5.12 PROMOTING WASTE MINIMISATION AND WASTE MINIMISATION
in finding solutions to specific site problems and were encouraged by each other's success. The improved relationship with the local authority created the opportunity for constructive discussions between members of the club and the authorities.
5.13.2 Lessons Learnt
The club was formed quickly due to pressure from the local authority. There was therefore insufficient time to plan the club's management. Valuable experience was gained while facilitating the club, which should be taken into consideration for the future establishment of clubs. The most important lessons are described below.
Meetings
Due to the large size of the club, regular club meetings were important to provide information to members and to obtain feedback from companies so that results could be updated. It was thus a drawback when meetings were poorly attended.
Club members were notified of meetings two weeks prior to the date of the meeting, and were reminded the day before the meeting. Meetings were generally attended by a core group of sixteen members. It was thus difficult to obtain information on the progress made at all companies, or the problems experienced. A number of members requested to be kept informed of the meetings and the discussions that took place despite being unable to attend.
The time and duration of meetings were often said to be inconvenient for most members. Many project champions felt they were needed more on site than at a meeting. Despite the discussion sessions of meetings being held informally, it was observed that many companies did not participate due to feeling overwhelmed by those club members who had made significant progress.
Some companies were not comfortable with speaking in front of others.
Training sessions were also poorly attended despite being held after normal factory hours. A combination of meetings and training sessions is thought to be more successful in the future.
Motivation and Commitment
Initially it was difficult to convince companies of the benefits of waste minimisation to their businesses. The lack of awareness and understanding of the subject was an obstacle to realising the benefits that were described in the literature reviewed. The lack of interest by the metal finishing industry was first evident at the inaugural meeting in June 1998, where out of eighty companies, only twenty-nine joined the waste minimisation club. In addition, only sixteen companies were actively involved in the club. As discussed in sections 5.5.1 and 5.5.2, the main reasons for the companies joining the club were given as legal compliance and cost savings. However, from discussions and observations, it was clear that a number of companies did not believe they would achieve any financial savings. This was especially true of smaller companies who were sceptical of investing time, effort, and money in something new. It was important to provide them with real cases of waste minimisation success stories in order to motivate them. Success by a single
company within the club proved to be very instrumental in jumpstarting other companies' waste minimisation programmes.
Some companies were complacent and were prepared to be part of the club in the hope that this would be well favoured by the local authority. It also took a while for companies to trust the facilitator and each other. Members were not enthusiastic about divulging information on their companies, especially since some were in competition with each other.
Most project champions were responsible for more than one task at their companies such as process control and production, and therefore could not devote significant proportions of their time to waste minimisation programmes. This prevented regular attendance at meetings and training sessions. It was also difficult to arrange meetings and site visits with companies, and often months would go by before a site visit could be set up.
Waste Minimisation Programmes
Insufficient emphasis was placed on the importance of waste minimisation project teams and champions to run waste minimisation programmes. The tasks ofthe team should have been clearer, and each company needed to set definite goals for minimising waste. While companies made commitments to rwming waste minimisation programmes, these did not always prove to be well thought out. This was especially true when the required additional information necessary to implement changes, such as data on consumption of raw materials and costs was not readily available. Thus a major difficulty experienced during the running of the club was the collection of data during waste minimisation assessments. This was particularly difficult with the smaller companies where records were not easily attainable. A number of the smaller companies did not keep records of production data or utility consumption, and raw material consumption and costs. In many instances when information was required, it was necessary to visit the company personally to retrieve the data. In the case of water consumption, water meter readings had to be taken personally. In some cases required information would be received months after it was requested.
The club members involved attributed this to busy schedules and production issues. This severely slowed the progress with waste minimisation programmes.
Club Size
Generally, a waste minimisation club consists of between ten and fifteen members as was the case in most successful clubs formed in the UK.. The Metal Finishing Club however consisted of twenty-nine companies. This resulted in some difficulties being experienced in managing it. The large number of members made it necessary to recruit students to assist with the initial assessments at the companies. These results were discussed in section 5.1.2. While the club was sector specific (consisted of metal finishers), due to its size it was not always possible to focus meetings on an issue that was of equal importance to all members. This created a feeling of being overlooked by some members. In addition the size meant it was more difficult to provide individual assistance to each company on a regular basis. It was difficult to co-ordinate meetings based on each project champion's availability. However, as discussed in section 5.3, as the club progressed, the
companies making the most progress attended meetings regularly. This was generally sixteen members, which would have been a more appropriate size for the club.
Project Champions
As mentioned in Chapter 2, section 2.5, the roles of the project champion is to co-ordinate and facilitate waste minimisation within the company. It follows that this person should be enthusiastic about the process, be able to organise the project, communicate the requirements and results, and have the ability to gain support from co-workers. It was also mentioned that in order for waste minimisation to be successful, the support and commitment from senior management is essential.
The project champions from the metal finishing club were mainly the owners or managers of their respective companies. This was helpful in that they were able to see first hand what the benefits of waste minimisation were, and were able to implement changes without having to first seek approval from management. The drawback to owners and managers being project champions was seen in a few cases where due to having a number of other responsibilities, these project champions did not have the time to attend meetings regularly.
The attitude of project champions was a key factor in determining whether progress was made with waste minimisation. Those project champions who were enthusiastic and willing to make an effort managed to achieve the objectives of waste minimisation. A number of project champions remained sceptical about the benefits of waste minimisation despite hearing about the successes of other members.