Small Business Waste Reduction Toolkit

The cost of waste to businesses is likely to be 5-10 times more than the obvious waste disposal and management costs they pay. ‘Hidden costs’ arise from the generation of waste, such as the purchase cost of materials that get wasted, lost opportunity for revenue from wasted material, labour costs handling or working with the material which ends up being waste energy, water, and space wasted on the material. 

This toolkit provides a simple 5-step process and the tools for small business to achieve better waste management. It explains how to use the tools and provides basic information about waste to help businesses make the right decisions. 

• Step 1. Document current services: Using worksheet 1, list current waste collection services and calculate the amount of each type of waste and annual costs.
• Step 2. Site assessment: Using worksheet 2, conduct a site inspection to assess how waste is managed in the business and start identifying opportunities to reduce waste. 
• Step 3. Opportunity review: Worksheet 3 provides a comprehensive list of opportunities for waste avoidance, reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting.
• Step 4. Waste reduction action plan: Collate the ideas that arose during Steps 1 and 2 with the opportunities identified in Step 3, then use worksheet 4 to produce a waste reduction action plan (WRAP).
• Step 5. Implementation and review: After implementing the action plan, be on the lookout for additional opportunities.