How to Manage Your Business Wastes
There’s a large variety of business waste that can occur in any company, from food waste to office supplies to medical equipment. These kinds of waste are usually collected and disposed of in a particular manner so that it doesn’t harm the environment. However, if your company is interested in saving on paper and waste collection costs, you should be concerned about how to reduce waste in your company.
Business waste covers all the various waste categories including the medical and office waste categories. In general, most companies are required to create their plans for the collection, removal, and disposal of all their waste. However, some companies don’t have the time to manage their waste properly. But this does not have to be a problem for business owners. A great option is to hire a waste disposal service that can take care of everything for you. Also, as a business, the environmental aspect is of utmost importance. That is why owners must reach out to a disposal company that knows how to handle waste in the best way for the planet, such as Away Today Rubbish Removal. You should consider reducing your business waste by simply reducing the amount of paperwork that you require to generate documents and by requiring your employees to shred any documents they do not need to retain.
Paper waste is a major concern among businesses. This is because when you have a paper, you have more to sort through, making it more difficult for your employees to sort through all the paperwork. It’s also more difficult to recycle paper than it is to compost paper. What you can do is try to go digital as much as you can.
Here are the things that you should do in helping to manage your business waste:
1. Use a Trash Compactor
If you have enough space, you can opt to have a trash compactor for your business. A trash compactor will help you reduce the volume and size of trash by compressing the trash down. This will help you reduce the need for garbage bags for your garbage bins, eliminating plastic waste. This will also help you to reduce manpower in garbage handling which would help in decreasing further costs. You could purchase a trash compactor from Action Compaction Services as they provide quality trash compactors customized to meet your needs.
Aside from reducing the volume and size of your business’ trash, a trash compactor is also helpful in improving the sanitation of your business. With the reduction of use for a dumpster, you will be able to eliminate common waste problems such as foul odor and possible illness due to bacteria build-up from the trash. Along with this, improper waste management can also contribute to air pollution due to trash overflow which can lead to a respiratory disease which is unideal for any of your employees to have.
Along with these great features, you’re also helping to save the environment as you help to lessen the amount of waste that’s being released to the landfill. You just need to make sure that recyclables aren’t to be added to the trash compactor and should be handled separately for recycling purposes.
2. Eliminate
The best thing that can help you reduce waste is to eliminate it. If it’s unnecessary, try to eliminate the use of it.
If your company can go a day without having to use papers for any meetings, that would be wonderful. If eliminating the use of non-biodegradable items is impossible, you should try to convert these into biodegradable items instead. Try to replace your pantry’s plastic cups with paper cups and plastic utensils to metal utensils. It might sound a handful, but you will be relieved with the amount of plastic waste you could reduce.
You could also replace papers with recycled papers and staples to paper clips. You have no idea how many staples are being thrown into the bin each day and you would be surprised by the number you could collect in a month. A waste management program in the company will only be a success if everyone’s involved. It’s recommended that you encourage your employees with your goal of reducing waste and saving the environment. This will help them understand your company’s goal and take their part in eliminating unnecessary wastes. And, going for an eco-friendly approach helps to save the environment and might influence your employees to do the same in their own homes.
3. Reduce
It’s best practice to try to reduce your waste as much as possible. However, there are some items you cannot completely eliminate, such as printer ink cartridges. But there are still things you can do to reduce waste you produce with necessary items. Here are some things that you can reduce consumption in your office space:
- Printer Cartridges – You don’t have to purchase brand new ones when you run out of ink. You can return the empty cartridges to the manufacturer and they might give you money in exchange for it since they’ll be recycling those into new ones. You can also have the cartridges be refilled to help reduce waste.
- Printing Papers – If it’s impossible to eliminate paper use, make sure that you try to use recycled papers and have them printed double-sided so that you can eliminate the use of paper by 50%.
- Own Cups – You can have your employees bring their cups or produce for them so that they’ll refrain from using disposable cups.
- Single-Use Items – Try to reduce as much as possible single-use items such as foods in a wrapper, paper plates, plastic/paper straw, disposable utensils, disposable coffee pods, etc. Expand your pantry into something with eco-friendly meals such as sandwiches wrapped in recyclable paper, salad corner, or anything that could reduce single-use items. It can also allow your employees to eat healthier.
- Purchase in Bulk – If you’re sure that you’ll be needing to purchase a ton for the whole month, try to purchase in bulk. This will help you reduce any packaging materials when they could simply compile it into single packaging instead of multiple separate ones. When you’re planning to have it delivered, you can also save on shipping fees.
4. Re-Use
Try to encourage your employees to reduce their use of products as much as possible. If there’s still enough space left on the paper for drafting, use that paper instead of getting a new one. Also, encourage re-using sturdy packaging when transferring one item to another instead of having to use a new one every single time.
As long as an item is working fine, try to re-use them as much as possible. You can go for rechargeable batteries that are made to be reused. Also, motivate your employees to bring their utensils and bring packed lunches. Allowing them to bring their utensils, cups, and food containers help them to be reassured of their sanitary quality since some may not be comfortable with using utensils from the office.
5. Recycle
When an item’s no longer in-use and has already been re-used efficiently, recycle it. It’s recommended that you should provide enough bins for recycling to help your company go green. This will encourage your employees to throw their trash into the proper trash cans and help to filter out recyclables from those that are not. With this method, you will be able to sort recyclables from non-recyclables efficiently and have the recyclables in their best condition since they’re most likely to have worse quality when mixed with food waste.
It’s recommended that you try to motivate your employees to recycle their plastic and paper wastes as much as they can. If you’re a manufacturing business, try to recycle every waste that you could recycle. Food wastes can be made to be compost that can be donated to agricultural companies. You can also make the most out of your faulty electronics that are no longer in use such as computer parts, cellphones, and printers. When an item has a cord in it, chances are you can have the interior parts to be recycled so that it would not be thrown into landfills.
These are some of the materials that your business can recycle for a good cause:
- Aluminum
- Cardboard
- Coffee Cups
- Electronic Waste
- Food Waste
- Glass
- Paper
- Plastic Film
- Rigid Plastics
- Steel
- Wood and Timber
6. Look for Trash and Recycle Services
As you have started to reduce your business waste, you should look for a trusty trash and recycle service in your area. You need to make sure that they’re able to recycle what your company produces. It’s best to see their plans and see which one is the best for your business. Some companies provide a wide range of dumpster sizes that varies depending on your company’s waste produced. They can also provide daily pick-ups.
If you’re availing this kind of service, in your business, you can try to negotiate with them about the price as you’ll only be needing a lesser pick-up frequency. This will not only help you save the environment but it would also help you save money.
Conclusion
Whether at home or for your business, managing waste is important. With having a business, you’re more responsible for your waste as it’s mandated by law to handle your company’s trash accordingly.
There are a lot of ways to manage waste, but you shouldn’t only manage your waste effectively. It’s also important to try to reduce the amount of waste you produce. As much as possible, it’s important to try to limit your waste as it can affect the environment greatly. When it comes to bringing down your waste outputs, you’ll also be able to save more money as you limit your purchase of easy disposables right away. You’ll be able to get the most out of every purchase and you learn how to be more efficient with every item that you have.
