How to Get Rid of Waste

Across all industries, businesses are bound to produce waste daily and this quickly accumulates to have an impact on both profit margins and environmental impact. Particularly in industrial settings, the level of waste produced is a large-scale problem that many organizations are looking to tackle.

Every business must manage its waste output, being able to not only control how much is produced but being able to safely and ethically dispose of waste. By implementing improved processes, emissions are drastically reduced which shows a commitment to their environmental footprint, a big factor for the more conscious consumer. This also cuts down on unnecessary costs, enhancing poor systems which are resulting in costly waste and damaged goods.

Many organizations choose to appoint a health and safety practitioner who is focused on the well-being of employees and the productivity of the business. Being trained in ways that allow them to identify flaws in the current systems, new processes can be discussed that adhere to both new and existing laws.

Types Of Waste Disposal

When it comes to minimizing waste, consideration needs to be made in how this can be done. Instead of all waste heading straight to landfill sites, there are alternative methods that can help minimize the impact: 

1. Recycling
   In today’s day and age, many businesses are aware of the benefits of recycling their waste and have made changes to give their waste a new lease of life, allowing it to be turned into brand-new products or energy forms.
   
   
2. Prevention
   Being the best method for keeping waste to a minimum, prevention avoids it being created in the first place. By making an effort to reuse materials, change to more eco-friendly sources, use fewer materials, or elongate the duration of a product by improving cleaning and repairing efforts, less waste is produced.
   
   
3. Disposal
   Being the last resort, any materials which cannot be salvaged will be disposed of in general waste and make their way to landfill sites.

Identifying Key Areas Producing Waste

To create an improved strategy, an initial analysis should be carried out to identify the types of waste that are produced within your business. Each will have a varying impact on both business productivity and the environment so different levels of attention should be paid to each area. Identifying and separating the different kinds of waste, allows waste to be efficiently separated so it can be handled appropriately and minimize costs.

General waste

Consisting of everything that is placed in general waste bins and collected by garbage trucks to be taken to landfill sites, general refuse is created across all industries but there is always room for improvement. The aim is to reduce the amount of waste that makes its way into general refuse so evaluate whether all items placed in these bins could be put elsewhere instead or put to one side.

Paper

Paper and cardboard are key areas in any recycling plant due to the high volume that is disposed of across many industries. By disposing of it in allocated paper bins, it can be given a new lease of life and be used to create new products instead of wasting it. Although recycling is better than disposing of waste bins, an effort to minimize the amount of printing needed in an organization should also be made.

Scrap

Depending on the nature of a business, metal and plastic may need to be regularly disposed of which will require additional efforts. Although these can be collected along with your general waste, improvements should be made to keep this separate so it can be recycled or reused. Plastic waste can be collected separately and scrap metal can also be collected by dedicated services that will use it for new purposes.

Construction waste

For construction businesses, large quantities of waste are often produced which cannot be collected by standard services. Whether working on different business sites every day or undergoing a one-off construction project, it is the responsibility of the organization to arrange the collection of the debris, ideally separating the materials which could be recycled or repurposed.

Reducing The Amount Of Waste Produced

To make improvements and keep the amount of waste to a minimum within your organization, an audit can be undertaken now the different types of waste have been identified. Log information such as the amount of waste produced and the cost associated as well as these numbers in comparison with industry standards to understand if they align. Once you know where you sit now and where you want to be, the following steps can help achieve a minimal waste business:

• Speak to employees from all areas of the business to understand how they currently dispose of waste and whether the process works or if not, what recommendations they would make. By walking around each department to see firsthand how waste is handled, a thorough understanding will be gained so it can be used to pinpoint areas for immediate improvement.
• Understand what resources would be needed to implement new processes that will result in less waste. If costs are involved, comparing the investment with the ongoing costs that can be saved will help weigh up the decisions when discussing the change with management.
• It is common for changes to be pushed down the list of priorities when everyone is so busy with their day-to-day duties, meaning nothing gets achieved. To get started, make the immediate changes that can be implemented with little to no effort, seeing improvements from day one and making the remaining changes less intimidating to work on.