How to Conduct a Waste Audit
In today’s business world, waste is more than a simple monthly expense. Your business’s waste habits could negatively affect the bottom line and send customers elsewhere. Customers want to patronize companies that care about the environment, and businesses can help their bottom line by conducting a thorough waste audit.
Regardless of your business’s size, it’s easy to audit your waste and become more sustainable. When you stop throwing everything away, your business can save money and grow.
What Is a Waste Audit?
A waste audit is a deep analysis of how your business disposes and recycles. Most companies need a week to evaluate how much they recycle and throw away. If your company is smaller, consider a longer audit.
Many companies conduct waste audits on their way toward LEED certification or earning other green labels. Auditing the waste stream determines where they can reduce waste to help the environment and save money.
Why Conduct a Waste Audit?
Your company can conduct a waste audit for any meaningful reason. Most companies audit waste streams to set a benchmark regarding their current waste practices and how they impact the environment. Once they establish a baseline, they can determine where they can improve.
After a waste audit, companies can track new strategies and monitor trends as a whole and in various departments. Overall, the goal is to stop filling landfills with items that can be reused or recycled.
Understanding the Waste Audit Process
Companies can conduct waste audits internally or work with an external company. The best option should fit your organization’s budget and staffing needs. A small company might manage a waste audit on its own, while a larger organization could benefit from working with an experienced auditing group.
Auditing groups agree on a set of steps that ensure you do the job accurately.
Plan the Audit
Before you begin assessing your group’s waste use, take time to build a team and discuss each person’s role. The group should walk through the process, and the building or locations to see what happens in various departments. Depending on the size of your organization and the group, you might need a day or two or several weeks to assess the plan.
While evaluating the locations, the first task is to record how the company is managing waste. Take note of where it is collected and who is responsible for removing it from the premises. Notice what is being disposed of and what is sent off for recycling.
Your team will need to decide how to record the information they glean. It can be helpful to take pictures and videos but decide how to organize them before filling your phones with images. Planning will make the process move smoothly.
Involve the Cleaning Team
Your cleaning team will help tremendously. Include a representative from the cleaning staff in your organizational team so they can be involved in the planning stages. They can help your team understand how waste is collected and where it is put before a disposal service picks it up.
Decide On the Schedule
Your organizational team will decide the length and breadth of the audit. A small company might benefit from a longer audit as waste might not build up as quickly as it does in a larger company. Most waste audits take at least five days. Many companies decide to do random audits for a few weeks after the initial audit.
Discuss the plans with your cleaning team, as the audit could take more time and add to the department’s expenses. The additional expenses will drop after the audit and analysis, especially if the process reveals money-saving benefits.
When you arrange your schedule, decide when your group will meet during and after the audit.
Prepare the Audit Worksheets
Your team will need to record the types of waste your company disposes of each day. As you organize the worksheets, include what department is generating the waste and where it is going.
The purpose of this stage is to gather data, so you’ll have to decide how you’ll measure the waste. Some organizations might decide to weigh it, while others might count full bags. Decide what technology you will use. Some companies use laptops and tablets, while others stick to paper and pencil.
Collect and Sort Samples
At each location, collect the waste each day and record quantities, types, and weights. Take pictures to show the team and the employees what they are using during your preset time. After you’ve collected data, start to estimate the averages for the day or the week.
Discuss with the cleaning how you will sort and measure so they can provide accurate information to the team. If you have industrial waste, be sure you follow safety precautions.
Work With Your Waste Disposal Company
After you’ve collected data, the next step is to chat with your waste disposal company. They should have records about the services they provide and possibly how much waste they’ve collected from you during your relationship.
Keep in mind that some external factors can affect your waste amounts. For example, if you’ve recently ordered supplies, you’ll have more waste as you dispose of the packaging. Regardless of the situation, cross-reference your audit estimates with your disposal company to see how close they are to the norm.
Prepare the Report
Once you’ve collected data, prepare the report and decide how you’ll make changes in your organization. Develop your benchmarks, then share them with each department and give them time to set goals.
The department heads should meet with the auditing team to evaluate the data and work together to achieve a better outcome with realistic and measurable goals for everyone. It’s also important to include the cleaning staff and the commercial waste management company in the discussions, especially regarding budgets and measurements.
Enhance Your Waste Audit Process Today
Analyzing your business’s waste and recycling through a waste audit will help your organization become more environmentally aware as you increase recycling and reduce consumption. Contact WIN Waste Innovations today for answers to any questions you might have about waste audits.