Being Green & Sourcing Locally

How to Reduce Waste and Waste Reduction Tips

In this topic:

• Why reducing waste is important
• How to reduce waste (including waste reduction tips)
• Waste regulations you must comply with

You may also like to read the following case studies to get inspiration from other businesses:

• Re-use Case Study - Ninebanks Youth Hostel
• Composting Case Study - Simonsburn Tearooms
• Composting Case Study - Newt Cottage

Cutting waste

There are lots of ways to cut waste that are no or low cost and show results from day one. When you start to cut waste, you are also cutting your carbon footprint and caring for the environment.

Cutting waste is easy, but you'll have most success if you make a waste reduction plan and treat waste as part of your overall green approach.

How do you cut waste?

Everyone who works in or with your business - so that includes your suppliers and, to some extent, your customers - will need to get involved. You especially need to get staff on board, though this is generally easy. Everyone is aware of the need to be greener, but many people find it hard or don't know where to start. Most people welcome a structured approach, clear guidelines and the incorporation of energy, water and waste routines into their working day because it makes them feel that they are taking positive action and doing something to help.

There are lots of steps you can take that cost nothing or very little, make an impact from day one and save you money through reduced waste collection charges. Cutting waste is easy - but it does take commitment and organisation.

The first step is to identify what waste you are currently creating and this literally involves sorting and measuring your waste and doing regular physical walk rounds to spot where waste is occurring. (You should continue to do this on a regular basis.)

The next step is to identify ways to cut waste. Again this is simple. Once you know what your waste is made up of you can see where the greatest opportunities for cutting it lie.

Essentially there are three ways to reduce waste:

1. Reduce
   Stopping waste at the source is the most effective way. This means changing buying methods, daily routines and processes to avoid generating waste in the first place.
2. Re-use
   Before you throw something away consider whether it can be re-used in a different setting or whether it can be passed on. For example old bedding can be donated to hostels or homeless charities, and schools and playgroups may welcome some packaging as creative play or craft items.
3. Recycle
   Of the waste that is left, the aim is to send as little as possible to the landfill, so recycle as much as you can. This means knowing what can be recycled, having clear routines for cleaning and separating recyclable waste and having collections from a business recycling provider (you cannot put business recycling in public bottle banks or recycling centres - it is against the law).

Be aware though, that recycling has a cost attached and uses energy. Cutting down on waste in the first place will always be the best choice.

Getting started

The easiest way to set up waste reduction programme is to make a plan. This shouldn't be a big document (which would be waste in itself!). It should be short and to the point - a useful tool to help you remember the steps you want to take and the timescales for taking them. It also helps you think through how you'll need to alter your routines, collect recycling, train staff and make customers aware.

To make your plan, you'll need to do the following:

1. Identify what waste you are currently creating - this involves monitoring your waste and doing regular waste walk rounds.
2. Identify how you can reduce waste by careful purchasing, management, re-use and recycling.
3. Put a plan into place that shows targets, actions and timescales.
4. Set up new routines and negotiate new waste and recycling contracts.
5. Prepare and train staff and provide regular feedback.
6. Monitor results, revisit your plan and advertise your efforts!

Waste reduction tips

Follow the Toolkit's waste reduction tips to start making a difference today:

1. Monitor your waste
Once you know what your waste is, you can see how to reduce it.
There are two ways to do this:

• Ask for feedback from your waste and recycling collectors - they may be able to provide reports.
• Sort and measure your waste.

Since waste reduction will involve sorting and recycling waste anyway, get started straight away because this is how you'll spot where you can make the greatest savings.

• Provide separate containers for paper, cardboard, glass, cans and tins, plastic and film, cloth, food waste, garden waste, electronics, chemicals and any other specific waste.
• Provide separate bins for different types of waste for customer use - the public are used to this and will value your approach, not be frustrated by it.
• You'll have most success if staff can sort waste at the point of throwing it away. This means:
  • having separate bins or containers for housekeeping staff to take around with them
  • separate bins in the kitchens
  • separate bins in the office and reception areas

Re-use existing containers and packaging for the collection bins, or obtain them from your refuse collector. Colour code them with stickers or paint and label them so that staff aren't confused about what goes where.

You'll need a routine for collecting and emptying the bins into larger containers so that you don't get unsightly overflow, and to make measuring easier.

You can measure by weight, by volume or by sight, but be consistent and keep a chart. Daily monitoring is best, initially. Make notes about any special events or activities that are taking place so you can account for fluctuations.

2. Conduct regular waste walk rounds
Regular waste walk rounds - like energy and water walk rounds - really do help you identify where waste is being generated and what changes in practices, routines or ordering processes could help you cut down. Although it is tempting to combine walk rounds together, it can be easy to get side-tracked when you are trying to take too many aspects in at once, so it may be better to conduct separate ones.

3. Review your waste and recycling contracts

Saving money is a big incentive to cut waste. One of the first things you can do is look at how much you are spending on waste and recycling collections. Recycling should be cheaper than waste collection (because some of the costs are offset by the 'value' of the recycling waste). Therefore the more you recycle the less you should spend on waste collection.

However, you should look at your waste contracts to see how you are charged in order to receive the highest savings, eg, is your waste charged by:

• number of bins emptied (in which case you need to reduce the number of bins by reducing and compacting waste).
• number of times bins are emptied (in which case you need to reduce and compact waste so that they are emptied less frequently).
• weight (in which case you need to reduce weight of waste by targeting and recycling the heaviest waste - compacting has no effect on bills).
• fixed annual charge (in which case you need to renegotiate your contract to one of the above).

4. Review your suppliers

The best way to tackle waste is to create as little as possible in the first place. Every time you buy products that have a lot of packaging you are paying for unnecessary, useless excess that you then have to pay again to have removed.

Buy from suppliers that use minimal, recyclable packaging or that collect packaging from you and re-use it. Talk to suppliers that are over-packaging - waste is everyone's business and they will lose customers if they are adding unnecessarily to waste bills.

5. Buy smart

Use the following buying techniques to cut waste at source - the best way to manage waste!

• buy from suppliers who don't use too much packaging or who come and collect it (as above)
• bulk buy
• replace single use purchases with multi-use options, eg use liquid soap in refillable containers rather than individually packaged bars, buy loose tea and coffee and put in refillable containers for guest bedrooms
• buy quality, durable items that don't wear out quickly - this applies to furniture, soft furnishings, electrical items etc
• buy recycled items
• buy loose fruit and vegetables, baked goods, meat, cheeses, fish etc from local suppliers that use boxes and paper bags or that use long term packaging (like bakers' trays) that they collect and re-use
• buy green cleaning materials, in recyclable containers
• consider hiring rather than buying certain equipment or tools
• don't overstock - especially stationary and food
• consider what can be bought on sale or return

6. Recycle

To recycle as much as possible you'll need the various collection bins at the points where they are needed: office, reception, shop front, kitchen etc. Housekeeping teams will need mobile versions. Use colour co-ordinated and clearly labelled bins. Check with your recycling collector what can and cannot be recycled and compact as much as possible.

Know which materials cannot be sent to landfill - under the law you must now separate your landfill waste and you cannot landfill certain material, eg liquids, tyres, oil, batteries, fluorescent tubes etc.

Know how to separate and treat waste. Contamination of recycling items can mean that a whole batch is rejected - whole lorry loads of otherwise recyclable material can end up in landfill because of a small amount of food waste, for example. And you can be subject to additional costs if your collector cannot take a batch of recycling or waste intended for landfill because of incorrect sorting or separation.

Contamination of recycling means many things:

• incorrectly sorted types of recycling mixed together, for example cardboard and paper, different sorts of plastics, etc.
• pyrex or plate glass in with bottles (just one piece of pyrex can ruin a whole batch of recycling).
• dirty food cans and unrinsed bottles - train staff how to rinse, preferably using grey water (leftover from washing or laundry) or rainwater.
• incorrectly sorted plastics, mixed together. Check with your collector what you can recycle and how they want it separated.
• food waste in with garden waste (there are different laws governing the legal disposal of food waste).

Talk to your waste contractor and make sure you thoroughly understand your obligations and ensure you accurately fill out your waste transfer notes.

7. Re-use
Before you throw something away - or even recycle it - consider if it can be re-used by you or someone else. Some things are easy to re-use internally - paper for instance: print on both sides and use leftover paper for scrap. If you have wood burning fires or stoves, consider investing in a log maker, which compresses paper, cardboard, shredded leaves, small twigs and even teabags into 'logs' that will burn for up to an hour. (Inexpensive, prices start from £20!)

8. Give it away
You may be able to donate some items to schools, colleges, hostels and charities. Lots of charities take things that cannot be recycled: aging IT equipment, books, spectacles, mobile phones etc.

Or if something is in good condition sell it or offer it free to a good home.

9. Go for quality, not quantity
Try to buy quality, robust items that last longer. This especially applies to appliances, linen and furniture. They may cost more initally but they will need replacing less often, will have lower service costs and will reduce overall waste. They will also give customers a better quality impression.

10. Practice effective stock control
This applies particularly to perishables or items which have a short life, like printed stationary, branded items, or time sensitive stock. Monitoring your waste will soon highlight if perishables are being thrown away without ever reaching the customer and don't be tempted to order higher print runs of literature than you actually need.

11. Control food waste
Reduce food waste by careful purchasing, careful menu planning (so your combination of meals and deserts use all parts of ingredients eg, egg whites and yolks, orange juice and pulp, stock from unused vegetable, meat and fish etc) and through careful portion control. Allow customers to refuse or substitute parts of meals (eg no chips, peas instead of beans etc) rather than serving food that isn't wanted.

Food waste accounts for a large proportion of hospitality industry waste. Food that goes into bins makes bins smelly and unpleasant and attracts rats and other unwanted carrion-feeders. Separation of food waste and composting is the best option for food waste but it must be done under controlled conditions to ensure that diseases and bacteria are killed and don't live on in the compost. Therefore, onsite commercial food composting is possible but rarely used since it is allowed under law only if:

• you use in-vessel composting (this is composting in specially, commercially designed, secure composting units that quickly allow waste to break down without odours or leakage)
• your business has its own private grounds to do the composting
• the compost is only used on your private grounds
• you don't keep pigs or other livestock
• you keep the composting and resultant compost away from any birds or chickens you keep

Instead, check with the Environment agency to see what food composting options there are for your area or talk to your waste collector.

12. Use oil and grease traps
Oil and grease in the sewerage and water systems causes all kinds of damage. Oil and fat that is hot is liquid, but as it cools it solidifies. Not only can it cause clogging of the sewers but it can easily block up the drains and pipes for which you are responsible.

• Use under sink fat traps and maintain them regularly.
• Pour oil and grease into suitable containers (re-warm fat to melt it if necessary by returning to the oven etc). Ensure they have tight fitting lids to deter rodents and smells.
• Dry-wipe fatty pans, racks, plates etc before washing
• Separate your grease and fat from your refuse collection so your waste collector can dispose of it legally and effectively.

Also in this topic:

• Why reducing waste is important
• How to reduce waste (including waste reduction tips)
• Waste regulations you must comply with