Businesses plan for everything. How much revenue to expect. How to staff for peak times. Where to open a new location. Where to have the company holiday party. But sometimes businesses forget to plan for waste management. It’s a costly, wasteful mistake that could be avoided by following these simple steps.

Make Someone Accountable for the Plan’s Success

The first step in waste management planning is to identify the person or team who will be responsible for creating and implementing the plan. Large organizations or businesses with multiple locations should have a committee that ensures policies are carried out. If possible, choose people who are passionate about the environment and willing to take extra steps to shepherd change.

Benchmark Your Current Waste Management Practices

To make a new plan, you must have a clear understanding of how your business is currently handling waste. In advance of your next pickup, review waste expenditures and check each waste and recycling receptacle to determine the quantities and types of waste your business creates. Alternatively, you could choose to have an independent waste management advisor provide a professional waste audit. This will help you determine accurate baseline costs so you can identify logistical inefficiencies and savings opportunities.

Set Attainable Goals

Once you have a firm grasp of how waste management is being handled in your business, you can begin to set long- and short-term goals for:

Reducing waste expenses

Increasing recycling efforts

Promoting corporate sustainability

Set concrete, achievable goals and charge your waste management team with reporting on progress.

Create an Action Plan

Don’t hesitate to shop for waste management services. Have conversations with waste management partners about their fees, equipment and savings opportunities. Explain your company’s needs and goals to determine which provider and options are right for you. Maybe renting equipment makes more sense than buying it. Or, if you have multiple locations, it’s possible that consolidating your waste services could offer significant savings. Waste Disposal Solutions can evaluate all of your options and provide a customized recommendation plan to help you reduce waste and unnecessary costs.

Monitor, Report and Revise the Plan

Measuring and reporting environmental and financial performance will help you determine if you’re on track to meet your goals. Our ZeroIn™ analytic tool can help you compare metrics and trends over time, sort trends by location and build sustainability practices into your operation. And remember, as your business grows and changes, your waste needs change as well. The right waste management advisor will help you continually assess the plan.

Need a little help getting started? Contact us to see how we can make waste management planning easier for you.