Waste Management Strategies

Waste Management Strategies

Waste management is collection, transportation and disposal of garbage, sewage, and other waste products. Waste management encompasses management of all processes and resources for proper handling of waste materials, from maintenance of waste transport trucks and dumping facilities to compliance with health codes and environmental regulations.

Principals of waste management

• Segregation at source-ward or unit level
• Color coding to support source segregation
• Identify destination of each type of waste
• Transport safely to pick up site
• Ensure safe disposal
• Keep track of usage

What are wastes?

Waste is a wide ranging term encompassing most unwanted materials, defined by the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Waste includes any scrap material, effluent or unwanted surplus substance or article that requires disposal because it is broken, worn out, contaminated or otherwise spoiled.

How to reducing waste costs

Step 1: Accounting for Waste

Step 2: Comparing your performance with others

Step 3: Identifying waste minimization opportunities

Step 4: Commitment to action

Step 5: Taking action to reduce waste

Step 6: Recognizing success and maintaining momentum

Strategies

1. Understand the legal implications of the waste produced in your organization by identifying the specific legislation that affects you.
2.  Look at your general environmental issues – what role does waste play in these? 
3. Quantify and identify your waste. Where does it arise and how much does it cost? Undertake a walk around audit and look at your bills. Using the waste hierarchy, identify what currently happens to the waste as it arises.
4. Identify a waste management champion or team to drive things forward.
5. Produce an action plan for reducing your wastes 
6. Get commitment from senior management for the action plan.
7. Identify the possible disposal options where you cannot reduce or recycle.
8. Select your waste carriers carefully and make sure your Duty of Care responsibilities are met. 
9. Monitor and review your achievements.
10. Communicate your successes to your staff, senior managers and outside your organization to interested stakeholders.

Waste management is crucial to reducing your organization’s impact upon the environment. It is also a fundamental requirement in achieving efficient cost savings and a better financial return for your business.

The waste hierarchy remains the cornerstone of most waste minimization strategies. The aim of the waste hierarchy is to extract the maximum practical benefits from products and to generate the minimum amount of waste. The waste hierarchy is represented as a pyramid because the basic premise is for policy to take action first and prevent the generation of waste.

Benefits of waste management

•        Economical benefits
•             Social benefits
•             Environmental benefits
•        Inter-generational Equity 

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