Some companies understand the value of a waste audit, and some have yet to discover it. The first type of businesses order regular waste audits, as waste management professionals recommend. The other companies only investigate waste sorting once they encounter problems, through a lack of policy adherence or inflated waste removal expenses.
When a company generates significant quantities of the product it markets, it usually creates substantial quantities of waste. The expenses for disposing of waste are often higher than companies expect. Additionally, there is another genuine cost of waste produced—the cost to the environment. By analyzing an organization’s waste stream, companies can discover the types and quantities of waste and decide on the most efficient method of diverting waste.
Auditing Waste Streams – What Is It All About?
Auditing waste is a way for companies to learn how to dispose of waste, which benefits the company and protects the environment. Through a waste audit, commercial facilities, from manufacturers of raw materials to factories that produce consumer-ready products, can discover how much of what they throw out is avoidable waste.
GreenForest Sustainability Solutions found in their 2017 research that around 77% of what offices and businesses throw out is not trash. Green Forest urges companies to “Rethink Your Waste.” Businesses can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by sorting waste into common waste audit categories.
Terminology: What Is A Waste Stream?
We need a waste stream definition. A waste stream is a technical term that refers to the journey of waste material from its creation until its end.
Waste streams, or the life-cycle of waste, includes one of three destinations:
Recovery for reuse,
Recycling for reuse
Disposal in a landfill
People also use the term ‘waste stream’ to mean ‘type of waste.’ So, waste management companies might talk about how you plan to sort your company’s waste streams.
Terminology: Waste Stream Audit or Waste Audit?
An ‘audit‘ is a formal examination of something.
A ‘waste audit‘ is a method for analyzing an organization’s waste stream. The goal is to discover the types and quantities of waste the company generates. For example, a waste audit could study a business’s solid waste stream or a city’s municipal solid waste (MSW) efficiency.
A ‘waste stream audit‘ is technically the structured process that traces the journey of the waste generated by a company from generation to conclusion. Many people simply refer to it as a ‘waste audit‘ or a ‘trash audit.’
The Purpose of A Waste Audit
A waste stream audit allows waste professionals to quantify waste generation by:
(a) amount
(b) type
(c) cost saved
(d) the end destination of the waste.
A waste assessment gives valuable information that helps companies determine whether their current waste practices are acceptable and if there is room for improvement.
What You Discover When You Audit Waste Streams
Potentially, a successful waste audit reveals:
The operating efficiency of a facility
How much waste in each of the waste categories is thrown away or recyled
The potential cash value that the recovery or recycling of materials could capture
Costly waste-related problems
Bring awareness of new revenue streams
Through a waste audit, a facility can learn:
Ways to maximize the effectiveness of the waste programs it is part of
Ways of minimizing waste generation
The importance of measuring success
The significance of continuously improving operations.
Without doing an audit, a company is functioning in the dark. Decisions about sustainable waste management are based on guesswork.
Making uninformed decisions about waste management can be costly.
How Many Companies Conduct Waste Audits Annually in the U.S.?
Are statistics published about the number of commercial waste audits conducted annually in America? There don’t seem to be many studies that reflect this. Here is a selection:
One paper studied waste research in international healthcare and found 2,398 studies, choosing 156 studies for inclusion across 37 countries.
The EPA article “Success Stories in Reducing Waste” highlights activities done by national and regional award winners in the U.S. between 2018 and 2021.
Great Forest completed waste audit research on over 100 commercial buildings in 2021, in the U.S. and internationally. They found that 62% of the trash could have been reused or recycled and did not have to be in the garbage, while 38% was waste that is not accepted for commercial waste. Most buildings were paying to send more waste material to landfills than necessary.
The Sustainability Office conducted 9 waste audits over 4 months 2019-2020. They sorted through 167.05 kg of waste.
The numbers about individual companies ordering waste audits do not stand out. Does this indicate that the U.S. is lagging in its efforts to waste reduction? Maybe it indicates that waste management practices must always be tailored to international projects since many companies are global. Companies operate in more than one country, and waste frequently moves from one country to another (in the form of packaging that is still in use). Perhaps global companies and individual businesses should take waste diversion more seriously.
Who Conducts The Waste Audit?
Your company needs to research and hire an experienced, responsible waste audit team. You can read our tips on choosing the most efficient and environmentally conscious waste disposal company to grow your awareness of this important and vital topic.
Depending on state and regional regulations, a waste disposal or recycling company must be certified to work with the type of waste they will process. To qualify as a waste management manager, a person needs to have a degree from 4-year period in college.
6 Steps That Waste Audit Professionals Do
The company ordering the audit will interact with the waste audit company to set a period during which waste will be assessed and to set the diversion and reduction goals.
Waste professionals will then sort all waste accumulated during such time.
The waste streams are graded according to material, recyclability, or specific processes required to determine reuse or recyclability.
At the end of the sorting, the waste audit team will weigh and sort the trash bags.
The penultimate step is providing the client with a detailed waste audit report.
Finally, the waste audit company will go back to the hiring company to discuss trash diversion strategies to send as little trash as possible to the landfill.
Two Different Roadmaps To Doing a Waste Audit
Priscilla Hayes of SWRR (Solid Waste Resource Renewal) sets forth two typical roadmaps for waste audits. Each reveals different information and is helpful for different goals:
Companies order an audit for materials that are not being recycled. Waste professionals go through the company’s trash bags and separate materials. Each type of material is sorted and measured. Some items are already being recycled. This secondary ‘filter’ helps companies discover what else is recyclable and is leaking into landfills.
Temporary sorting bins are set up for specific materials the company wishes to measure for the duration of the procedure. The entire staff must cooperate for this to be effective. It is considered cleaner work. Companies may need to appoint a temporary ‘bin supervisor.’
SWRR recommends the second method both for capturing food waste, and where little or no materials are already being recycled.
10 Benefits Of A Waste Audit for Businesses
Companies commonly face issues related to trash sorting and waste streaming. These can all be ‘recycled’ into business advantages:
1. Reduce Costs Through Waste Sorting
Trash disposal can be a very high expense due to the bulk of trash generated, including all types of waste, and inefficient waste management practices. Some companies enjoy a 20-25% reduction in waste disposal costs following a waste audit.
2. Gain Financial Support Through Waste Stream Management
Companies receive fines for lack of proper disposal: overloaded containers, trash that overflows onto the surrounding area, and not sorting trash in localities where sorting trash is a legal obligation. Instead, Companies gain economic benefits such as financial grants. Solid Waste Management Grants (for waste management companies). The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is supplying $275 million between 2022 and 2026 in grants under the SOS 2.0 Act (Save Our Seas Act). There are recycling grants of up to $5,000, and even Reuse-and-Repair grants from private groups.
3. Get Support For Policy Adherence Via Waste
Companies are often called to task or given negative publicity for not adhering to optional waste stream directives and policies. Ultimately, a commercial enterprise can latch on to a proper waste disposal system dedicated to delivering the most benefit from recycling waste, such as the EPA’s Waste Wise Program, the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), or TRUE Zero waste certification.
4. Obtain Positive Visibility With Waste Sorting
Being more environmentally conscious could generate more business and profits due to a better public image. Adhering to optional waste stream directives could generate positive reviews by semi-official bodies and good publicity.
5. Audit Waste Streams To Maximize Efficiency
Taking care not to waste raw materials and selling usable waste materials could generate a significant income or cover other expenses. Companies can save money on waste hauling, which can be over $150,000 a year. If up to 80% of a company’s commercial or industrial waste could be recycled or reused, it could bring considerable savings.
6. Identify Needless Waste With a Waste Audit
Companies sometimes throw out usable items and write them off as a loss. Finding environmentally and socially friendly solutions to excess inventory or items with slight damage, such as donating, giving away, or selling them to overstock and liquidator companies, avoids needless waste.
7. Satisfy Customer demands For Sorting And Recycling
Meeting customer demands for environmental consciousness can boost customer loyalty. As a leading waste audit company says, let your waste ‘talk’ to you. Discover more about the waste that we generate and what we are not recycling. Taking responsibility for waste production is our right and obligation.
8. Use Technology for Waste Stream Management
A lack of knowledge or willingness to invest in automation to separate trash can hold companies back. Companies can jump into the future with trash sorting automation, such as AI-powered robots, which simplify the sorting of all types of waste, including, industrial waste, yard waste, and plastic waste.
9. Leverage Waste Audits for LEED Certification
A waste audit can help your building become LEED certified. LEED credits are a building’s symbol of sustainability. The American Institute of Architecture says that Class A LEED-certified urban office buildings sell for a higher price—up to 25.3% more per square foot than non-certified buildings.
10. Stimulate Economic Growth With Waste Sorting
Instead of fearing ecological impacts, allow the waste audit process to inform future business decisions. By thinking creatively, a company may devote a new line of business to being eco-friendly, thus growing the business.
How Folene Packaging Helps You Focus on Auditing Waste and Waste Streams
Folene Packaging supplies top-quality shrink films in the Flxtite® and Ecolene® lines for packaging individual products, food products, and bundled products, among other uses. Shrink film is the best packaging option for addressing space conservation needs, so we actively help companies avoid packaging waste when packaging their products.
Folene Packaging is proud to be a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. We don’t greenwash. Our packaging professionals can answer all your questions about packaging needs directly, honestly, and thoroughly. We tell you the material each line of shrink wrap in our full range is made of and its likely journey through the waste stream to recycling, composting, or disposal. We have the background knowledge to advise you of the best shrink film options to serve your needs with the least environmental issues.
Reach out to Folene Packaging today and learn more about how shrink wrapping can support your company as it audits its waste streams.
FAQs About Audit Waste Streams
In which categories can waste commonly be reduced?
Sustainability offices and waste audit companies point out that companies can often reduce the amount of waste they produce in the following general categories:
Paper – can easily be recycled
Packaging – ensure minimal amount used, aim to recycle
Electronic equipment – can be repurposed, recycled, or often reused as it is
Landscaping – green waste is usually 100% compostable
Food – can often be donated. If not edible, it can be composted.
What are typical waste streams?
Typical categories of waste are Solids, Liquids, and Hazardous waste. Another way of categorizing waste is by (1) Types of recyclable materials – such as metals and glass, and (2) Products – such as electronic waste and packaging.
Is Waste Sorting Helpful Or Stressful?
The phrase “audit waste streams” means different things to different companies. Some companies will welcome it as an opportunity to measure success and improve operations. Other companies will see it as a threat to production and financial stability. It all depends on how well a company understands waste sorting.
How can a waste audit impact an entire business?
Engaging a professional to audit waste streams can reveal opportunities for cost savings, eliminate unnecessary waste to reduce costs, and improve overall efficiency. The impact can reach all strata of the company:
Purchasing and management: Costs and savings of waste and recycled waste should be included in managerial decisions.
Packaging and shipping: Decisions will be made based on the amount of waste generated or avoided at the source and destination of the products in manufacturing.
Employee interface officers: Practical policy application, such as ensuring enough recycling bins and handling employee training effectively.
Employees on the workshop floor: Individuals are responsible for ensuring that waste is minimized and garbage and trash are sorted into the correct waste and recycle bins.
