FACT: In 2008 a total of 54 million tonnes of waste were sent to landfill in England (Source, Environment Agency Landfill site returns).
FACT: You pay twice for your goods: You pay for your packaging and waste when you purchase them and then pay again to have them taken away.
FACT: 80% more people were actively recycling in 2009 than they were in 2007. Being seen to be recycling your waste is an important step for any business.
TOP TIPS FOR MANAGING YOUR WASTE
 |
Remember the Waste Hierarchy
The best way to save resources and to reduce the cost of your waste is to stop it at source whenever possible. This could mean better management, better procurement or a change in process.
|
 |
Ensure that the contractor you use to collect your waste is a registered waste carrier. It is your legal responsibility to ask to see their carriers licence, to keep a copy of it and of all your duty of care paperwork, including transfer notes etc. |
 |
Make sure that the bins you pay to have emptied are full. If not, then you should consider smaller bins, fewer bins or less frequent collections. |
 |
Identify which waste streams you can recycle and where possible segregate at source. When negotiating recycling and waste contracts, consider lift charges and skip or bin rental charges. You will need to have a good idea of what’s in your waste to negotiate the best contract. |
 |
If you produce hazardous waste, be sure to keep it segregated. Contaminating controlled (general) waste with hazardous waste will render the whole skip or bin full hazardous and dramatically increase disposal costs and paperwork. |
 |
Speak to your suppliers - can they take back the boxes, drum’s or containers they bring to you? Ask if there is a reusable packaging system that they could use instead. It could save them money as well.
|
 |
Where possible seek to buy in bulk. This will not only reduce the cost of the item, but also reduce the percentage and weight of packaging. Avoid ‘portion packs’ and similar convenience solutions which are invariably over packaged.
|
 |
Managing waste means checking that segregation is maintained and carrying out regular waste audits. This will identify problems and causes, along with solutions. This could simply mean reinforcing the message on segregation to all staff. |
Click
here to return to Best Practice Guides list.