How To Audit Waste Streams: What Businesses Can Learn About Waste Auditing
A waste audit is a way to measure all of your combined waste and quantify it into a number. This can help you identify where you have excess waste in order to implement strategies to reduce it. Waste audits are also known as waste surveys, and both refer to the same process. If your business generates a large number of materials that go from your facility via container, truck, or ship to a landfill or other disposal sites, then it's important for you to conduct regular waste audits. What if your business gets rid of its waste in another way? For example, do you run a commercial trucking company and haul away the waste yourself? Do you sell products that result in the unnecessary disposal of packaging and materials? Questions like these can help you decide if you should be conducting a waste audit.
Why Conduct a Waste Audit?
A waste audit is a part of creating your waste management plan. It can help you to identify where you are generating the most waste and what resources are being wasted. The information gathered during this process will also help you to identify areas that need improvement and to create a more efficient system for managing your business's waste.
Waste audits are important because they help save space and reduce pollution. Additionally, they can help businesses save money by identifying opportunities for cost savings or revenue generation through recycling and reuse programs.
What Should You Audit?
There are several areas where waste audits can be done. These include:
- Waste Streams — Audit your company's different waste streams to see how much of each type you're producing. This will help you identify where you can make changes to reduce or eliminate some of the waste. You can then use the results to calculate your current recycling rate and set goals for improvement in the future.
- Waste Disposal Costs — Analyze your disposal costs to determine how much you're spending on trash pickup, recycling, and composting. This information can help determine if there are ways to reduce costs by changing how much trash is thrown away or recycled at each location in your company.
- Materials Usage — Inventory all materials used in your operation and compare them with other companies that use similar products. This will allow you to find out what areas of your operations use more than others and look for ways to decrease usage without compromising efficiency or quality.
A waste auditing service can help other areas that can be improved.
Contact a company like Mid America Paper Recycling Co to learn more.
Share