Financial impacts of waste minimisation

The easiest way to demonstrate the financial impact is to study the financial performances of actual industrial concerns. Waste in materials, utilities or other consumables can be quantified in money terms. 

Waste minimisation measures can be assessed in terms of money saved in the area of raw materials and consumables. Company financial accounts usually show these cost elements under the heading Cost of Sales . To assess the impacts, typical examples have been selected and figures for a large multinational pharmaceuticals producer, a mediumsized speciality chemicals manufacturer, and a small agrochemicals/fine chemicals producer have been extracted and are shown in Table 2.1. 

As can be seen from the tables the different manufacturing activities (pharmaceuticals, specialities, agrochemicals) carry different relative levels of costs for raw materials and consumables. It is significant to note from Table 2.1 that the ratio PBIT Sales expressed as a percentage, is identical 

Large pharmaceutical Medium speciality Small agrochemical 

Footnotes for Tables 2.1 and 2.2 Total sales, quoted in billions of US dollars are taken from published accounts (1993). The pharmaceutical company is a multinational based in USA, the medium sized speciality chemicals company is an international company based in the UK and the small agrochemicals producer is a UK company with a high level of export business. Cost of sales as quoted appears to be consistently calculated between the three companies. The profits (profit before interest and taxation—PBIT) are quoted in billions of US dollars. 

---