Managing Waste

Managing Waste
Waste management has today become a major concern for most businesses, due to the implementation of new laws, greater control on waste disposal and rising costs of waste disposal.
Every company generates a certain amount of waste made of different kinds of materials: from paper, scrap, plastic to organic substances or chemical elements;
Types of waste are set apart depending on their hazard risk and no longer depending on their origin. Danger can come from intrinsic properties such as explosive, inflammable, irritant, toxic, carcinogenic, corrosive, infectious, etc...
Non hazardous waste may define any common waste from businesses and shops such as paper, wood, cardboard, materials, and household waste. Businesses need to manage their waste according to the local and European laws.

Knowing
The best waste management system will result from an early analysis of the waste generated by the company:

• Types of waste
• Hazardous or not
• Recyclable or not
• Quantity generated
• Timely occurrence in the production planning or in the services.

This knowledge will be the basis to draw an action plan in coordination with the legal and technical constraints regarding the disposal of waste.

Preventing
There may be several options to prevent the generation of too much waste both in the company and with clients and suppliers:

• Buy in bulk and re-use packaging, boxes, envelopes, etc.
• Avoid unnecessary wrapping
• Use recyclable material
• Reduce the use of products generating waste such as wipes, paper hand towels, writing paper, etc. and replace with cloths, electric hand dryer, etc.
• Arrange with your suppliers to take back and re-use ink cartridges for printer and photocopier, packaging, pallets etc. and reduce the charges accordingly.
• Optimising equipment and material to boost re-use and multiple usage

Recycling

• Sort your waste on-site from the beginning
• Train your staff to be environmentally conscious from their respective work stations and make sure new recruits are made aware of the processes
• Arrange to have adequate recycling bins well sign-posted and colour-coded
• Make sure residues are stocked in appropriate places in the company premises

Check with other local businesses if you can work together:

• To buy/lease stocking material to recycle glass, paper, etc.
• To buy/lease negotiate waste disposal prices
• To arrange a common collection in your industrial estate to reduce costs

Valuing
Some astute businesses can even generate revenue from their waste, either by recycling it in-house or selling it to a third party as raw material.