Monday, 3 April 2017

How And Why Do You Need To Conduct Waste Audit

By Anna Morris


The society is growing increasingly sensitive about what is thrown away and how garbage is disposed. In a factory or organizational setting, discarded materials can be substantial and even affect your budget. This is why it is advisable to conduct a waste audit from time to time to establish your performance and find the best ways to deal with it.

One wonders why anyone should walk around perusing through garbage destined for incineration. This exercise helps an organization to know the quantity and nature of garbage it generates. This helps you to calculate the difference between raw materials procured and what ends up as waste. This gives you an idea of the efficiency of your production process or daily operations.

With a figure or percentage indicating the level of efficiency, it is possible to evaluate the areas where budgetary adjustments can be made to minimize wastage. This will save the organization a lot of resources. You will re-evaluate the efficiency of systems to raise level or resource utilization by minimizing the amount wasted. This makes your systems and people more efficient.

Wastage sometimes emanates from lack of awareness of the levels of utilization and garbage produced. When the report is generated and shared with everyone in the organization, the level of awareness is raised. Making your workers more conscious of wastage will help improve their resource utilization and garbage sensitivity. Each department can establish how much it contributes in terms of garbage. The company can thus work towards reducing its carbon footprints and raise its profile in the community.

Auditing follows very simple steps. You are required to compose a group that brings together representatives from each department or sector. It is crucial to involve health and safety personnel as well as those in charge of finances. When everyone is involved, the exercise is supported across board. The custodian groups should be instructed to collect garbage disposed over three days. It should be labeled with the stream, source and collection dates indicated.

Ensure that you have the safety equipment required to handle the materials being audited. Apart from papers and containers to handle the discarded materials, carry protective clothing like gloves, safety shoes, overalls and eye protectors. Carry a checklist and camera for documentation purposes. The protective clothing used depends on the danger presented by these materials. Use disposed materials for a normal day other than days when there are events or occasions.

It is time to go through the garbage and classify it based on whether it is biodegradable or not, among other categories. Weigh different categories and record your findings. Indicate both the location and stream of each package you go through. Note the level of contamination and the elements causing decomposition. This will be important when preparing your report.

With data collected, calculate deviation rate of your garbage. The answer is given by dividing the weight of recycled materials with that of the sum of weight of the garbage and that which is recycled. You then multiply by 100 to get a percentage. These results must be shared and communicated with everyone in your organization. They raise the levels of wastage awareness which will result in improved efficiency.




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