Definition
This metric tracks the percentage of waste generated that is hazardous waste, due to the company’s operations in the last calendar year.
Expanded Definition
SASB defines waste as “anything for which the entity has no further use and which is discarded or is released to the environment.”
Waste is defined according to national rules and regulations. Included in this figure are “slags, dusts, sludges, used oil, and other solid wastes.”
SASB specifies that hazardous wastes includes “those that display the following characteristics: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity.”
Hazardous waste is defined by local laws and regulation. For the U.S., it is defined under Subtitle C of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. In the European Union, it is defined by the EU Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC).
The GRI specifies that the data can be “modeled, or sourced from direct measurement such as waste transfer notes from contracted waste collectors, external assurance, or audits of waste-related data.”
