Cutting waste in a systematic way will help SMEs to reduce cost and save material. A special waste-prevention plan will be very helpful in introducing such a systematic approach. It helps to understand where resources are used, where waste is generated, and to find and prioritise waste-reducing and resource-saving opportunities.

Tackling mounting energy and waste bills as business grows

Industrial symbiosis is an association between two or more industrial facilities or companies in which the waste or by-products of one become the raw materials for another. This is usually done for both commercial and environmental reasons. It involves a collective approach to competitive advantage through the physical exchange of material by-products. Typical examples of materials sold on to other businesses are shredded tyres, plastic pellets and waste steams from a factory. 

Slick energy saving for Sligo Park Hotel 

• Monitoring and investing in energy delivers € 10 053 annual cost savings
• Boiler and lighting upgrade saves 187 000 kWh energy and 54 000 kg CO2 emissions annually

Through its SME assistance and mentoring programme, Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland (SEAI) helped Sligo Park Hotel and Leisure Club to develop a new energy management system which identified substantial savings by upgrading its heating system and replacing outdated lamps.

Positive reading from smart-meter pilot 

• Smart metering trial in ten stores saved energy and reduced costs and CO2
• Average of € 566 saved by controlling out-of-hours energy waste
• Reduced average store carbon footprint by 5.5 tonnes CO2 per year

The Peacock Group plc is a leading UK value-for-money fashion retailer. The Group has 450 Peacock stores and 360 Bonmarché stores and employs more than 9 000 people nationwide.

The best of both worlds...

Avoid, reduce, enhance...

• 6.8 % less packaging on 250 best-selling products
• Saving 1 360 tonnes of material and using 1 300 tonnes of recyclables 

Migros is Switzerland's largest retailer and supermarket chain. In recent years, as part of an environmental effort, it has reassessed its packaging in line with the principle of 'avoid, recuce and enhance'. 

Eco-designs power a sustainability drive

Packaging protects and preserves products and ensures that they arrive in perfect condition. But producing packaging also consumes resources and disposing of it results in a large amount of waste, especially in the growing online trade. This is an economic and an environmental burden. Packaging and packaging waste are high on the political agenda in the EU and in some EU Members States both through the implementation of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.

Re-used ... re-loved