Information from the audit will help identify problem areas and highlight opportunities to improve current waste practices.
We recommend you consider involving one of the following excellent service providers who will take you through the whole audit process, and offer lots of great advice following the audit.
DIY waste audit
Some businesses prefer to audit their own waste.
If you’re conducting your own audit, you’ll need to:
- identify all on-site waste disposal points
- identify who collects the waste and when
- decide how you are going to assess the waste stream
- choose a typical waste generation period (a day or a week)
- identify the quantity of each type of waste and its source.
While you’re collecting and sorting your waste, don’t tell staff about the waste audit. This will stop staff changing their usual waste disposal practices and help keep the audit accurate.
You can learn more about conducting your own waste audit through Sustainability Trust waste audit workshops and waste audit training for organisations and schools. They also have kits available for hire.
Auditing with another business
If you’re a small or medium-sized business in a shared office space, think about running your audit with the other companies in your building.
Sharing the responsibilities of a waste audit can help with limited resourcing in smaller businesses, as tasks can be shared. Individual business can do less work for a great result, and avoid doubling up. Sharing an audit also reduces the number of collection companies coming into the building and simplifies security issues.