According to Great Forest, 62% of waste that goes to the landfill is not trash--it’s made up of recyclable glass, metal, plastics, and paper, compostable organic material, and e-waste.  

If you've been given the go- ahead to audit your company’s waste production, it's up to you to find out what type of waste you’re dealing with and whether you can reduce your landfill disposal rate,  ultimately saving your company money. We’ve put together a quick and easy checklist to help you outline your next steps so your team can get moving on what matters: making your company more waste efficient.  

What is a waste audit, really?

A good audit of your company's waste will tell you everything you need to know to streamline your trash disposal and recycling practices for the benefit of your waste management processes.

Waste audits happen for a number of reasons:

• To benchmark your company's current processes and environmental impact

• To understand where there are opportunities for improvement

• For trend monitoring and the development of new initiatives

• To reduce, reuse, and recycle more waste to keep it out of the landfill

First, two key issues must be solved: what is recyclable, and what isn’t? First, check to see if your municipality works with us using our Find My Municipality tool. From there, you can use our “What Goes Where” feature to look up any item. If you don't have access to a web-based app, you can usually find your municipality’s guidelines on your local government’s website.  

Conducting a waste audit is a great way to kick off a high-performance recycling program. Let's move onto learning how to start.  

1. Plan your waste audit

Planning is a vital step in the process for your green team. You need to figure out the who, the how and the why to get this done right. That means calling an official meeting.

• Assign roles and conduct a walk-through
  Knowing how to do a waste audit starts with the right core team. Assign the best green team members you have to this important task and host a company walkthrough.

• Note where waste disposal takes place
  During the walkthrough, you'll visit each disposal location and take note of any obvious issues. These are the locations your team will be collecting waste samples from on your allotted dates.  

• Understand how waste is currently managed
  At the end of your first meeting, outline the A-Z of what happens from the time trash is created > your hauler collecting it > it being sorted at a waste transfer station > when it arrives at the landfill.  

• Recruit your cleaning staff
  No one knows the disposal practices of your company better than your cleaning staff. At your second meeting, invite key members of the cleaning staff so that you can chat to them about how to conduct a waste audit with your team. Once you have enlisted their help, run through exactly what you expect from them so that no questions are left unanswered. They will need a full step-by-step process here.  

• Sync your timelines and schedules
  Set a logical time and date for regular waste audits that involve all of your committed team members and cleaning staff.
  

Tip: Make sure to also chat about how corporate e-waste and other materials are currently managed and take note of any glaring opportunities.  
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Image credit: Advanceddisposal.com

2. Design and prep your audit worksheets

Create or download a waste audit worksheet for your team to use during the disposal audit. This worksheet will help you capture the data you need for decision making.  

Key areas to note:

• Types of waste:
  make sure to record the composition or material of each waste type.

• Where certain waste types come from
  e.g., paper from the copying machine room. That way you can spot where certain types of material are most commonly found on premises.

• What you will need to complete the physical audit
  Have the tools you need on hand! On your worksheet, create a checklist of the required trash audit tools:  
  • A designated sorting area
  • Protective clothing/gear
  • A scale
  • Trash bags
  • A tarp for sorting through the trash
  • Labels
  • Worksheets & pens
  • Storage containers
  • Camera or phones
  • Latex or nitrile gloves
  • First aid kit
  • Cleaning materials
  • Labeled bins
  • Clear goggles
  • Your team
  • Waste samples

3. Collect, sort, and track your waste

Arrange with your cleaning staff to have transparent plastic bags in all waste bins during auditing weeks. During week one, audit your trash for three days—Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday--to get an average. Mondays and Fridays have higher rates of absences, so audits on these days may not be as accurate. Each audit will last for about 1-3 hours, depending on the amount of trash you're sorting through. Get your protective gear on!

• Remove the bags from each waste container for weighing and observing
  Group the bags together by waste type and location, label them, then weigh each group together. If you have a designated corporate e-waste area, it must be audited as well.  

• Take photos
  Every location should be analyzed separately. At the end of each location sample, take photos of the sorted trash.  

• Record waste quantities and weight
  In your waste audit spreadsheet, record the quantities and weight of each group. You'll need these data quantities for later analysis in step two.  

• Estimate averages
  After you've sorted your waste and have completed the cleanup‚ you will need to estimate your averages. Calculate your diversion rate by using the following formula:

                      weight of recycling
                    ____________________    X 100
                     weight of recycling +
                      weight of garbage

Make a note of what is recyclable and what's not.  

• Do random audits for two weeks

For the next two weeks following your initial audit, perform random audits to make sure your averages are correct. Pick 2-3 days over those two weeks (after your initial audit period) to check that there are no major changes in weight or material content. If there are, investigate why.  

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4. Check estimates against existing records

Once all of your data is collected and refined, you can check it against existing records. This is where you will discover areas in need of improvement.

• Cross reference with purchase records
  Step three of conducting a waste audit is taking your data and cross referencing it with purchase records. This will help you understand how trash is created and how much of what is bought is being discarded.  

• Take note of external factors
  Your waste management recycle bins will also contain trash from other sources. Take note of anything interesting (e.g., a lot of batteries in location 4).  

• Cross reference with waste disposal company
  Finally, cross reference your data with your waste disposal company's data to reveal hidden gems. When you recycle shredded paper, waste management companies record your output. Get this data to use when you create your plan to reduce office waste.
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5. Prepare your waste audit report

Your completed waste audit worksheet stack will be used to create a report for management.  

• Graph and chart your findings
  At your final meeting or two, spend time creating graphs and charts detailing your findings for your presentation. Compile all photos and highlight all opportunities found in your audit. For example, if your plastic waste recycling is contaminated with other materials, mention that in your report, along with contamination rates and how it can be improved using a simple educational tool.  

• Establish benchmarks
  You have the data to benchmark your progress. Well done! These benchmarks will act as your baseline starting point.  

• Set goals for improvement
  From here, you'll want to establish new goals to improve every part of your waste management process. You can present these goals as percentage improvements in your report. Set ambitious goals for your company and order them by priority. For example, if one waste management area is non-existent, work on that first.  

Present your findings to your management team and to your company as a whole. Show stakeholders the opportunities in better waste management. Questions like “What can I recycle for money?” and “How much can we cut our landfill diversion by?” are ones that every employee at your company should entertain.  

Here's a quick recap of our 5-step checklist:

1. Plan your waste audit

• Assign roles and conduct a walk-through

• Note where waste disposal takes place (locations)

• Understand how waste is currently managed

• Recruit your cleaning staff

• Sync your schedule and timelines

2. Design and prep your audit worksheets

• Types of waste

• Where certain waste types come from

• What you will need to complete the physical audit

3. Collect, sort, and track your waste

• Collect your company’s waste

• Take photos  

• Record waste quantities and weight

• Estimate averages  

4. Check estimates against existing records

• Cross referencing with purchase records

• Take note of external factors

• Cross referencing with waste disposal company

5. Prepare your waste audit report

• Graph and chart your findings

• Establish benchmarks  

• Set goals for improvement

From planning your waste audit to compiling the report once the data is collected, you now have a route forward. If you have any questions or would like to know how your business or municipality can partner with us, reach out to us here.