Green Bank of Colorado

Waste Management and Resource Efficiency Projects

Resource allocation and waste management are two of the key drivers in increased emissions. Projects that work to reduce waste and improve the efficiency of resources are considered as a high priority and have high impact metrics. Below are a list of core indicators that should be maximized to increase the impact of the proposed project.

Resource Efficiency Project Example

Guidance and Definitions

  • Waste Prevention: Any operation that reduces at source the quantity of waste before recycling, composting, energy recovery and landfill deposit become options.
  • Waste Minimization: Any operation that: Reduces the quantity of material used in the creation of products and increases the efficiency with which products, once created, are used; • limits unnecessary consumption by designing and consuming products that generate less waste; and/or • checks, cleans or repairs products or components that have become waste in preparation for reuse without any other pre-processing.
  • Waste Reuse: Any operation that reuses products or components for the same purpose for which they were conceived.
  • Waste Recycling: Any operation that recovers and reprocesses waste materials into materials or substances whether for the same purpose for which they were conceived, or for other purposes.
  • Energy Recovery: Any operation that converts non-recyclable waste materials into usable heat, electricity, or fuel.
  • Waste Disposal: Any operation which is not waste recovery.

Core Indicators

  • Waste prevented, minimized, reused or recycled
    • Waste that is prevented, minimized, reused or recycled before and after the project in % of total waste and/ or in absolute amount in tonnes p.a.
    • For certain waste management projects that reduce the amount of waste disposed of, it may also be possible to capture GHG emissions from waste management before and after the project in tCO2–e p.a
    • Capacity of renewable energy plant(s) constructed or rehabilitated in MW
    • Benchmarks: Internationally recognized benchmark standards for waste management (e.g. EU Waste Policy and Waste Framework Directive statistics and reports) – Internationally recognized tools for calculating Greenhouse Gases (GHG) in Solid Waste Management (SWM), such as the SWM-GHG Calculator or EPA’s Waste Reduction Model (WARM)
  • Energy Recovery from Waste, including Energy/Emission-Efficient Waste to Energy Projects
    • Annual amount of energy that is recovered from waste before and after the project in an environmentally sound manner through specified methods ie. Energy recovered through landfill gas collection, anaerobic digestion plants, waste-to-energy generation, biomass gasification, Mechanical Biological Treatment etc.
    • Annual energy generation from non-recyclable waste in energy/emission-efficient waste to energy facilities in MWh/GWh (electricity) and GJ/TJ (other energy)
    • Energy recovered from waste (minus any support fuel) in MWh/GWh/KJ of net energy generated
    • GHG emissions from waste management before and after the project in tCO2–e p.a.
    • Benchmarks: Internationally recognized benchmark standards for waste management (e.g. EU Waste Policy and Waste Framework Directive statistics and reports) – Internationally recognized tools for calculating Greenhouse Gases (GHG) in Solid Waste Management (SWM), such as the SWM-GHG Calculator or EPA’s Waste Reduction Model (WARM)
  • Pollution Control Projects
    • Waste that is separated and/or collected, and treated (including composted) or disposed of in an environmentally sound manner before and after the project. (This presumes no leakage of contaminants.)
    • Annual absolute (gross) amount of waste that is separated and/or collected, and treated (including composted) or disposed of (in tonnes p.a. and in % of total waste)
    • Benchmarks: Internationally recognised benchmark standards for waste separation and/or collection and environmentally sound waste disposal, such as EU Landfill Directive.