Reduce your business waste
Why is it good for your business to reduce waste?
It will make a difference to the environment – landfill waste contributes to climate change by generating greenhouse gases. Additionally, the greater the need for waste disposal transportation, the higher the emissions just to get your waste to landfill. By changing behaviour and attitudes towards waste, your business will do its bit for the environment.
It could change how your business spends money – waste management strategies often include ways to reduce waste from its source. This affects how and what you buy and the resources deployed to handle this. This has a direct correlation to your everyday business expenses.
It could make your business money – with a global trend towards green business practices, the more businesses do to become sustainable, the greater the impression created amongst clients and potential clients. A good environmental reputation can influence whether your business is awarded contracts and give you a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Over and above this, if your business is generating a lot of waste, this often speaks to systems which could be streamlined. Interrogating your waste could yield some interesting ways to boost profitability.
It will make you compliant – All businesses have a duty to dispose of their waste responsibly. Your waste management strategy will be informed by the legal obligations of your business.
Top tips on how to reduce business waste
Find out where your waste comes from
To understand the true extent – and cost – of your waste, you need to examine its source. Speak to employees and take the time to understand the waste generated by raw materials and processes within every area of your business. Come up with ideas on how to do things differently.
Eliminate and reduce where possible
Once you know the different kinds of waste generated by your business, try and prevent unnecessary waste generation by eliminating them from your processes or reducing them as much as possible.
Opt for reusable items
Where items are re-usable – or a re-usable alternative exists – abandon throwaway culture for these more sustainable varieties.
Manage your printing and paper consumption
Actions to reduce paper consumption include:
- For businesses that employ more than 50 staff, the concept known as ‘pull’ or ‘FollowMe’ printing, which relies on a user activating a print job at the printer, can significantly reduce printing volumes because it gets rid of all the print jobs that end up as waste because they’re never collected
- Unless colour is really necessary, print documents in black and white and ensure that all office printers and photocopiers are set to the double-sided (duplex) print option. This simple default halves paper consumption instantly, already putting you ahead of the game
Explore recycling options
Once you’ve exhausted your options for reduction and reuse, it’s time to explore recycling options. The best recycling systems start small and build on sound foundations over time. Over time, you could expand your recycling system to include things like stationery, toners, cardboard, glass, plastics, fluorescent light bulbs, batteries, CDs, food waste, furniture, and IT equipment, among others.
As you introduce new recycling initiatives to the office ensure that the recycling facility is highly visible. A great way to make your employees aware of recycling is to install new bins with punchy labels. Tips here include:
- Use colour-coded bins to separate waste bins for each recycling option to ensure that waste streams do not become contaminated and can be recycled with ease
- Place recycling bins in each office cubicle and position paper recycling boxes next to employee’s desks—if it’s easy for employees to dispose of waste for recycling, they probably will
- Remove options for disposing of waste in a general bin, for example remove personal bins from under desks, have a small number of centrally located general waste bins and a much higher ratio of recycling bins available around the office
Engage staff early in recycling initiatives
It’s important that employees are engaged early in recycling initiatives. You could think about running a recycling awareness day, organising a staff ‘swap day’ or giving staff reusable bottles and cups that can be refilled to cut down on plastic.
[Source: extracts from Smarter Business blog]