Solutions to Waste Management: How Can Your Business Reduce its Waste?
Waste management is a complex process. It’s one that can incur a lot of hidden costs that you might not have expected. Landfill costs, skip hire, disposal… it all adds up. Not to mention the more waste you produce, the bigger your environmental footprint. So how can we reduce not only our business waste but the associated costs?
Here are some simple solutions to waste management.
- Audit Your Site
- Review Your Recycling
- Consider the Little Things
- Reduce Waste Volume
- Production and Warehousing
Audit Your Site
Take a good hard look at the functions and processes of your facility, office or business. While you’re doing this, identify the answers to these questions:
- Where in the supply chain is waste being produced?
- What kind of waste is being produced?
- What packaging is being used or thrown away?
- How many bins for general waste or recycling are there and where are they placed?
Determine if any answers you find can be improved upon. For example, you may be creating a lot of low-density polyethylene waste that you use as packaging. Why not choose a more sustainable, greener alternative, such as paper?
Similarly, recycling containers should be easy to access. These need to be efficiently segregated and include signage to show what kind of waste goes where.
How full are your recycling containers? How often are they emptied? Creating a schedule for when these jobs should be done helps create a more visual logistics process when it comes to waste management. This also helps reduce hidden costs by making the waste management hierarchy process more transparent, as you can log the amount of waste produced. It creates more accurate H&S audits.
Review Your Recycling
All businesses, when they send waste to landfill, need to pay the Landfill Tax. This means that for every tonne of waste you produce, you’ll be charged by the government. Not to mention the costs of waste transfer and disposal.
If you’re looking to reduce your waste and therefore the costs involved, think about recycling. This eco-friendly waste management strategy means that you’re helping the environment while cutting costs.
Waste types for businesses could include cardboard, polythene, plastic or polystyrene. Did you know polystyrene can be recycled? With the right machinery, like a polystyrene compactor, you can create blocks of polystyrene. This polystyrene is in high demand, particularly within the construction industry. Recyclables can be baled in different sizes and easily stored, ready to be sold on.
Not only does this reduce the waste you’re sending to landfill, it’s also a new revenue stream for your business – a win-win situation.
Consider the Little Things
There are a number of small, direct things you can do to create quick wins when it comes to reducing your waste production. They don’t even require that much effort or financial investment.
Refrain From Using Plastic Bottles
Plastic bottles are recyclable but usually end up in bins for general waste. The best thing to do is encourage your employees to buy refillable bottles made of stainless steel, glass or HDPE.
Go Paperless
Going paperless helps cut down on office costs and the amount of paper waste produced, it also has a stream of benefits, such as decluttering workspaces and decreasing spam mail.
Collect e-Waste
e-Waste can be an incredibly hazardous form of waste. Offer a bin or container where any e-waste can be stored.
Reduce Waste Volume
Not only do we have to contend with the Landfill Tax, but there are also the costs of skip hire and waste transfer and disposal. All these things add up and the more you work to reduce your waste, the lower your monthly overheads are going to be.
The cost of a small skip can vary from £90 to £130 per week. A large skip may set you back anywhere from £150 to £240 per week. That’s a pretty large cost, especially if you have multiple skips onsite.
To make your skip more efficient you can use certain machinery, such as a vertical baler, to compress certain types of waste into bales. This makes them easier to store, easier to carry and can increase the cost-efficiency of your skip hire.
How else can reducing waste volume make a business more waste-efficient?
Production and Warehousing
Production and warehousing are two crucial areas where waste management can be employed in an incredibly effective way.
Smaller things like plastic bottles and e-waste don’t warrant machinery to deal with. However, many businesses will have warehouses that produce a lot of cardboard and polyethylene wrapping – two key components in a variety of packaging.
Both of these waste materials can be efficiently baled and stored. For example, a vertical baler can easily bale both polyethylene and cardboard. They can even bale foil and plastic. Inside the balers, rows of barbs help to keep expandable products such as polyethylene compacted, so you don’t have to worry about inefficient storage.
Low density polyethylene (LDPE) is a very common waste product and is easily thrown away, but it’s also a very destructive environmental pollutant – especially for waterways and marine environments. This makes it crucial to bale and successfully recycle.
Now, investing in effective waste solutions is important for the reasons we’ve spoken about. It can lower your overheads, help the environment and even create new revenue streams. However, you need the right knowledge to continue. If you’re looking for more actionable information on how to reduce waste, download our helpful eBook.
Download Our eBook on Effective Waste Management Solutions
‘Waste Management: How To Cut Costs and Retain Quality’ is a quick and easy download designed to help you get the most out of your waste management strategy. You’ll be able to discover how to reduce waste costs, remain compliant with government regulations and determine if a waste management provider is the right choice for you.
Just click the link below to download your guide.
