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What's in your trash? Whether you're rustling papers in a cube farm or working out of the spare bedroom, you can streamline business operations, while slashing garbage-disposal costs, simply by conducting a waste audit.
A waste audit determines how much trash you're generating, how it's disposed of, and what percentage gets a new lease on life at a recycling plant. Once that's squared away, you'll be able to figure out how much you can eliminate, either by reducing the use of certain materials-say, by making double-sided copies, or printing in draft mode-or by reusing supplies such as packaging. We've boiled down the audit process into three basic steps.1. Watch what you ditch: You can begin your audit by visually taking stock of what you're tossing out and in what quantities, including paper, printer cartridges, printer cartridges, aluminum cans, glass, plastics, and packing materials.
2. Go deep: With permission from the relevant authorities, including your office manager and building superintendent, sort the contents of all recycling bins and garbage containers on premises. This provides a more granular breakdown that could make it easier to identify missed opportunities to roll those three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. For your own protection, be sure to gear up with gloves, a face mask, and coveralls.
3. Analyze business processes: Examine purchasing records to weed out extraneous supplies you're overstocking on, as well as to identify items that can be replaced with eco-friendlier options-using recycled printer paper versus virgin materials, for instance, or replacing disposable Styrofoam and paper cups with reusable mugs.
It's also helpful to speak with employees about business processes and activities that could be made more efficient and less waste-intensive. Instead of distributing hard-copy memos, for example, cut down on waste by notifying co-workers via e-mail.
Difficulty level: Moderate
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