Waste Not, Want Not: Waste Diversion as a Direct Path to ROI

Welcome, everyone. I hope you are enjoying the February video series, From Strategy to Success – Ensuring Effective Implementation. The second video in that series, The Importance of Collaboration, will be released next week. This week, I wanted to discuss a major focus in the sustainability space, waste diversion.

Formerly serving as the EPA’s Waste Minimization Program National Expert for ten years, I have seen first-hand the significant impact that addressing waste has on the environment, as well as an organization’s bottom-line. Through collaboration with industry during my tenure at the EPA, we were able to implement initiatives that reduced 100 million pounds of waste, saved 1.6 billion gallons of water, and saved the industry $42 million. Many businesses are facing growing pressure to reduce waste generated from operations and to divert waste from landfills; however, this also presents financial opportunity, as waste equates to lost resources and profits. Reducing all forms of waste is critical to an effective and sustainable business strategy, and is one of the simplest ways to achieve ROI.

Each organization is unique, and there is no “standard solution” to reducing waste; however, the first step you should take is to fully understand material flows and wastes. You need to measure, characterize, and quantify material flows and all waste streams in order to properly understand your operations. When working with organizations to reduce waste, my consulting firm always starts with this process, because gathering information is critical to developing your action plan.

Last Thursday, two members of my team led a webinar titled The Path to Zero Waste - Reduce Impacts, Save Money, Get Certified, which you can view on-demand below or by following this link. This webinar provides you with vital information on how to reduce waste from your facility, and avoid sending waste to landfill, by implementing a comprehensive waste reduction program. Check out the webinar and make sure you subscribe to my blog (top right) to receive more free resources on sustainability.

I look forward to releasing next week’s video, and I hope you all can join me for this month’s webinar, From Strategy to Success –Ensuring Effective Implementation.

– Tad Radzinski PE, LEED AP, SFP

Links:

1. Last week’s video: Building Internal Sustainability Support
2. Register for the webinar February 25th