Sustainability Reporting:
How Lab Waste Impacts ESG Metrics

As environmental concerns grow, corporations are increasingly expected to play their part in protecting the planet. Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting has emerged as a structured framework for businesses to manage risks and opportunities related to climate issues. This practice involves disclosing information on environmental impact, social responsibility, and governance to stakeholders, providing a clear path for organisations to assess their practices and commit to long-term sustainability goals.

For the life sciences industry, laboratories face a significant challenge in complying with sustainable practices due to the large amount of waste, energy, and emissions they generate. The management of biomedical waste, in particular, is a huge factor in a corporation’s ESG metrics, and how a laboratory handles it can greatly impact its overall scoring.

The Evolution of ESG: From Values-Based Investing to Corporate Accountability

The journey of ESG reporting has mirrored the growing understanding among businesses and investors of how topics like human rights, working conditions, and environmental responsibility affect a company’s value. The concept first appeared in the 1970s as Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), a tool for investors to align their portfolios with their values. By the 1980s, this evolved into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), with a sharper focus on social issues such as human rights and supply chain ethics.

Over time, companies recognised that addressing issues like greenhouse gas emissions could also improve financial reporting and risk management. This led to the launch of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in 1997. The term “ESG” was officially coined in 2004 by the United Nations Global Compact, breaking down corporate focus into three clear pillars: environmental, social, and governance. Today, mounting pressure to meet targets set by the Paris Agreement and the UN’s Race to Zero campaign has made ESG reporting more critical than ever, with frameworks like the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) holding companies accountable for reducing global emissions.

The Critical Impact of Waste on ESG Metrics

Environmental Scores: The Problem with Traditional Waste Treatment

From an environmental standpoint, waste significantly affects ESG scores because historical methods of waste treatment all pose detrimental effects. Incineration and autoclaving emit large quantities of CO2, contributing to air pollution, while disposal in landfills risks soil and groundwater contamination. Furthermore, these methods render the waste materials completely unrecoverable, meaning the carbon-intensive process of manufacturing virgin plastics must continue unabated.

Social Responsibility: Protecting People and Communities

The social aspect of ESG is also intrinsically linked to waste. Improper disposal can endanger the employees handling the materials and affect the health of the wider community. Through transparent ESG reporting, companies can build trust with the public and their employees, take accountability, and begin to foster safer waste management strategies that prioritise wellbeing.

Governance and Compliance: Minimising Risk

To meet governance standards, conducting a thorough waste audit and complying with all regulatory requirements are key. This is crucial for minimising risk and driving strategic decisions that reduce laboratory waste and its associated environmental effects. Partnering with credible and regulated waste treatment companies ensures that all processes are compliant and transparent.

Strategic Solutions for Reducing Laboratory Waste

Building a Sustainable Supply Chain

A staggering 71% of the life sciences industry’s total emissions come from its supply chain, greatly affecting ESG metrics. By procuring supplies from verified sustainable partners, laboratories can help create unity across the entire value chain, fostering a shared goal of reducing emissions and embracing environmentally sound practices.

Embracing Circularity: The Power of Waste Recycling

Once sustainable products are procured, developing a waste management strategy centred on waste recycling and circularity is key to reducing the volume of waste leaving a laboratory. Circularity is the concept of reducing, reusing, and recycling materials within a closed-loop system. By embracing this model, the need for new virgin plastics is minimised, as is the volume of waste sent to landfill, leading to a significant reduction in emissions and a positive impact on ESG metrics.

Leveraging Data for Accurate Carbon Reporting

Using innovative technologies to track data enables laboratories to identify areas for improvement and set actionable targets. It creates a platform for transparent ESG reporting and serves as a powerful tool for driving down the environmental footprint of laboratory waste.

Solving Biohazardous Waste Challenges with Innovative Technology

Innovative technologies like Envetec’s GENERATIONS system offer a transformative solution to the problems of traditional biohazardous waste management. Unlike older biohazardous waste treatment companies that rely on incineration or landfill disposal, GENERATIONS uses non-thermal shredding and disinfection technology to treat waste at its source.

This process transforms contaminated materials into a clean, inert polymer flake suitable for recycling, enabling true biohazardous waste recycling and giving these materials another life. This approach diverts huge volumes of waste from landfills and disrupts outdated logistical chains associated with clinical waste collection. Furthermore, the GENERATIONS Connect platform captures real-time data, allowing for accurate assessment of waste volumes and the generation of regulatory-compliant emissions reports, powerful tools for measuring and improving ESG metrics.