How Can A Business Reduce Waste
- Posted by:
- Admin
- Tags:
- Reducing Waste, Waste Disposal, Recycling
- Posted date:
- 29-04-2022
How can my business reduce waste and what are the benefits of doing it? In this article we go over the major benefits of waste reduction and outline the waste hierarchy' process.
What are the benefits of reducing waste for your businesses?
There are many benefits to reducing waste for businesses of any size. The main positives to reducing waste in your business are the reduced impact you have on the environment, lowering the need for landfill space, lowering your carbon footprint and protecting our biodiversity.
But while the environmental benefits are enough of a reason to aim for waste reduction, there are other benefits to glean on the business side, including:
- Increasing job satisfaction of your employees working in a cleaner environment.
- Helping your business adhere to UK Government guidelines.
- Improving your reputation with your customers with responsible business practices.
- Saving you money on business waste removal services.
- Helping you to remain flexible with future changes to legislation or business guidelines.
How much waste per capita UK?
Shockingly, the UK produces some of the largest volumes of waste per capita globally. We throw away 760 kilograms of waste per person per year, amounting to every person throwing away the equivalent of their body weight in waste every two months.
Therefore, if you have an office space for 100 employees, you can imagine how this waste can quickly pile up. In this example, the office will produce up to 20 bags of waste each week, which equates to roughly 50 gallons of waste per year. Therefore, reducing this vast amount of waste we generate is essential to limit our negative effects on our environment further.
How can you reduce your waste?
The best place to start when reducing the amount of waste your business produces is conducting a 'waste audit'. This involves cataloguing the waste you produce, such as glass, plastics, cardboard etc., and weighing how much of each type you throw away each week.
Small businesses can do this themselves, given they will produce a smaller amount of waste to audit, though most companies may need to hire a professional to help them.
Once your audit is complete, you can then work out how to reduce the different types of waste you produce. Following the important steps of the 'waste hierarchy' process from top to bottom is the most efficient way to do this:
Step 1: Prevention
Step 2: Reuse
The best way to limit the amount of waste your business produces is to prevent it from coming into your business in the first place.
Next, you can try to reuse certain items that you are throwing away, such as bottles or containers.
Step 3: Recycle
Step 4: Recovery
Identify which types of waste you are throwing away that can be recycled, and place recycle bins throughout your site.
Find out which products in your supply chains and waste streams can be reused by other people or switch to recycled products and reusable items.
Step 5: Disposal
Once you have divided all your waste into the previous categories, you can throw whatever is left (hopefully only a very small pile) into the general waste for landfill.
Top ways to reduce waste at your business
If the waste hierarchy is a little too vague, we have here some practical suggestions you can try to help reduce waste produced in your business.
Compost
A lot of the waste generated in typical business environments, but especially so in the food industry, is organic.
Not only does it account for a large proportion of our waste, but it also tends to be the heaviest portion of our waste, which means it is more expensive to remove.
Therefore, a cost-effective composting campaign can truly help to cut down on both landfill waste and your outgoing costs.
As people move towards using biodegradable utensils and packaging, composting is becoming a more viable and sustainable way of removing waste from your business.
Identify which types of waste you are throwing away that can be recycled, and place recycle bins throughout your site.
Audit your facility
Again, auditing is the best way to determine which types of waste your business generates the most.
You can then track where this waste is coming from in your supply chain and work to reduce or eliminate it.
You can also ask yourself whether you can replace these waste materials with compostable or recyclable products or items instead. Considering where your waste bins are placed can also help.
For example, you might place recycling bins where they are easier to find and use than general waste bins.
Reduce packaging
Roughly 30% of all waste generated in developed countries is due solely to packaging. As part of your audit, you can evaluate the types of packaging your business deals with on a daily basis.
If you produce packaging yourself, perhaps switching to reusable or recyclable materials rather than single-use plastics is the best way forward. It will be better for our environment, but reusing your packaging and containers will also save money.
Eliminate bottled water
Along with single-use plastic packaging comes single-use plastic bottles. You can easily switch from bottled water to filtered pitchers and glasses in your business' break room for your employees.
Reducing the number of raw materials, such as petroleum, used to manufacture plastic bottles will greatly benefit the environment.
Not to mention how much your business will save purchasing and disposing of the bottles once they've been used. Water pitchers, glasses or reusable bottles will eventually pay for themselves.
Give food waste to pigs
If you have local facilities available, we recommend that you try to dispose of your organic waste by giving it to pig farms. It's a tried and tested method of ethically disposing of food waste and is the perfect solution for restaurants, cafes, schools, and other businesses and organisations.
Go paperless
If your business deals with a lot of paper waste or stores most of its information on paper, it's time to join the 21st century. Modern digital technology offers cheaper and more environmentally-friendly ways to store your information than old-school paper.
Going paperless will also free up space in your offices, with less waste taking up valuable room while saving money.
Measure your waste
Asking those who dispose of your waste to measure the amount of waste you're typically generating can also reveal important insights. For example, you can determine how much waste you generate per person or year. With this information in mind, you can better target the areas generating the most waste.
You can even begin to calculate your greenhouse emissions or how much you are reducing them as you cut down on your waste. Even cutting down by as little as 15% means up to 40 tonnes of carbon emissions are taken out of the atmosphere.
Collect e-waste
Electronic waste also has a serious effect on our environment and people's health and well-being. All the more reason why we should dispose of it responsibly.
For example, the city of Guiyu in China is the world's largest site for e-waste disposal, with up to 80% of local inhabitants suffering from respiratory illnesses. Therefore, you need to provide a way for your employees to safely dispose of electronic waste, either from your business or their homes.
This includes rechargeable batteries, printer cartridges and other waste from your electronic devices. You should also ensure that your waste removal vendor recycles your e-waste properly and does not sell it to third-party or overseas waste collection companies who do not dispose of their waste responsibly.
Recycling responsibilities
As a business owner, you have legal responsibilities regarding your recycling and waste disposal.
With a duty of care towards your employees and the wider public, you must adhere to these legal requirements in all aspects of your recycling and waste removal.
Waste carrier's license
When outsourcing your recycling to a waste management service, it is your responsibility to ensure they have the correct waste carrier's license and registration certificates. This way, you can be certain that your waste is being disposed of and recycled safely and legally.
Waste transfer note
All your recycling collections and drop-offs require a waste transfer note from you as the business owner. These notes can cover all manner of different collections and are mandatory.
Electrical waste
Electronic waste regulations stipulate how you should safely dispose of and recycle your electrical waste. It also determines how much electrical waste you are allowed on your site.
Animal by-products
If your business produces animal by-products, you must store them separately from other waste and clearly label them. Additionally, you have to register with the Animal and Plant Health Agency and ensure each of your animal waste collections or drop-offs are accompanied by commercial notes.
Hazardous materials
If you produce hazardous waste as a product of your operations, you need to adhere to certain waste disposal requirements. The first is to register as a 'hazardous waste producer' before separating and clearly labelling your hazardous waste.
You might also be required to use two containers for one amount of waste for added safety. Mixing your non-hazardous and hazardous waste is strictly forbidden and is incredibly dangerous to human health. You may not store hazardous waste on your site for longer than 90 days.
Call us today, and we can give advice on what would be the best-sized skip for your end of tenancy cleaning out.