According to the most recent report from the United Kingdom's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, the UK is estimated to have produced 43.9 million tonnes of commercial and industrial waste in 2018. As you are sure to know, waste generation causes major environmental damage.
More and more companies are waking up to the fact that they can do their bit by reducing their corporate waste. Furthermore, there are several easy and quick ways in which you can reduce much of your waste.
So, what are you waiting for? Here are seven corporate waste reduction methods you should consider implementing.
1. Recycle and Reuse
While waste incinerators can be useful for specific industries, such as those that need to dispose of medical or animal waste, every workplace in every industry can benefit from implementing the waste reduction solutions of recycling and reusing.
Quite simply, if reusable alternatives exist to items your business currently uses, make the change.
Recycling should also be the norm in businesses of all sizes. When you introduce recycling bins into the workplace and ensure all workers use them correctly, a huge amount of waste can avoid being sent to landfills and be recycled instead.
2. Use Lots of Colour-coded Bins
To make sure every item is recycled in the right way, from batteries to cardboard, introduce colour-coded bins that clearly identify the purpose of each bin. By separating waste to be recycled, you ensure it is sent to the right place and does not end up in a landfill.
You also need to ensure you have lots of bins! Place recycling bins for various items next to each office cubicle or workstation to make it easy for employees to dispose of their waste correctly.
3.Audit Your Workplace
Look around your office or facility to evaluate the supply chain of items that end up becoming waste in order to identify ways of reducing your corporate waste. That could mean switching to compostable products or replacing machinery that generates too much material waste.
For example, imagine you have plastic equipment that you want to get rid of. You can easily offer these for sale and replace them with more waste efficient machines. Evaluate how full recycling containers are prior to pick-up too so that you can potentially decrease the frequency of the pick-ups.
The important thing is that you audit every detail of your operations to find out how you can reduce your corporate waste. In turn, your company could make substantial savings.
4. Reduce Your Packaging
Did you know that one-third of waste in developed countries comes solely from packaging?
Evaluating the packaging you use should be one of the primary elements of the audit process.
You could, for example, eliminate single-use containers or switch to packaging that has been recycled and can be recycled.
Your company can actually save lots of costs by making such switches, too.
5. Go Paperless
Most companies have now made the choice to go paperless. If your business has not yet done so, you should definitely think about following suit.
Switching to a digital cloud-based solution for your company's data and communications not only dramatically reduces paper waste. It also makes business sense.
After all, when all of the information authorised users need is in the cloud, such as invoices, sales reports, and market analysis reports, it can be accessed anytime and anywhere, thus speeding up efficiency and production.
6.Get Rid of Bottled Water
Simply stop providing bottled water at your workplace. This is something you can do immediately. Switch to filtered tap water instead.
Plastic is one of the leading contributors to the environmental waste problem and plastic bottles are one of the most commonly used unnecessary plastics. For instance, every year in the United States, the amount of petroleum that is used to manufacture plastic bottles can fuel one million cars.
7. Make Sure Your Workers Are on the Same Page
Even when you bring in new measures like placing colour-coded recycling bins next to workstations and eliminating bottles of water, you need to ensure that every member of staff understands what your new waste reduction policy is and what they need to do themselves.
If you find that your workers are reluctant to adopt things like new recycling systems, you need to take action. After all, your system will only work if all employees are on the same page.
To achieve that, run a recycling awareness day. Show your employees the impact that waste has on the environment and why it is so important that everyone plays their part to reduce waste.
When your workers fully understand the impact that waste has on the environment, they are much more likely to unite with your new recycling program and other initiatives.
If you have any queries regarding the management of your waste, or feel a waste solution system would benefit your needs, then please visit our website HERE or alternatively email: [email protected].
