We waste money, energy and resources by not paying proper attention to our waste and recycling. It doesn’t make sense just to throw away items that cost money. From an environmental perspective, being considerate of our waste streams stops the generation of methane and carbon emissons. The embodied energy in these emissions can be quite considerable - think about the amount of energy required to manufacture aluminum.
Landfill waste gets increasingly expensive. When I first started consulting in 2008, waste wasapproximately $92.00 a tonne. 9 years on, it’s now around $300.00 a tonne.
This will only increase as governments keep raising the waste levy to encourage more recycling so it makes good business sense to look at how you manage your waste streams in a way which saves you money.
There are 5 really important steps to consider in reviewing your waste streams
STEP 1 – PREVENTION AND AVOIDANCE
Don’t just rely on recycling. Where possible, prevent or dramatically reduce the amount of waste or recycling that is coming to your site.
If you receive a lot of excess cardboard packaging from your suppliers and you feel less would suffice, then speak with your supplier and suggest ways to prevent the amount of materials coming onsite. Even if the material can be recycled (i.e. soft plastics, cardboard, styrofoam), it is still a cost to your business so the less you have, the less handling of materials and the better the environental outcome. I’ve seen a crazy amount of packaging for small individual materials and components that wasn’t required.
We have clients that actually buy back their packaging from their clients and then reuse it. Their clients really appreciate this initiative so its a win-win for both companies and it builds customer loyality.
If you design your own products and packaging, then look at packaging efficiencies. You may be able to reduce the amount of material used and chose recyclable alternatives (e.g. mushroom based packaging as a replacement for polystyrene). Make sure every item in your product packaging is recyclable and indicate this to the end user –recycling identification codes can help with this.
STEP 2 – LOOK IN THE BIN & CONDUCT A WASTE AUDIT
Look through your garbage bins, both inside your manufacturing facility and the factory compound, to check whether there is anything that may be recycled or returned to the supplier or product manufacturer. Review the contents of the general waste bins on different days of the week – do this 3-5 times to ensure you capture everything.
Consider all items that have the potential to be recycled: soft plastics, hard plastics, plastic strapping, metals, cardboard/paper, styrofoam, timber etc. We’ve listed a number of websites that can help in finding local recycling facilities, e.g. business recycling. And don’t forget about the co-mingle bin for all the kitchen and office items.
Also consider the one-offs; it may be that you’ve had 100 individual chairs returned to your factory or warehouse and you need to find recycling options. Conduct a cost benefit analysison the cost of these items going to landfill compared to disassembly (labour cost) and the cost of recycling the individual components. Perhaps some components can be reused.
Ask your suppliers questions; can they take back their packaging and reuse it? Explore other options; can other companies reuse your waste – perhaps styrofoam packaging could be used for packaging by another company? Think outside the square.
Government Initiatives
Check out state government initiates. You may find there is funding that can assist your business in reducing waste to landfill and also funding for equipment that can help you recycle more efficiently (i.e. cardboard compactors). The NSW EPA has been running the Bin Trim program for a number of years. It’s a business recycling program aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (1-199 employees).
http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/managewaste/bin-trim.htm PHONE: 1300 361 967
Resources for recycling
Below is a list of government and non-government websites that can assist you with items that can be recycled. The business recycling website tool is great. I’ve used this numerous times, with great success.
http://businessrecycling.com.au/
http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/ewastescheme/
http://www.batteryrecycling.org.au/recycling/handheld-batteries
STEP 3 – MAKE IT EASY
Set up recycling stations in each section of the factory, warehouse and admin area. Make sure there are labels on all bins – better still, colour code them – so, a recycling station may have one bin for paper and cardboard, another for soft plastics and another for aluminium.
The business recycling website provides POSTERS for all types of waste, e.g. paper/cardboard, co-mingle etc. http://businessrecycling.com.au/research/signage.cfm
Make sure the factory compound recycling and waste bins are collected frequently. This is where there is the potential for contamination to occur. If the cardboard and paper bin is full, staff will likelydispose of these items to the general waste bin.
STEP 4 – EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
This is the MOST important step in the process. I work with a number of clients and their employee engagement makes or breaks how well the recycling works.
Get staff on board. Make sure they know you want to make this easy for them and that this is important to your company. Be there to support them – if you haven’t provided them with enough bins, ask them to let you know. And welcome new ideas and feedback.
Also offer staff incentives. In step 5, we suggest setting objectives and measuring the waste going to landfill each month. For example, document monthly figures and set a target for reduction – make it reasonable, say, 5-15% depending on what you are currently recycling.
Plan a BBQ with the staff if the target is met as a way of saying thank you for their comitment and for achieving this result.
Also, make sure the cleaning staff are aware of your recycling program so as to avoid recycables ending up in the general waste bin.
STEP 5 – MONITOR, MEASURE & SET TARGETS
Once you have set up your recycling bins or stations, make sure they are monitored regularly by the factory manager, production manager or a waste champion, who can assist staff if there are any issues with contaminated recycling. If staff know their bins are going to be monitiored, they are more likely not to create contamination, i.e. general waste in recycling bins and vice versa.
Check the factory compound general waste bin too. This is often the place where we find recycled items. This could be associated with factory staff, contractors or delivery guys just using your bin for their rubbish - keep an eye on it.
If you want to measure your waste and set targets, review the previous year’s wasteinvoices and document tonnage for the year. You then have a baseline from which to set targets for the year ahead. For our clients, we set up a monthly monitoring register, which documents tonnage per month so they can monitor this against production/sales figures.
KEY TAKEWAYS
- AVOID AND REDUCE – find opportunities to avoid waste or to reduce the amount of packaging you receive from your suppliers. Consider whether another company can use your excess waste or recycling or whether you can reuse it.
- CONDUCT A BIN AUDIT – look at all the items that are being thrown into the general waste bin and see if there are recycling streams or whether these items can be reused.
- GOVERNMENT INCENTIVES – check state government initiatives to see if you can get support or funding for recycling or reuse of materials.
- MAKE IT EASY – get your staff on board. Make it easy for them to recycle by providing plenty of CLEARLY labelled bins and recycling receptacles. Provide lots of training and give staff incentives.
- MONITOR AND MEASURE IT – have someone monitor the individual bins to ensure staff are using the bins correctly. Secondly, monitor how many tonnes are going to landfill each month and set a target to reduce it. Celebrate successes and reward staff for helping the company reach the target.