GRI 306: Waste 2020 contains disclosures for organizations to report information about their waste-related impacts, and how they manage these impacts. The disclosures enable an organization to provide information on how it prevents waste generation and how it manages waste that cannot be prevented, in its own activities and upstream and downstream in its value chain.
The Standard is structured as follows:
The rest of the Introduction section provides a background on the topic, an overview of the system of GRI Standards and further information on using this Standard.
Background on the topic
This Standard addresses the topic of waste.
Waste can be generated in the organization’s own activities, for example, during the production of its products and delivery of services. It can also be generated by entities upstream and downstream in the organization’s value chain, for example, when suppliers process materials that are later used or procured by the organization, or when consumers use the services or discard the products that the organization sells to them.
Waste can have significant negative impacts on the environment and human health when inadequately managed. These impacts often extend beyond locations where waste is generated and discarded. The resources and materials contained in waste that is incinerated or landfilled are lost to future use, which accelerates their depletion.
The United Nations recognizes the role of responsible consumption and production in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals1. The targets under Goal 12, in particular, call on organizations to implement environmentally sound waste management and prevent and reduce waste through reuse and recycling.
System of GRI Standards
This Standard is part of the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards). The GRI Standards enable an organization to report information about its most significant impacts on the economy, environment, and people, including impacts on their human rights, and how it manages these impacts.
The GRI Standards are structured as a system of interrelated standards that are organized into three series: GRI Universal Standards, GRI Sector Standards, and GRI Topic Standards (see Figure 1 in this Standard).
Universal Standards: GRI 1, GRI 2 and GRI 3
GRI 1: Foundation 2021 specifies the requirements that the organization must comply with to report in accordance with the GRI Standards. The organization begins using the GRI Standards by consulting GRI 1.
GRI 2: General Disclosures 2021 contains disclosures that the organization uses to provide information about its reporting practices and other organizational details, such as its activities, governance, and policies.
GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 provides guidance on how to determine material topics. It also contains disclosures that the organization uses to report information about its process of determining material topics, its list of material topics, and how it manages each topic.
Sector Standards
The Sector Standards provide information for organizations about their likely material topics. The organization uses the Sector Standards that apply to its sectors when determining its material topics and when determining what to report for each material topic.
Topic Standards
The Topic Standards contain disclosures that the organization uses to report information about its impacts in relation to particular topics. The organization uses the Topic Standards according to the list of material topics it has determined using GRI 3.
Using this Standard
This Standard can be used by any organization – regardless of size, type, sector, geographic location, or reporting experience – to report information about its waste-related impacts. This Standard can also be used by organizations that manage waste generated by other organizations, such as public and private waste management organizations. In addition to this Standard, disclosures that relate to this topic can be found in GRI 301: Materials 2016.
An organization reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards is required to report the following disclosures if it has determined waste to be a material topic:
See Requirements 4 and 5 in GRI 1: Foundation 2021.
Reasons for omission are permitted for these disclosures.
If the organization cannot comply with a disclosure or with a requirement in a disclosure (e.g., because the required information is confidential or subject to legal prohibitions), the organization is required to specify the disclosure or the requirement it cannot comply with, and provide a reason for omission together with an explanation in the GRI content index. See Requirement 6 in GRI 1: Foundation 2021 for more information on reasons for omission.
If the organization cannot report the required information about an item specified in a disclosure because the item (e.g., committee, policy, practice, process) does not exist, it can comply with the requirement by reporting this to be the case. The organization can explain the reasons for not having this item, or describe any plans to develop it. The disclosure does not require the organization to implement the item (e.g., developing a policy), but to report that the item does not exist.
If the organization intends to publish a standalone sustainability report, it does not need to repeat information that it has already reported publicly elsewhere, such as on web pages or in its annual report. In such a case, the organization can report a required disclosure by providing a reference in the GRI content index as to where this information can be found (e.g., by providing a link to the web page or citing the page in the annual report where the information has been published).
Requirements, guidance and defined terms
The following apply throughout this Standard:
Requirements are presented in bold font and indicated by the word 'shall'. An organization must comply with requirements to report in accordance with the GRI Standards.
Requirements may be accompanied by guidance.
Guidance includes background information, explanations, and examples to help the organization better understand the requirements. The organization is not required to comply with guidance.
The Standards may also include recommendations. These are cases where a particular course of action is encouraged but not required.
The word ‘should’ indicates a recommendation, and the word ‘can’ indicates a possibility or option.
Defined terms are underlined in the text of the GRI Standards and linked to their definitions in the Glossary. The organization is required to apply the definitions in the Glossary.
An organization reporting in accordance with the GRI Standards is required to report how it manages each of its material topics.
An organization that has determined waste to be a material topic is required to report how it manages the topic using Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021 (see clause 1.1 in this section). The organization is also required to report any disclosures from this section (Disclosure 306-1 through Disclosure 306-2) that are relevant to its waste-related impacts.
This section is therefore designed to supplement – and not replace – Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3.
1.1 The reporting organization shall report how it manages waste using Disclosure 3-3 in GRI 3: Material Topics 2021.
The reporting organization shall report the following information:
1.2 The reporting organization should report a process flow of inputs, activities, and outputs that lead or could lead to significant waste-related impacts.
Background
The quantity, type, and quality of waste generated by an organization is a consequence of the activities involved in the production of its products and services (e.g., extraction, processing, procurement of materials, product or service design, production, distribution) and their subsequent consumption. An assessment of how materials move into, through, and out of the organization can help understand where in the organization’s value chain these materials eventually become waste. This provides a holistic overview of waste generation and its causes, which in turn can support the organization in identifying opportunities for waste prevention and for adopting circularity measures. In this way, the organization can go beyond mitigating and remediating negative impacts once waste has been generated and move towards managing waste as a resource.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-1
When reporting on this disclosure, the organization can specify the types of inputs and outputs. The types of inputs and outputs can include raw materials, process and manufacturing materials, leaks and losses, waste, by-products, products, or packaging.
The organization can assess and report whether inputs, activities, and outputs lead or could lead to significant waste-related impacts using the following criteria:
The organization is required to report on inputs that it receives from entities upstream in its value chain, as well as outputs it provides to entities downstream in its value chain. For example, if an organization procures components with hazardous characteristics from a supplier and uses these in a product that will continue to carry these components and their hazardous characteristics, the organization is required to report these components under inputs that lead or could lead to significant waste-related impacts. Similarly, if an organization sells to consumers products that generate large quantities of packaging waste, it is required to report this packaging under outputs that lead or could lead to significant waste-related impacts.
If the organization has identified many inputs and outputs or many activities that lead or could lead to significant waste-related impacts, it may group these by:
Guidance for clause 1.2
A process flow is a tool to visualize the information required to be reported under Disclosure 306-1. A graphic illustration of the process flow can help the organization and its stakeholders understand how inputs and outputs move through the organization’s own activities as well as through the activities of entities upstream and downstream in its value chain. It shows where waste is generated in the value chain or where outputs become waste.
The organization can also use the process flow to illustrate information that is required under other disclosures of this Standard, such as:
The organization can include estimates of the weight of inputs and the weight of outputs in metric tons or the ratio of inputs to outputs.
For examples of process flow illustrations, see the Appendix.
The reporting organization shall report the following information:
Background
An organization can cause waste-related impacts through its own activities. For example, when its operations generate waste outputs. It can also contribute to waste-related impacts through activities carried out in its value chain upstream or downstream. For example, through criteria in its procurement policies that lead to waste generation upstream, or through management decisions that limit the life of its products and therefore contribute to waste generation downstream.
Even when the organization has not contributed to waste-related impacts upstream or downstream in its value chain, its operations, products, or services could be directly linked to waste-related impacts by its business relationships with the entities in its value chain. For example, when third parties hired by the organization carry out inadequate recovery or disposal operations.
The way an organization is involved with negative impacts is important for determining the organization’s response to an impact.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-2-a
Actions, including circularity measures, to prevent waste generation and to manage significant impacts from waste generated can include:
See references [9] and [11] in the Bibliography.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-2-b
This disclosure can provide insight into the level of control the organization assumes for waste management outsourced to a third party. In the context of this Standard, a third party includes a public or private waste management organization, or any other entity or group of individuals formally or informally involved in handling the reporting organization’s waste. Waste management by third parties can include the collection, transportation, recovery, and disposal of waste, as well as the supervision of such operations and the aftercare of disposal sites. The organization may specify agreements in a contract for the third party to follow when managing its waste, or rely on existing legislative obligations, such as local environmental laws and regulations, to ensure that the third party manages the waste adequately.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-2-c
The processes that the organization has in place for collecting and monitoring waste-related data can reflect its commitment to managing waste-related impacts. Such processes can include online data entry, maintaining a centralized database, real-time weighbridge measurement, and annual external data validation.
The organization can specify whether the data collection and monitoring processes extend beyond waste generated in its own activities to include waste generated upstream and downstream in its value chain.
The reporting organization shall report the following information:
Compilation requirements
2.1 When compiling the information specified in Disclosure 306-3-a, the reporting organization shall:
2.1.1 exclude effluent, unless required by national legislation to be reported under total waste;
2.1.2 use 1000 kilograms as the measure for a metric ton.
Background
The total weight of waste generated, when contrasted with the weight of waste that the organization directs to recovery and disposal, can show the extent to which the organization manages its waste-related impacts.
The composition of the waste generated can help identify recovery or disposal operations appropriate to the type of waste and to the specific materials present in the waste.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-3
This disclosure covers waste generated in the organization’s own activities. The organization can separately report waste generated upstream and downstream in its value chain, if this information is available.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-3-a
When reporting composition of the waste, the organization can describe:
Templates for how to present information under this disclosure can be found in the Appendix Tables.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-3-b
To help understand the data, the organization can explain the reasons for the difference between the weight of waste generated and the weight of waste directed to recovery or disposal. This difference can be a result of precipitation or evaporation, leaks or losses, or other modifications to the waste. In the context of this Standard, leaks result from physical or technical failures (e.g., a trail of waste from a waste collection truck), while losses result from inadequate security measures or administrative failures (e.g., theft or lost records).
To help understand how the data has been compiled, the organization can specify whether the data has been modeled or sourced from direct measurements, such as waste transfer notes from contracted waste collectors, external assurance, or audits of waste-related data.
See references [1], [4], [10], and [11] in the Bibliography.
The reporting organization shall report the following information:
Compilation requirements
2.2 When compiling the information specified in Disclosure 306-4, the reporting organization shall:
2.2.1 exclude effluent, unless required by national legislation to be reported under total waste;
2.2.2 use 1000 kilograms as the measure for a metric ton.
2.3 The reporting organization should report the total weight of waste prevented, and the baseline and methodology for this calculation.
Background
An organization’s choice of operations to manage waste shows how it addresses significant waste-related impacts. The options to manage waste can be informed by the waste management hierarchy, which orders operations to manage waste from the most preferable to the least preferable. The waste management hierarchy prioritizes waste prevention, followed by recovery operations that divert waste from being sent to disposal, such as preparation for reuse, recycling, and other recovery operations.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-4
Templates for how to present information under this disclosure can be found in the Appendix Tables.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-4-a
When reporting composition of the waste, the organization can describe:
the waste streams, relevant to its sector or activities (e.g., tailings for an organization in the mining sector, electronic waste for an organization in the consumer electronics sector, or food waste for an organization in the agriculture or in the hospitality sector);
the materials that are present in the waste (e.g., biomass, metals, non-metallic minerals, plastics, textiles).
Guidance for Disclosures 306-4-b and 306-4-c
When reporting on Disclosures 306-4-b-ii and 306-4-c-ii, the organization can specify the type of recycling operations, such as downcycling, upcycling, composting, or anaerobic digestion.
Besides preparation for reuse and recycling, the organization can report the other types of recovery operations it uses under Disclosures 306-4-b-iii and 306-4-c-iii, such as repurposing or refurbishment.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-4-d
Reporting on the quantity and type of waste diverted from disposal onsite and offsite shows the extent to which the organization knows how its waste is managed. In the context of this Standard, ‘onsite’ means within the physical boundary or administrative control of the reporting organization, and ‘offsite’ means outside the physical boundary or administrative control of the reporting organization.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-4-e
To help understand the data, the organization can explain the reasons for the difference between the weights of waste diverted from disposal onsite and offsite (e.g., lack of infrastructure onsite to recover materials from waste). It can also describe sector practices, sector standards, or external regulations that mandate a specific recovery operation.
To help understand how the data has been compiled, the organization can specify whether the data has been modeled or sourced from direct measurements, such as waste transfer notes from contracted waste collectors, external assurance, or audits of waste-related data.
Guidance for clause 2.3
Waste prevention is the most preferable option in the waste management hierarchy, as it prevents the resulting impacts on the environment and human health. The organization can calculate waste prevented as the reduction in waste generation resulting from the actions reported under Disclosure 306-2-a. Reductions in waste generation resulting from reduced production capacity are not considered waste prevention. The organization can report waste prevented in its own activities as well as waste prevented in entities upstream and downstream in its value chain.
See reference [1] in the Bibliography.
The reporting organization shall report the following information:
Compilation requirements
2.4 When compiling the information specified in Disclosure 306-5, the reporting organization shall:
2.4.1 exclude effluent, unless required by national legislation to be reported under total waste;
2.4.2 use 1000 kilograms as the measure for a metric ton.
Background
Disposal is the least preferable option in the waste management hierarchy because of its negative impacts on the environment and human health. Leachate from landfills can contaminate land and water, methane released from the decay of organic waste in landfills contributes to climate change, and uncontrolled burning of waste contributes to air pollution. Disposal prevents the materials present in the waste from being recirculated in the environment and economy, making them unavailable for future use.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-5
Templates for how to present information under this disclosure can be found in the Appendix Tables.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-5-a
When reporting composition of the waste, the organization can describe:
Guidance for Disclosures 306-5-b and 306-5-c
Besides incineration and landfilling, the organization can specify the other types of disposal operations it uses under Disclosures 306-5-b-iv and 306-5-c-iv, such as dumping, open burning, or deep well injection.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-5-d
Reporting the quantity and type of waste directed to disposal onsite and offsite shows the extent to which the organization knows how its waste is managed. In the context of this Standard, ‘onsite’ means within the physical boundary or administrative control of the reporting organization, and ‘offsite’ means outside the physical boundary or administrative control of the reporting organization.
Guidance for Disclosure 306-5-e
To help understand the data, the organization can explain the reasons for the difference between the weights of waste directed to disposal onsite and offsite (e.g., local regulations that prohibit landfilling of specific types of waste). It can also describe sector practices, sector standards, or external regulations that mandate a specific disposal operation.
To help understand how the data has been compiled, the organization can specify whether the data has been modeled or sourced from direct measurements, such as waste transfer notes from contracted waste collectors, external assurance, or audits of waste-related data.
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This glossary provides definitions for terms used in this Standard. The organization is required to apply these definitions when using the GRI Standards.
The definitions included in this glossary may contain terms that are further defined in the complete GRI Standards Glossary. All defined terms are underlined. If a term is not defined in this glossary or in the complete GRI Standards Glossary, definitions that are commonly used and understood apply.
starting point used for comparisons