the true cost of waste
GG277checklist9.doc Progress towards gaining support from operators
GG277checklist10.doc Progress towards implementing measures to reduce waste
costs
GG277checklist11.doc Progress towards implementing an EMS
GG277fig2.jpg Typical overall inputs and outputs for plastics processing
GG277fig3.jpg Simplified process map for injection moulding

Publications specific to the plastics processing industry

GG251.pdf and 11 files Environmental Management Systems for the Plastics

from accompanying Industry
diskette
EG252.pdf Benchmarking Waste in Plastics Processing

General waste minimisation

GG227.pdf Cost-effective Management of Lubricating and

Hydraulic Oils
GG125.pdf and Waste Minimisation Pays: Five business reasons for
GG125.ppt reducing waste
GG25.pdf Saving Money Through Waste Minimisation: Raw
Material Use
GG27.pdf Saving Money Through Waste Minimisation: Teams and
Champions
GG38C.pdf Cutting Costs by Reducing Waste: A self-help guide for
growing businesses
GG253.pdf Finding Hidden Profit for Smaller Companies
ET30.pdf Finding Hidden Profit: 200 Tips for Reducing Waste
ET225.pdf Waste Account: Count the cost of waste for your business
and measure your savings
ET228.pdf Workforce Partnerships to Reduce Waste and Save Energy

45
3
appendix
Table A2 Files on the CD-ROM in the back pocket of the Guide (continued)

Reducing energy costs

GPG292.pdf Energy in Plastics Processing - A Practical Guide

Reducing water costs

GG26.pdf Saving Money Through Waste Minimisation: Reducing

Water Use
GG67.pdf Cost-effective Water Saving Devices and Practices
GG152.pdf Tracking Water Use to Cut Costs

Reducing packaging costs

GG140.pdf Cutting Costs and Waste by Reducing Packaging Use

GG141.pdf Choosing and Managing Re-usable Transit Packaging
ET250.pdf Unpack those Hidden Savings: 120 Tips on Reducing
Packaging Use and Costs

Preventing waste in production/statistical process control

GG223.pdf Preventing Waste in Production: Industry Examples

GG224.pdf Preventing Waste in Production: Practical Methods for
Process Control
IT96.pdf Waste Minimisation Interactive Tools (WMIT) -
easy-to-use software

Training

GG106.pdf Cutting Costs by Reducing Waste: Running a workshop to

stimulate action
GG174.pdf Profiting from Practical Waste Minimisation: Running a
workshop to maintain the momentum

46
Envirowise – Practical Environmental Advice for Business – is a Government programme
that offers free, independent and practical advice to UK businesses to reduce waste at
source and increase profits. It is managed by AEA Technology Environment and NPL
Management Limited.

Envirowise offers a range of free services including:

Free advice from Envirowise experts through the Environment and Energy
Helpline.

A variety of publications that provide up-to-date information on waste

minimisation issues, methods and successes.

Free, on-site waste reviews from Envirowise consultants, called Fast Track Visits,
that help businesses identify and realise savings.

Guidance on Waste Minimisation Clubs across the UK that provide a chance for
local companies to meet regularly and share best practices in waste minimisation.

Best practice seminars and practical workshops that offer an ideal way to
examine waste minimisation issues and discuss opportunities and methodologies.

For further information

please contact the

Practical Environmental Advice for Business

Environment
Harwell International Business Centre | 156 Curie Avenue | Didcot | Oxfordshire | OX11 0QJ and Energy
E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.envirowise.gov.uk
Helpline
© Crown copyright. First printed March 2001. Printed on paper containing a minimum of 75% post-consumer waste.
This material may be freely reproduced in its original form except for sale or advertising purposes. 0800 585794