A Powerful Guide to help you put your Business on the Path of Zero-waste!
The concept of zero-waste revolves around creating and managing processes and products in a way so that they rank low on waste generation and high on conservation and recovering all resources so that they find new applications. When a business becomes zero-waste, there are no eco-hazardous discharges to land, water or air.
A Zero-waste business yields numerous benefits. For example, it helps in cost-cutting, ensuring regulatory compliance and promoting your business as a ‘Green business’ – which is an important quotient the consumers look for. Besides, green offices are known to be more productive and positive places to work in.
So, here’s how you can bring your business on the path of being a Zero-waste business:
Evaluate the quantum of Waste Generated
The foremost thing to do is to conduct an audit. It should comprise aspects like the sources, kinds and amount of waste generated in your organisation. Evaluate whether or not the sources available for tackling the waste are sufficient and aptly located or not. You can also choose professionals like the companies offering waste management solutions for conducting a reliable assessment.
A proper understanding of your waste stream helps you sort it in appropriate categories, and more importantly plan for strategies to reduce its volume which is currently generated.
Establish Solid Strategies
Prevention of waste and not simply its diversion is the key to boost the savings. For this you need to have solid waste prevention strategies which are suitable for your organisation. They need to work on all aspects like the manpower, the scope, the budget, etc. And to implement these successfully, bring together all the internal and external stakeholders. Start with small measures and celebrate the achievement of short-term goals. This motivates the people involved to push the envelope towards achieving the bigger goals.
Designate a Multi-functional Team
A sure-fire way of achieving your goals of being a zero-waste company is to build a multi-functional team. It is also proven that this strategy improves commitment and communication in mid-sized and huge organisations. Even appointing a project manager will help the company extract more from everyone’s efforts, by streamlining them and ensuring that they fall within timelines and allotted budget.
Look for New Opportunities
Any organization, irrelevant of its size has multiple avenues where novel opportunities can be found for waste reduction and resource conservation. You just need to look for them consciously and actively.
To get started, you can study what other companies across the world are doing. Look for organizations with similar structure so that you can get more viable ways of reducing waste generation. The same can then be incorporated and scaled up to gain maximum results.
Join Hands with Employees
Employees are your strongest allies in the zero-waste journey of your company. Awareness and training programs should be implemented for the employees so that they change their perspective of waste, i.e. not view it as landfill material but as a valuable recyclable resource.
Next, provide them resources required and guide them towards achieving the zero-waste goal. Make appropriately labelled recycling bins available across the campus. Set smaller goals initially. Once these are achieved, the employees can then be graduated towards bigger challenges. Active employee involvement yields positive outcomes on multiple levels. It gives way to novel ideas of waste reduction and instils in them a sense of pride for being associated with a company which believes in conserving environment.
Make waste management one of your business goals and aim to move from waste reduction
to zero-waste with unwavering dedication. And, over the period of time, you will be able to add profits to your business and value to the environment which sustains all of us.
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Author Bio
Erich Lawson is passionate about saving environment by effective recycling. He has written a wide array of articles on how modern recycling equipments can be used by industries to reduce monthly garbage bills and increase recycling revenue. You can learn more about environment savings techniques by visiting Northern California Compactors, Inc blog.
