Energy
Waste
Water and Sewage
Transport
Green Blue
Buildings & land use
englishdeutsch
Tool Summary Tool Characteristics Tool Application Source of Tools Opinion of Tools

Opinion of tools

Name of the tool
Indicating Right: environmental performance indicators for the waste management sector

Positive comments about the tool
• The tool states the indicators and then in the report provides an explanation of the process involved or the reason as to why the indicator is important.
• The indicators are presented in two stages. Stage 1 includes the indicators that the Green Alliance feel that a significant number of companies will be able to adopt and report on in the near future, if they; have not done so already. Stage 2 includes the indicators that they know will require more time, either because the indicator itself needs further development or because the waste companies need longer to prepare for implementation of the indicator.

Negative comments about the tool
• The indicators are not assured to automatically ensure that a firms most significant environmental impacts are covered. Additional indicators may be required to deal with specific activities of particular firms.
• There is no ranking of priority among the indicators. This could however be looked at as either a negative or positive characteristic. The tool was created in such a way as the indicators are seeking to measure such different things that any form of ranking was considered inappropriate.
• There is possibly a problem filling in some indicators since some of the services related to the waste management sector are controlled by other organisations, e.g. one company had contracted out gas management at all its landfills. It would be perverse if this company did not report on its landfill emissions, given its responsibility for land filling the waste and also its control over the gas management specification. It would be appropriate that the gas management company also report on its performance at minimising the emissions. This has the potential for ‘double counting’. Since the aim of the indicators is to reveal individuals company’s environmental performance rather than to compile figures for the absolute impact of the industry, ‘double counting’ is less important.