Is Waste Management a Good Investment?

Whether you’re a one-man band or an organisation comprising of thousands of staff, you could be losing out on cash by not considering waste recycling or disposal that doesn’t mean dumping it all in landfill. It’s estimated that a typical office of 100 people produces on average 20 bags of waste per week which is the equivalent to filling 50 1100 litre wheelie bins (the big industrial ones) per year. Reducing all of this ending up in landfill, is a critical priority.

In addition to the obvious financial gain from recycling, your customers, fellow businesses and the general public all expect the people they give their time and money to, to consider the planet and operate some form of green policy. So, although spending precious budget on waste management may initially be daunting, in the long run it pays dividends and could give you a competitive edge within the market.

Outsourcing your waste management is the responsible and secure option. You’ re paying for the expertise of the contractor you employ, and essentially for them to worry about the logistics, although obviously only partner with authorised, reputable waste management companies. They are specialists in the sector, therefore can be relied upon to communicate to you any changes in legislation or areas you could be missing opportunities within.

As an extra measure to reduce waste generally across your business, as well as polish those eco-credentials, why not create targets to bring staff in on your green initiatives? Considering the environment, climate change and carbon emissions are all hugely topical issues and it is a collective responsibility, whatever your business. Effective waste management can also save or even make, as we said earlier, your business money, so why wouldn’t you look into it?

Here are some top tips on reducing business waste;

• Find out the source of where your companies waste is created, talk to your colleagues as they may make suggestions about alternative options.
• Abandon throwaway culture and opt for recyclable choices and green suppliers where you can.
• Manage your printing and paper consumption- the average employee uses a huge 10,000 sheets per year, and this can be recycled rather than sent to landfill and you paying the taxes associated with that.
• Remove personal waste-paper bins and introduce sorting bins to encourage staff to think about their waste. A team effort is often really productive and encourages staff to implement environmental improvements at home too.
• Just a few items that are recyclable but often overlooked are; printer cartridges, CD’s and DVD’s, batteries, keys and any equipment with a cord that is unused or broken.