Waste

Waste takes many forms in an organisation; it is not just the contents of the skip. It can include:

• refuse (also known as solid waste, trade waste etc.)
• waste packaging
• water
• effluent
• waste oils, solvents, liquid residues in drums etc.
• smoke and fumes
• heat / energy losses
• rejects and reworks
• wasted time and effort

Reasons to Reduce Waste

• It saves money - minimising waste will lower your overheads and increase profitability. It results in increased operating efficiency, reduced production costs and reduced disposal costs.
• It improves environmental performance and helps to comply with legislation.
• Waste Minimisation is part of an Environmental Management System and a step towards standards such as ISO 14001.
• It can give your firm a competitive advantage; waste reduction and being more environmentally friendly can enhance your image with customers, employees and the local community.

Steps to Reduce Waste

There are three steps to follow to start reducing your waste:

1. Complete a site survey: Identify all areas of waste minimisation throughout the company.
2. Gather costs for waste: Find out how much waste costs from each area and assess the scope of savings.
3. Take Action: Focus on areas where cost savings can be made and large amounts of waste are produced.

Complete a site survey

Take a walk around your organisation, (you could create a waste minimisation team that consists of staff from different departments) collecting basic data from each area, to identify your waste sources and quantities. Each area should be identified such as office, canteen, process area etc. Then within each area, all waste sources should be identified including; general waste, packaging, effluent etc.

Envirowise is a Government funded programme that offers UK businesses advice and support on practical ways to increase profits, minimise waste and reduce environmental impact.

Envirowise offers free on-site environmental waste reviews aimed at companies with less than 250 employees.

Gather costs for waste

Once the initial data has been collected, gather the costs from the last financial year of how much the organisation spends on each waste, including the cost of the raw material and the cost of disposal. This information will provide baseline figures for measuring improvements against, where to focus your resources and potential financial savings that you can expect.

Take action

Once you have identified the wastes generated by your organisation you can start to think about how to reduce, reuse and recycle the waste. Focus on areas which produce large amounts of waste, are the most expensive wastes and hazardous wastes. Also pay attention to opportunities that present immediate savings and those that are no-cost and low-cost. For Waste Minimisation Tips for your site, see the Envirowise Guide: 'Waste Minimisation for managers'.

Waste Legislation

Waste legislation and Duty of Care