Get Started with Water and Waste Tracking
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Explain why tracking water usage is important.
- Explain the types of emissions released from waste.
- Explain how people and organizations can track their water usage and waste using Net Zero Cloud.
Prerequisites
Before you start, make sure you complete the following.
Suggested
- Complete the Net Zero Cloud Basics module to learn the benefits of using Net Zero Cloud and gain critical insights into your company’s carbon footprint.
- Complete the Carbon Accounting for Assets with Net Zero Cloud module to understand how you can calculate your company’s emissions for stationary and vehicle assets.
The Need of the Hour
The climate change we are experiencing requires us all to be mindful about how we use our resources and reduce emissions. While reckless water use can worsen freshwater shortage, unchecked waste generation and poor treatment of generated waste can significantly contribute to carbon emissions. We can reduce emissions and limit climate change by being waterwise and more mindful about waste.
Northern Trail Outfitters (NTO), a retailer of outdoor and recreational gear and apparel, uses Net Zero Cloud to calculate and manage its carbon footprint. In this module, we follow along as Sam Rajan, NTO’s chief sustainability officer, finds out how he can set up Net Zero Cloud to track NTO’s water usage and waste. Before that, let’s find out more about the significance of water and waste management.
Become Waterwise
Water covers nearly three-quarters of the earth, but most (97%) of it is impotable or undrinkable ocean water. Approximately 3% is fresh water, out of which only 0.5% is available for human consumption because the rest is locked in ice blocks and glaciers.
Over the past few centuries, rapid industrialization and population growth have almost doubled the global consumption of fresh water. Given the fact that we have limited fresh water resources, it’s time to be waterwise.
Manage Your Water Use
Sam can use Net Zero Cloud to manage and analyze NTO’s water usage data to gain valuable insights for efficient water management. A water footprint record holds detailed water use information of a particular asset for a specific reporting period, say, for example, the water use information of NTO’s headquarters for the period January 2020 to December 2020.
Sam can create a Sustainability Scorecard for suppliers in which they can record their water use data. Thus, Sam can not only manage water use data for NTO’s assets, but also get a comprehensive outlook of the water use across NTO’s value chain. He can calculate water intensity across different assets based on asset attributes such as, employee count and floor area.
Emissions from Waste
Trash and byproducts are major sources of emissions. It’s practically impossible to eliminate all such waste. Unless we discover efficient ways of eliminating waste, carbon emissions due to waste disposal or end-of-life treatment of products will worsen climate change. Reports claim that in 2017, waste was the fourth largest source sector of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions after combusting fuels, agriculture, and industrial processes, in that order.
Waste can be of three major types: Fossil/biogenic waste, landfill waste, and waste from the disposal of refrigeration and air conditioning units. The GHGs emitted to the atmosphere differ depending on the type of waste. For example:
- Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is emitted from the degradation of fossil and biogenic carbon contained in waste.
- Methane (CH₄) is emitted from the decomposition of biogenic materials in landfill or waste-to-energy (WtE) technologies.
- Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are emitted from the disposal of refrigeration and air conditioning units.
Track Waste with Net Zero Cloud
Let’s take an example to understand how waste leads to emissions. To make jackets, NTO buys raw materials from factories and fabric mills and works with dye houses. The manufacturing of these raw materials generates waste, and the treatment of such waste creates emissions.
Similarly, when consumers buy and use NTO's jackets, they spend energy to wash and dry them. Those jackets, at the end of their life, may end up in a landfill and decay, causing emissions.
The waste generated from NTO’s activities can be categorized under the following types.
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Waste Generated in Operations: This includes emissions from third-party disposal and treatment of waste generated by NTO’s owned or controlled operations in the reporting year. This aligns with the emissions from waste disposal (category 5) in the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard. This is upstream scope 3 category because waste management services are purchased by the reporting company.
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End-of-Life Treatment of Sold Products: This includes emissions from the disposal and treatment of products sold by NTO. NTO must assess the probable waste type and waste disposal method for each product. Its goal is to design recyclable products that limit landfill disposal. This aligns with the downstream end-of-life treatment of sold products (category 12) in the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard.
With Net Zero Cloud, Sam can account for the waste generated from NTO’s activities in a specific reporting period. Waste emissions factors are applied to the values in a Generated Waste record to calculate waste-related emissions expressed in tCO₂e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent).
In this unit, we discussed how water and waste are related to climate change and how Net Zero Cloud can help. Tracking water use can help us save freshwater, and efficiently managing waste data can help us reduce emissions.
In the next unit, we follow along as Sam sets up Net Zero Cloud to track NTO’s water usage.
Resources