Issue

The lack of harmonisation and transparency down to site level has an impact on regulatory compliance and reporting requirements.  Waste is currently managed offline at site level, which adversely impacts data management, data integrity and reporting in relation to waste management in Syensqo.  The tools and processes used for different sites and countries vary.  The exception is the Paulinia site in Brazil, where a simplified SAP subcontracting process has been implemented since 2015.  

A decision needs to be made on the waste management solution to be implemented as part of the ERP Rebuild project.

Recommendation

The primary objective of implementing of waste management in SAP as part of ERP Rebuild is the establishment of a globally simplified and harmonised waste management process.  The recommendation is for Waste Management to be harmonised at group level for SAP related processes as a foundation for any additional, local waste management requirements.  Site or country specific waste related process to support local requirements will benefit from a harmonised process in SAP for improved transparency, data integrity, data management, reporting and compliance.  It is most feasible to do so using SAP standard functionality due to the level of integration of waste management with other logistics processes.

Background & Context

Syensqo has the responsibility to manage the generation, storage, transportation and disposing of materials deemed to be waste relevant.  Currently there are HSE environment experts in each zone e.g. Asia and Europe, who follow relevant local regulations, which are managed according to permits and local regulations.

In Brazil the SBS Service Center Curitiba takes the Rhodia Poliamida e Especialidades Ltda transactions operations for the “Waste Management” on the “Provisioning and Accounts Payable process''.  The follow-up with vendors is managed by SBS Service Center. There are 11 Vendors for this process.   All other sites/countries use individual non-SAP tools and processes to manage waste.  Regulations and reporting requirements for waste management vary by country.

The Syensqo procurement strategy is to have one single supplier per site for non-hazardous waste treatment and limited number of suppliers for hazardous waste.  Waste treatment includes incineration and water processing including waste water.   Either the waste disposal vendor organises the transport or alternatively the transport is managed internally using authorised companies, which ship the waste product to an authorised waste disposal facilities. 

The primary objective of implementing of waste management in SAP as part of ERP Rebuild is the establishment of a globally simplified and harmonised waste management process.  Any developments and features available by SAP as part of roadmap can be added at a later date as and when required.

Assumptions

Waste considered and defined as part of the solution scope is commercial waste only.  Domestic waste is not in scope of this solution.

Constraints

The SAP Roadmap extends to end of 2024 and gives a product vision for developments to be expected thereafter.  Developments on the roadmap for public cloud only by 2025 may be implemented in private cloud thereafter.  Please note, with SAP Product Vision there are no certain plans to implement these features, it is just a strategy and subject to change.

For Waste Management the SAP Road Map (see references) has the following developments for S/4HANA public or private cloud by 2025:

1. Integration of waste management processes with other logistics processes like supply chain management and procure to pay:
   • Procure waste disposal services.
   • Pay invoices in a timely manner.
   • Manage on-site waste storage and plan timely shipment of waste.
2. Integration of waste management and purchasing and sales processes (public cloud):
   1. Procure waste disposal services.
   2. Pay invoices in a timely manner.
   3. Manage on-site waste storage and plan timely shipments of waste.
3. Management of waste cost allocation and payments associated with the transportation and disposal of waste (public cloud):
   1. View costs associated with the transportation and disposal of waste
   2. Allocate waste transportation and disposal costs to appropriate cost centres
4. Further integration with extended warehouse management to enable tracking of stored waste (public cloud).
5. Reporting toxic chemical releases to publicly accessible databases e.g. Pollutant Release and Transfer Register EU-PRTR (public cloud).

Any developments and features available by SAP as part of roadmap can be added at a later date as and when required.

Impacts

The implementation of the harmonised waste management solution for Syensqo requires the implementation and ownership of a group process with support of the relevant stakeholder in all countries/regions.

The SAP licence for SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Environment Management (private edition) will be required as part of the ERP Rebuild implementation.  

Business Rules

The Waste Management group process is to be adopted in all countries and sites using SAP.

Options considered

Option A:  Continuation of AS IS

The continuation of large number of variations of local processes and systems specific to country or site would stand against the alignment with project principles including simplification and harmonisation that guide the ERP Rebuild project.  Continuing with the current solution would rely on the use of different local solutions for waste management data collection and reporting purposes.  All BW based waste related reports would need redeveloping due to S/4HANA not featuring SAP BW in its scope.

It would counteract to the required level of accuracy for regulatory reporting and compliance as well as the efforts required to adhere to group reporting requirements due to low levels of transparency and data integrity.  Additionally, due to the level of integration with supply chain in SAP it is not feasible to rely on a fragmented waste management solution, which may be specific to a particular country or site.

Option B: Waste Management Solution in SAP

A waste management solution in SAP enables the company to establish a transparent operation that ensure and demonstrate a compliant waste management process within the entire organisation.

Waste Management in EHS is designed to support compliance with environmental regulations and ensure appropriate handling, disposal, and reporting of waste materials.
The functional features enable tracking and managing waste throughout its lifecycle from generation to disposal.  It enables the recording of waste generation data, classification of waste types, tracking waste storage locations and managing of waste transportation and disposal processes.

The capabilities of the SAP EHS Waste Management solution are as follows:

• Central repository for all waste management related compliance requirements:
  • One global repository of transport documents for waste e.g. permits.
  • Global repository for waste disposers and transporters by location/area.
  • Transparency of disposal channels (incl. point of generation, waste generator, disposer, disposal facility) for different waste materials.
• Streamlined processes for master data and onsite 
  management, planning of shipment and transportation up  
  waste disposal and reporting
  • Inventory Management recording goods movements (goods receipt and goods issue).
  • Transportation with dangerous goods information and transportation documents
• Integration into SAP S/4HANA business data and 
  processes
• Reporting via Waste Management Analytics, which enables reporting using waste related master data per site/country/region.

The SAP solution for Waste Management includes the following high-level process steps:

Waste related master data in SAP is located in SAP EHS Environment Management.  The process for Waste Management master data should be as follows:

1. Waste product - hazardous and non-hazardous, includes waste codes required for the creation of waste disposal documents.
   1. Types of commercial waste include: 
      1. liquid
      2. solid
      3. products/by-products
      4. organic
      5. inorganic waste.  
2. Business partners - e.g. waste transporters or waste disposers.  
   1. Waste related suppliers must be qualified. Syensqo has to know who is in charge of the final treatment of the waste and where. 
   2. Third parties e.g. CHMWEG in US to secure qualified business partners on Syensqo's behalf.  
   3. In EU HSE teams check operating permits of our suppliers.  
   4. 'Critical contractors' as classified by HSE group requirements:
      1. Working in hazardous chemical usage areas like chemical storage, waste
         treatment, waste storage, hazardous material clean up, chemical labs
      2. Working with tools, machines, or systems that contain process chemicals or
         chemical wastes
3. Waste streams - define the relationship between a waste product, waste generator, storage location and the points of generation.
4. Disposal channels - define the relationship between a waste stream, transporters and disposers. 
   1. Waste treatment can be done internally (incinerator) or externally.
   2. Types of waste treatment can include landfill, recycling, recovery for energy and incineration.
5. Waste transportation documents including permits.  Permits currently checked locally.

The detailed E2E Waste Management Process (L3 level) with integration into related E2E is drafted as per below Signavio flow:

Evaluation

See also

SAP Road Map for SAP EHS Waste Management (SAP Environment Management) SAP-Road-Map-Explorer-20240829172949.xlsx

Change log

Workflow history