Zero Waste should be the ultimate goal once zero landfill is fully achieved.

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1 8 Tips to Obliterate your business waste This guide provides 8 top tips for reducing your waste and implementing an effective recycling system that will obliterate your waste and put you on the path to ultimately becoming Zero Waste. Zero Waste should be the ultimate goal once zero landfill is fully achieved.

2 Paper Consumption Most office waste consists of paper. The highest impact action that you can take to reduce your waste is to reduce paper consumption. The two main actions you can take to reduce paper are to setup all printers on double-side (i.e. duplex printing). This simple action could halve paper consumption. The second step is more technical and requires planning in order to setup but is worth exploring if you employ more than 10 staff. It is called pull printing or FollowMe printing and essentially relies on a user activating a print job at the printer. The reason it works so well is that over 30% of print jobs sent to a printer are never collected (i.e. they become waste!). Pull printing can reduce printing volumes by at least 30%. If this sounds like an option to you then speak to your printer supplier who will no doubt be able to provide you with more details.

3 Reduce or Reuse Paper reduction strategies offer a great opportunity to reduce waste but there are also other areas where you can reduce or reuse resources. Take time to look at other articles in your waste stream (stationery, toners, cardboard, furniture, IT equipment etc.) and explore ways to reduce consumption or reuse materials. For all other wastes (e.g. packaging materials and containers), talk to your suppliers as to whether they offer take back schemes. Many business consumers are now clearly setting out their take back requirements within tender opportunities offered to potential suppliers in order that they form part of the supplier s tender bids. Gradually expand your recycling Once you have exhausted your options for reduction and reuse it is then time to explore recycling options. The best recycling systems start small and build on sound foundations over time to become exemplary. As the saying goes Rome wasn t built in a day! Always start with paper and card recycling as it is usually the most visible and highest volume waste product in the office. Over time try to expand the recycling system to other waste materials glass, plastics, fluorescent light bulbs, batteries, toners, CDs, food waste, furniture, IT equipment etc.).

4 Invest in good labels and bins We all know that offices use a lot of recyclable materials but not all offices have designated places to recycle. As you introduce a new recycling option to the office make sure that the option is well communicated to staff and that the recycling facility is highly visible. Talk to your waste collector to see if they provide these products and if so, the different types of bins and containers plus most importantly, the signage they offer. Signage that is aligned to the WRAP (Waste Resources Action Plan) guidelines is key to giving staff quality instruction to support optimal segregation of your recyclable office or production materials. Signage should ideally provide pictorial guidance to ensure it works for non- British employees or agency staff. Either way we recommend sourcing bins and signage that is affordable, looks good and are highly visible. Separate waste bins for each recycling option is key as it makes sure that waste streams do not become contaminated and can be recycled with ease. Use colour coded bins which are prominently displayed in the office.

5 Remove personal bins Once you have a strong recycling system in place it is imperative that you remove as many general waste units as possible. in particular personal bins under each staff member s desk. The key is to have a small number of centrally located general waste bins and a much higher ratio of recycling bins available around the office and production areas. Initially, this may result in some resistance from employees but as long as the benefits of the new recycling system are communicated (i.e. waste reduction potential and cost savings) along with an easy and accessible system, then you should be able to overcome all obstacles. Your waste collector may be able to support your initiative.

6 Run a Recycling Awareness Day If you find that adoption rates of the new recycling system are low then it is important that employees are engaged early. An awareness day which provides engaging graphics and appeals to employee s understanding, beliefs and habits around recycling and environmental issues is key (read Getting employee engagement right to find out how to do this). Focus on the financial and environmental costs associated with waste production and highlight the potential savings if everyone was on board. Again, it may be worth talking to your waste collector to see if they can help.

7 Make the change to Zero Waste Even with a comprehensive reduce, reuse and recycling system, you may still have residual general waste which gets sent to landfill or incineration every week. To eliminate this waste, you could look at the option of having it sending to an efficient treatment facility with the lowest possible environmental impact. Facilities that utilize new generation technologies such Biomass, RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) SRF (Solid Recovered Fuel) should be fully explored. This can be a little time-consuming but is something your waste collector could advise on. Research shows that the impacts from the technologies listed above are vastly outweighed by the benefits in terms of electricity production and reduced landfill impacts. Incineration however, even though it does generate some power, it is not a particularly efficient nor environmentally sustainable option. A zero-to-landfill and zero-incineration working environment provides a very powerful and compelling environmental commitment which the business can use to engage customers (win/retain business) and inspire staff (attain and retain talent).

8 Produce a Site Waste Management Plan Produce a Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP) that forms the overarching policy to achieve the 7 steps above. This policy should be highly visible and available to all staff (e.g. Notice Boards, company intranet, staff break-out rooms, canteens). It is also useful to display your SWMP in areas where your visitors and clients have access. It will help present a great message that showcases your commitment to environmental excellence and CSR. To support your SWMP, it is important that your progress is measured. Talk to your waste collector in order to obtain detailed reports on all the wastes collected, tonnages of each waste material and the percentage that has been sent to landfill, energy recovery, recycling and any other destinations. Also, your waste collector should be able to present you with details of exactly where the journey of your waste ended i.e. End Point Disposal (EPD). In summary, we hope that this guide has been useful to you. Please be advised that if you have neither the time nor the expertise to produce your SWMP or implement any of the other recommendations, we at ACM can help you with that. There will be no charge for an initial consultation. So, if you d like us to arrange a free initial consultation or would just like to chat first, please select either link below. Alternatively, feel free to contact us by reply or give us a call on Greener Path Zero Waste Video (2 mins) click here Submit request for help with your SWMP click here