easy ways waste in your organisation busy … easy ways... · 80 easy ways to reduce waste in your...

80EASY WAYS

TO REDUCE

WASTE IN YOUR

ORGANISATION

Quick money

saving ideas for

busy businesses

80 easy ways to reduce waste in your organisationCreating less waste is not only good for our environment, it’s also good for business.

Yet, finding the time and learning the skills needed to take action can be a big challenge.

That’s why we’ve put together this quick start guide, which contains 80 easy ways to cut down on

waste in your business. We’ve included many of the opportunities we see every day in organisations

across Scotland. Many of the ideas are so simple and straightforward that they won’t cost you a penny

and will help you to start saving money straight away.

Printable version available here

This is by no means a definitive list of ways to cut

down on waste, so if you have any more great

ideas that have worked for your organisation, we

would love to hear from you.

Email the team at

[email protected] and

your tip could feature in the next edition.

80 EASY WAYS TO REDUCE WASTE IN YOUR ORGANISATION - QUICK MONEY SAVING IDEAS FOR BUSY BUSINESSES

http://www.resourceefficientscotland.com/sites/default/files/80 easy ways to cut your waste bill - printable version.pdf


http://www.resourceefficientscotland.com/sites/default/files/101 easy ways to cut your energy bill - printable version_0.pdf



mailto:[email protected]

Toilets

Office

Production Area

Canteen

The 80 tips

have been

organised into

groups aligned

with the

functional

areas of a

business.

Go to the next

page, or click on

the area that

interests you

most. Other

Warehouse



Hold an annual ‘stationery amnesty’. A surprising amount of material can be

recovered by asking staff to hand in all their unused items for reuse.

Encourage staff to re-use envelopes, wallets and packaging wherever possible to

reduce waste and procurement costs.

Set up a central location for office equipment that is rarely used (such as staplers,

hole punches and calculators) rather than buying each member of staff their own

items.

Implement an ordering system to discourage excessive use of stationery. This

allows you to monitor departments and target high-use areas for reductions.

Ensure all stationery orders go through one person to avoid duplicated orders.

Office

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Choose electronic communications over printing, to reduce the need to print

internal memos and copies of reports. Ensure that colleagues are comfortable with

using technology and provide training where necessary.

Do not print documents and emails unless absolutely necessary. Add reminders on

email signatures to avoid printing. Unnecessary or excessive printing increases

paper, toner and electricity costs, as well as equipment maintenance and

replacement costs. It also increases waste disposal costs for the additional paper

and toner cartridges used.

Encourage your colleagues to review draft copies before printing using print

preview – this will often flag up any issues that can be corrected on screen.

Ensure that non-confidential paper is not put in the secure confidential waste

collections. Shredding confidential waste costs more, so give clear instructions to

staff so they know the types of materials that should be treated as confidential.

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80 EASY WAYS TO REDUCE WASTE IN YOUR ORGANISATION - QUICK MONEY SAVING IDEAS FOR BUSY BUSINESSES80 EASY WAYS TO CUT YOUR WASTE BILL - A MONEY SAVING CHEAT SHEET FOR BUSY BUSINESSES

Encourage staff to access PDF copies of manuals, policies and handbooks on the

network instead of printing lengthy documents.

Provide a tray next to the printer to collect paper that has only been used on one

side and can be reused for printing in draft or for scrap message pads.

Use outdated letterheads and in-house memos as scrap paper.

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Avoid overprinting. For example, avoid printing too many copies of marketing and

publicity materials by reviewing distribution lists and regularly updating databases.

Don’t put specific dates on marketing materials if you don’t need to, to extend their

life. If you do need to print marketing materials with event or date-specific

information, print off small batches that can be quickly used up, so you don’t have

to over-stock.

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If printing is unavoidable, ensure that all printers are set to double-sided format as

default.

If you have to print, reduce the page margins. Reducing the margin settings

enables you to fit more onto the page.

When printing long documents, try to print two or more pages to an A4 sheet,

providing the text is still readable.

Use thinner paper. Thinner paper is not only cheaper to buy and less heavy when

being disposed of but also uses less energy in the manufacturing process and less

energy in the printing process to apply ink. 80gsm paper is suitable for most

routine printing jobs.

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Refill, rather than replace printer cartridges. Printer toner cartridges are very

expensive to purchase so any opportunity you have to save money by refilling

should be taken.

If you cannot refill, buy remanufactured toner cartridges. High-quality recycled

cartridges are available with the same performance as new cartridges, but at a

lower price. Return your toner cartridges for remanufacture by pre-paid envelope,

through a specialist remanufacturing company or schemes run by charities.

Set your printers to print in black and white as standard. It’s more expensive to

print in colour so setting to black and white as standard reduces unnecessary

colour printing and saves you money.

Reduce the number of printers. In particular, remove desk printers which are

expensive to run and encourage people to print items as they are easy to reach.

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Implement a ‘hold print’ system. If printing needs to be confirmed at the printer

itself then the extra action often reduces the amount of unnecessary printing.

These systems can often be set to automatically delete items left in the printer

queue overnight, further reducing unnecessary printing.

If fax machines are necessary, ensure they are set so they don’t produce unwanted

header or report sheets. Explore low resource options, for example install a fax

server allowing faxes to be sent directly from computers.

If you have only an occasional need for particular printing machines or equipment,

consider sharing them with other organisations in your area.

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Make a list of redundant equipment in stock (such as chairs, desks, furniture and IT

equipment). Make another list of new items required across your organisation. Use the

lists to spot opportunities to re-use equipment - saving you money on purchase and

disposal costs.

Repair, refurbish or re-upholster existing office furniture instead of buying new as the

financial and environmental savings may be significant.

Ask your computer supplier/manufacturer about refurbishment contracts. Ensure

redundant equipment is collected and that you receive revenue for the residual value.

If your organisation can’t re-use your old items, can someone else? Consider if other

organisations in your area can use your waste before you pay to have it taken away by

your waste contractor.

If you have equipment that uses batteries, use rechargeable batteries where

practicable.

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80 EASY WAYS TO CUT YOUR WASTE BILL - A MONEY SAVING CHEAT SHEET FOR BUSY BUSINESSES80 EASY WAYS TO REDUCE WASTE IN YOUR ORGANISATION - QUICK MONEY SAVING IDEAS FOR BUSY BUSINESSES

Prior to confirming catering arrangements for meetings, accurately establish the

numbers attending – most people over order, resulting in food waste.

Buy consumables in bigger sizes where possible, and avoid individual milk

containers, sachets of salt, pepper and sugar and small packets of sauces.

Ordering small quantities will generally be better for goods that have a short shelf-

life or are not used in large quantities.

Support local food suppliers to promote local delicacies and reduce food miles,

food waste and packaging.

Canteens and

kitchens

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Review portion sizes and consider asking customers whether they would like salad

garnish instead of giving it to them automatically.

Review leftover food on a regular basis. This will help to identify unpopular dishes

and reduce food waste.

Give your chef freedom to put specials on that use up left-over ingredients.

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Ensure that drinks vending machines allow the use of china mugs rather than

plastic vending cups.

Replace bottled water with water coolers that are attached to the water supply. This

will reduce service charges incurred from the use of bottles, transportation and

packaging.

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Provide staff with durable products such as metal cutlery, glasses and ceramic

mugs for drinks consumed in the work place. Avoid purchasing disposable catering

products, such as plastic cutlery, paper plates and single-use cups.

When ordering, request that food and drink is delivered in returnable plates, trays

and boxes to reduce packaging waste.

If you have infrequent large meetings and big events, consider hiring products like

glasses and plates rather than buying single-use products.

Concentrated cleaning products e.g. floor and kitchen surface cleaners,

dishwashing detergents, hand soaps and hand sanitisers can save you storage

space and money as they contain less water and can reduce packaging by over

50%. These can be diluted on site and dispensed in re-usable bottles.

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Buy and use concentrated products such as toilet cleaners, surface cleaners and

handwash which can be diluted on-site and dispensed in re-usable bottles. They

contain less water so can reduce packaging by over 50%.

Replace paper towels with high efficiency hand dryers – it’s likely that you will be

able to make significant financial savings in this way.

Consider taking it a step further and provide reusable towels.

Toilets

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Do a spot check for transit damage and alert your supplier to any damage you find. It

is in both your interests to eliminate the causes of damages.

Re-use packaging materials such as cardboard boxes and bubble wrap.

Purchasing goods in bulk can save you money and reduce your packaging waste by

cutting down the number of small, empty containers that need to be disposed of.

When ordering, choose minimally packaged products or ask your suppliers to supply

products in less packaging.

Storage areas,

stock room, warehouse46

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Speak to your suppliers to arrange a facility for returnable crates, pallets and

boxes.

Ask suppliers to take excess packaging away with them when they deliver.

For goods that have a short shelf-life or are not used in large quantities, consider

placing smaller orders to avoid them spoiling while in storage.

Train and remind staff to make sure that they carry out ‘first in – first out’ stock

rotation with every delivery of new stock.

Put up reminder notices in the stockrooms to staff to take stock from the front and

to check the dates when stocking up the service area.

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Fit forklift trucks with the most appropriate handling equipment (such as plates or

rubber-tipped tines) as they can do considerable damage through accidental

collisions, as well as in the course of handling.

Store materials clear of fork-lift truck access routes and train operators to keep

damage to the minimum.

Check that your storage area is dry, clean and kept at the proper temperature and

humidity to avoid damage or contamination that could degrade the materials.

Arrange for damaged pallets to be repaired as it can work out to be cheaper than

buying new.

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Compact cardboard and other bulky wastes to make efficient use of disposal facilities.

Shrink-wrap, stretch-wrap and plastic bags: many companies find that they can reduce the

grade of material used, say from 50 µm to 30 µm, without any reduction in product

protection.

Consider automatic or semi-automatic pallet wrappers which can help to reduce the use of

stretch-wrap and improve productivity.

Consider implementing a packaging re-use scheme which can be cost-effective. These can

be pallets, drums and IBCs, crates, boxes, trays, separators, layer pads and collars.

As well as re-using, can you resell?

Production area

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Purchase powders in pellets or big bags. Purchasing in big bags is not only

cheaper, but also means there is less powder left behind after dispensing.

Purchasing raw materials in pellet form instead of powder reduces extraction

losses and the residue left in the bag after emptying.

Use large mobile containers, not drums, for internal movements of liquids. The

additional cost of packaging an intermediate product into drums rather than bulk

containers can be considerable.

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Undertake a mass balance of key areas of your production to inform you of which

processes create the most waste and target them accordingly. Measure the total

mass input to the process, then the mass output of good product and known

wastes, and find the difference, which is the total loss of that specific process.

Check transfer lines for spillage points. Product conveyor belts tend to spill product

at bends and switchover points. Survey these and weigh the waste generated at

each point per shift to prioritise which to address first. You can then implement

solutions such as changing the speed of the conveyor, fitting suitable guides, or

minimising the gap between points.

Keep records of spoilt items and wastage. Retail outlets can overestimate theft,

when often products have just been thrown away unrecorded.

Recover product from pipework more effectively before cleaning by using pigs or

by purging with an appropriate gas. Pigging is a simple and cheap technique that

can prevent product build-up in pipework and reduce waste.

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If your staff wear uniforms, lease or hire uniforms instead of buying them outright.

Set up a proactive return-of-uniform policy for when individuals leave your

employment. This will increase the supply of uniforms for re-use and save you

buying new uniforms when they are not needed.

To extend the lifetime of staff uniforms, ensure that they are repaired as often as

possible before disposal is considered as a last resort.

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Review your bills for the last 1 or 2 years and check if you need all the bins supplied

by your contractor. Combine this with regular waste audits in high waste producing

business areas.

Check if you fully use each bin supplied by your waste contractor. If not, ask your

contractor to remove them or reduce the frequency of collection.

Find out if you can bale or compact your waste. Doing so will reduce the number of

collections needed and may make storing waste on site easier.

There can be financial advantages from separating glass, cans, plastic bottles and

paper for separate collection if clean and uncontaminated. It may even provide a

revenue where such materials are presented in bulk. Their value is dependent on

the market price of specific materials and transport costs to reprocessors.

See letsrecycle.com for monthly and historical recycling values of different materials.

Other

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http://www.letsrecycle.com/


Try the Savings Finder and get a free report, relevant to your own organisation,

that highlights the energy, water and raw material cost savings that you could make

now, and in the future.

http://savingsfinder.resourceefficientscotland.com

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Is the availability of capital finance an issue? Why not consider a Resource

Efficient Scotland SME Loan. An unsecured, interest free loan from £1,000 to

£100,000 may be available to support your business to reduce costs through

improved energy, material resource and water efficiency.

Find out more

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Speak to Resource Efficient Scotland to request a free resource efficiency audit of

your site and a supporting report showing you prioritised areas, cost savings,

resource savings and payback period. If you need finance, the report helps support

the SME loan application.

Find out more

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http://savingsfinder.resourceefficientscotland.com/

http://www.resourceefficientscotland.com/content/sme-loans-scheme

http://www.resourceefficientscotland.com/content/one-one-support

Free supportResource Efficient Scotland can give you

expert, one-to-one support to help you improve

your resource use and save money.

Funded by the Scottish Government, all our advice

for SMEs is completely free, independent and

confidential.

Give us a call today on 0808 808 2268.

101 EASY WAYS TO CUT YOUR ENERGY BILL - A MONEY SAVING CHEAT SHEET FOR BUSY OFFICES 80 EASY WAYS TO REDUCE WASTE IN YOUR ORGANISATION - QUICK MONEY SAVING IDEAS FOR BUSY BUSINESSES

If you found this document useful, you can also

download a compact printable version here.






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