Every business, from retail to manufacturing, produces waste, and different kinds of waste depending on the enterprise. It is the responsibility of every business owner to ensure this waste is effectively dealt with.
Effective waste management isn’t just about ticking boxes and following regulations; implementing a successful waste management policy can benefit your business by cutting costs as well as waste.
Here are just a few reasons why waste management is relevant to your organisation.
The benefits of efficient waste management
Waste management encompasses the entire life cycle of your waste, including how it is generated, how it is stored and transported, and of course how it is disposed of.
A robust waste management policy addresses every point of this cycle, starting with saving money on the waste you buy. Using raw materials, packaging, and equipment more efficiently will mean you won’t have to buy as much and can therefore minimise outgoing costs.
It costs you to ignore it
No business owner or manager can afford not to make waste management a priority. Waste disposal is costly, accounting for 4 to 5% of the average business’s turnover. Since landfill taxes are constantly on the rise, ignoring business waste as an area of potential saving is simply bad business acumen.
The future is green
Since climate change is not going to simply disappear if we ignore it, neither is environmental consciousness. It is estimated that British businesses generate just over 41 million tons of waste a year, meaning that how your business and others like it deal with their waste can have a critical impact on the environment.
Your customers care
If your business is known to be needlessly wasteful – and therefore harmful to the local environment – your customers will take notice.
Ethical practices around waste management matter more and more to an increasingly environmentally mindful consumer base. Whether you are a large or small business, a significant and growing number of your customers will scrutinise how sustainable and responsible your policies are, including your waste management policies.
Your employees care
It is not only your customers and clients who care about waste management. Your employees do too, for both ecological and health and safety reasons.
Incorrect or careless waste storage and disposal practices can create a hazardous, unhygienic work environment. As an employer, you have a duty of care to your employees, which means ensuring that waste does not have an adverse effect on their health.
You have a legal responsibility
Regulations concerning waste management are enforced for both environmental and health reasons. If you fail to follow these regulations, you risk attracting penalties, throwing the future of your business into uncertainty.
How to create an effective waste management plan
There are three key steps to creating an efficient waste management plan
- Review. Identifying your business’s main waste sources is the first step to reducing it. Look at how it is generated, stored, and disposed of, and identify areas for improvement. You can also discuss ideas with your suppliers and come up with a plan according to the ease of implementation and potential cost benefits.
- Commit. Work with your staff and management for effective and accountable implementation of your waste policy, streamlining waste reduction, recycling, and reuse.
- Outsource. Commercial waste management services are by far the best way to improve your waste management. Their experience can offer valuable insight to help you improve policy, no matter the nature of your enterprise, and since they will be well-versed in business waste law, they can ensure you meet all requirements.
Effective waste management will make your business greener, safer, and more cost effective.
