As a business, you’ll likely be generating a fair amount of waste, no matter what size you are. Despite it being one of the more boring jobs, implementing effective waste management strategies is a vital part of running any business for a number of reasons.
As well as keeping your workplace clean and fresh, putting a waste management system in place means you stay compliant with regulations, can save you money and reduce your environmental impact. It’s a win-win when you think about it like that.
So what are the most effective waste management strategies for businesses in the UK?
There is a core principle you should use to build out the perfect system for your business. This is:
- Reducing the amount of waste
- Reusing what you have
- Recycling as much as possible
- Recovering waste wherever possible
Using this as the foundation, and working with a licensed waste partner sets you up for a waste strategy that ticks all the boxes, and goes beyond simply having a bin in the office- providing the right size and waste type bins you need and an attitude towards recycling.
Core waste management strategies for businesses
There are several core parts to a waste management strategy.
Carry out a regular waste audit
The first step of any strategy is to establish what your waste needs are. You need to know what waste is being generated and where it comes from.
So, you need to complete an audit. This should identify:
- Types of waste
- Approximate volumes
- How frequently waste is produced
- Which materials could be recycled/reused
- Where contamination occurs
- Whether bins are being over- or under-used
If you are a business with different departments or offices, you should complete an audit per department or team or by office. You will find that the needs across your business are different, therefore will need a slightly different system.
Remember, part of your aim here is to reduce the cost, so ensuring you provide the right solutions will mean you aren’t over spending in some areas.
You can use the results from the audit to determine the type of wheelie bin, the sizes needed and the collection frequency.
It is worth noting here that you should revisit the audit every now and then to ensure your solution still matches your needs. This is especially important if you have grown as a business or experienced other significant changes.
Segregate waste at source
We get that at first, segregating waste seems like a time waster. But if you can get your teams to do it where the waste is produced, you can save time and money further down the line.
Common waste types that should be separated from general waste includes:
- Paper and cardboard
- Glass
- Metal
- Plastic
- Food waste
When you are providing recycling bins for the above, it is important to remind employees that recyclables need to be clean and uncontaminated. This means as much of it as possible can go through the recycling process, rather than being sent to landfill.
When pushing for separate waste, you want to make it as easy for them as possible. So provide different containers for the different types of waste you want to collect.
Creating clear signage is the best way to help your staff follow the rules. Use graphics and visual aids to tell them what can go in which bin. And place them above the bins, so that they can refer to them as they throw their waste away.
In England, we have the Simpler Recycling for Businesses regulation to comply with this sets out specific waste types that need to be recycled separately, so if you are looking for somewhere to start, this is a good place.
Reduce waste at source
Of course, one of the best ways to reduce waste produced is to reduce it at the source. An effective waste management strategy for businesses starts by limiting the amount of rubbish that is actually produced on their sites.
Ways you can do this include:
- Buy only what is required
- Reduce unnecessary packaging
- Choose reusable products
- Move towards digital rather than paper processes
- Work with suppliers to minimise packaging
- Avoid over-ordering food or stock
Again, this is a great way you can reduce time and money as it helps lower the frequency of waste collections needed.
Train staff and make good waste practices easy
The final core waste management technique you should be looking at is training your staff and making the process easy to follow.
Make sure your staff understand the rules and reasoning behind it. They need to know:
- What goes in each bin
- What should not go in recycling
- How to deal with unusual/hazardous waste
- Where bins are located
- Why segregation matters
As we mentioned above, use simple, visual signage to remind them of what goes where.
You should also look to include this training as part of your induction for new employees so that it is embedded in their routines from the beginning.
Try to keep it as simple as possible so that staff don’t have to think about it too much and can fit it into their routines.
Compliance and operational waste management
When looking at a waste management strategy, you need to think about what any local or national regulations need complying with. For example, in England you need to comply with the Simpler Recycling legislation that encourages more recycling from businesses.
Understand your legal duty of care
As a business owner, you are responsible for managing waste safely and responsibly.
This means you need to:
- Keep waste secure
- Prevent waste escaping
- Use authorised waste carriers
- Provide an accurate description of waste
- Maintain appropriate waste transfer documentation
- Take reasonable steps to prevent illegal disposal
If you partner with a waste management company, such as AMS (Avon Material Supplies), for a wheelie bin service, your responsibility doesn’t disappear. The above still applies.
Choosing a reputable and licensed waste management company can be incredibly helpful here though, as they can work with you to produce a system that ensures you are complying with your duty of care.
Choose the right waste containers
Once you know what waste you are producing, and what your duties are, you can start exploring the right solutions for you.
The right container will depend on a number of factors (which is why the audit is so important):
- Type of waste
- Volume produced
- Available storage space
- Collection frequency
- Site access
- Hygiene and security requirements
One of the most popular strategies that businesses choose are wheelie bins. They offer a number of benefits that suit all size businesses, and make waste segregation easy to follow.
- Different sizes available
- Easy segregation by waste stream
- Secure lids
- Easy movement around commercial premises
- Suitable for regular scheduled collections
Remember, the goal isn’t to find the biggest bin available. You need to be looking for the right bin or bins for the waste that you produce.
Get collection frequency right
Once you have found the right bins you need, you also need to think about how often they need to be emptied. Again, lean on the results from your audit to work this out. And remember that this should be adaptable as you settle into the waste management system – this is what keeps it effective.
If you opt for too few collections, you will end up with overflowing bins, poor hygiene, pests, and storage problems.
However, if you opt for too many collections, you could be spending money unnecessarily and not using the containers you selected efficiently.
You should review the frequency of the collections every so often to make sure it is efficient for the amount of waste you are generating.
Use a licensed and reliable waste management company
We have touched on this a couple of times already throughout the article, but it is important to use a licenced waste management partner.
You will need to make sure that they hold the relevant authorisations/ certifications and licences to carry and dispose of the waste you produce.
Things to look out for when assessing potential partners should include:
- Range of waste streams handled
- Collection frequency
- Container options
- Recycling/recovery rates
- Documentation
- Reliability
- Flexibility when waste volumes change
- Reporting/visibility of where waste goes
A good waste management provider will be able to provide guidance and advice on bin configuration and waste segregation as well as frequency of collections.
Go beyond recycling: follow the waste hierarchy
Prioritise prevention, reuse and recycling
An effective business waste management strategy should follow the waste hierarchy, which prioritises preventing waste over simply disposing of it. The hierarchy provides a useful framework for deciding what should happen to waste at each stage:
- Prevent – Avoid creating waste in the first place. For example, businesses can reduce unnecessary packaging, order stock based on actual demand and move to digital documents where appropriate.
- Reuse – Find ways to use products or materials again rather than throwing them away. This could include reusing packaging, pallets, office furniture or equipment.
- Recycle – Where waste cannot be prevented or reused, separate recyclable materials such as paper, cardboard, glass, metal and suitable plastics so they can be processed into new products.
- Recover – Materials that cannot be recycled may still have value. For example, some waste can be used to generate energy through energy recovery processes.
- Dispose – Disposal, such as sending waste to landfill, should generally be the last resort when other options are not practical.
While recycling is an important part of responsible waste management, businesses should not overlook opportunities to reduce waste at source. A waste audit can help identify where materials are being unnecessarily discarded, over-ordered or contaminated, allowing businesses to move more of their waste further up the hierarchy.
This approach can also reduce the amount of residual waste a business produces, potentially lowering the number of general waste collections it needs and making better use of its trade waste bins.
Reduce waste contamination
Waste contamination in simple terms is dirty materials going into the recycling box.
Typical examples might be unwashed yoghurt pots, or food containers, food or liquid contaminating paper or cardboard (like a pizza box), or general waste being put in the wrong bins.
Contaminated waste prevents any of it going to recycling and will likely result in it going to landfill. Reducing the effectiveness of your waste strategy.
You can reduce the chances of this happening with:
- Better signage
- Correct bin placement
- Staff training
- More appropriate bin configurations
- Regular monitoring
Measure and continuously improve your waste management
As with any strategy, to keep it efficient, you need to monitor and improve it
Setting up an effective waste management strategy isn’t a one-off task. You should regularly review your audits and adjust your practices accordingly.
Useful metrics to track include:
- Total waste produced
- Recycling rate
- General waste volumes
- Contamination levels
- Collection frequency
- Cost per collection / overall waste cost
By comparing the results over time, you can adjust:
- Bin sizes
- Number of bins
- Collection schedules
- Staff training
- Purchasing practices
Building an effective waste management system
Not sure where to start? Follow this process to get going and start setting up your waste management strategy.
- Audit your waste
- Reduce what you can
- Separate remaining waste at source
- Choose appropriate containers
- Set suitable collection frequencies
- Train staff
- Use an authorised waste contractor
- Monitor and improve performance
Set up your effective waste management strategy today
An effective waste management strategy isn’t just about recycling more, or using the right bin.
It is includes:
- Waste reduction
- Proper segregation
- Appropriate storage
- Correctly sized bins
- Reliable collections
- Staff engagement
- Legal compliance
- Regular monitoring
If you are building your own waste management process and are looking for a licensed partner, contact AMS today.
We can complete a waste audit for you, to understand your exact business waste needs, before working with you to develop the most suitable strategy for your businesses.
We are able to cover all types of waste with a variety of bin sizes and a range of collection frequencies. Making our services suitable for an effective waste management strategy.
Plus we are experts in the Simpler Recycling legislation for businesses and can help you set up an internal process to keep you compliant and recycling more.
Call our team on 01202 59579 to discuss your business waste and learn how we can help.
If you have a few more questions on the Simpler Recycling Regulation we recommend you reading our FAQs article.