WASTE

MANAGEMENT
What is waste
management?
• Waste management are the activities and actions required
to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal.
• This includes the collection, transportation, disposal or
recycling and monitoring of waste. This term is assigned
to the material, waste material, that is produced through
human being activity. This material is managed to avoid
its adverse effect over human health and environment.
• Managing what you waste in a business can equate to lost
opportunities and profits. It is about being more efficient
with raw materials and making the most of each stage of
the production process.
The importance of waste
management.
Planning the waste management and recycling for all the
rubbish produced in a company is an enormous task which
involves both logistical planning and scientific knowledge
and understanding in order to balance the impact on the
environment and the cost effectiveness of the process.
Waste collection and rubbish disposal plays an extremely
important role in the global cleanliness and sustainability
drive, with people’s health and the conservation of
resources.
Implementing good waste management practices not only
helps to protect the environment but can be beneficial to the
business:
1. It can enhance your business reputation
2. Energy Efficient
3. Cost Savings
4. Resource Recovery
5. Legal Requirements
6. Workplace Safety
Steps to develop a better waste
management plan for a business
• Step 1 – Measure business Waste
For a quick visual waste assessment, go around to all bins
presented for collection just before the collection truck arrives. Once
you collated this information, you will know how much waste material
your business produces within a given time frame.
• Step 2 – Reduce waste going to landfill
Identify options to:
Reduce – can waste be avoided or reduced by the way your
business obtains goods and services or by changing the way it
operates?
Reuse - does another local business have a use for the waste
materials you produce?
Recycle – what materials can be targeted for recycling?
• Step 3 – Identify local collectors of recyclable
materials
By knowing how much materials your business produces over
a period of time, and the types of materials that can be diverted from
landfill, you can identify the most suitable waste and recycling
collection of contractors.
• Step 4 – Understand Waste and recycling collection
contracts
Think about what your current contract offers and how this
may affect your waste and recycling practices. Remember that a waste
or recycling contract is a legal document and you may require
independent legal advice.
• Step 5 – Implement material collection systems at
business premises
Different businesses generate different types of recoverable
materials. The bins emptied into the collection truck, typically wheelie
bins and bulk bins, may not be the same bins used for collecting the
material around your business premises. How you separate materials in
your business will be determined by how waste is collected.