Data on Chemical Companies’ Waste and the Recycling/Reuse of that Waste

Dozens of chemically-related companies’ sustainability reports were searched to find quantities of waste generated by the companies and the percentage of that waste recycled/reused (reuse is usually generating heat from the waste).  Such data was found for 34 companies and this data is presented in the following table:

company	recycled and thermally recovered waste (mt)	total waste generated (mt)	% of the total waste that is recycled and thermally recovered
methanex	1,500	3,340	45%
orica	7,300	18,200	40%
altana	18,021	28,204	64%
iff	18,665	38,867	48%
borealis	45,892	59,600	77%
givaudan	47,771	61,805	77%
kaneka	37,000	63,000	59%
symrise	18,160	63,550	29%
linde	22,374	67,800	33%
mexichem	12,359	72,700	17%
nippon shokubai	39,633	80,044	50%
shin etsu	71,000	101,000	70%
mitsubishi	50,000	130,200	38%
yara	49,176	81,300	60%
asahi glass	147,754	148,000	100%
lubizol	55,500	153,000	36%
wacker	123,550	167,140	74%
henkel	151,000	179,000	84%
covestro	50,080	193,000	26%
dsm	170,000	202,000	84%
monsanto	185,600	227,000	82%
lg chem	156,622	251,516	62%
merck kgaa	160,000	254,000	63%
asahi kasei	333,600	339,000	98%
mitisubishi	204,000	340,000	60%
tosoh	418,468	419,850	100%
dupont	149,723	465,640	32%
evonik	296,000	512,000	58%
bayer	214,000	840,000	25%
israel chemical	855,540	882,000	97%
formosa petrochemical	1,214,062	1,259,273	96%
scg chemicals	1,373,000	1,376,000	100%
basf	1,674,800	2,120,000	79%
average	253,702	339,334	63%
standard deviation			25%

The data shows that on average the 34 companies recently generated 339,334 metric tons (mt) per year of waste, while recycling/reusing on average 253,702 mt, an average 63% of the waste being recycled/reused.  The data suggests to me that chemical companies have active, successful programs to recycle/reuse the waste they generate.   These programs follow globally-wide standards for collection and reporting data.  The development of these standards has been ongoing for a long time.  It seems to me that such standards do well for company sustainability what accounting standards have done for promoting company financial successes.

The United States Chamber of Commerce Foundation has a report on how companies benefit by recycling and reusing waste versus landfilling and/or incinerating the waste.  (Click here to read the report – pdf file.)  A report from General Motors provides how the company has managed to recycle 85 percent of its worldwide manufacturing waste.  (click here to read the report – pdf file.)  A McKinsey Company article focuses on company reductions of materials and energy use, including waste material use.  (Click here to go to this article.)