Waste Management New Year Resolutions

After the festive period of excess, January is a chance to take stock and look at the changes we want to make and set personal or professional goals. There is no reason why a business cannot also take stock and set their own short and long term goals.

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – President John F. Kennedy

When you are trying to change a company culture or processes, it can be a challenge. Waste management is not a glamorous part of business but there are steps you can take to embed best practice.

Celebrate the wins

Your team was tasked with changing the way they segregate waste. Nobody likes change and sometimes the reasons are not immediately obvious. Therefore, when the changes are having a positive effect it makes good sense to celebrate the results. Furthermore, celebrating the wins will remind you and your team of your goals and demonstrate the level of improvement made to your waste management processes.

By taking stock of where you are, and what you have achieved, will act as a springboard to make further improvements with a motivated team.

Reward your staff for waste management process improvements

Rewarding staff can form a virtuous circle. Reward leads to hard work – hard work leads to reward. This doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money and often the savings you will make from changing waste segregation processes will more than pay for any rewards offered.

Recognising the effort and results your team has made will make future projects easier to implement and you will have a motivated team ready to adopt changes proposed.

Regularly review waste segregation policies

As the organisation changes waste management processes that used to work may no longer be the most effective. Any changes to the physical environment may require changes to the waste containers and their locations.

Provide training for new members of staff

This sounds simple enough. But many organisations under estimate the time required to ensure new staff members are properly trained on the waste management processes that are being used at a particular site.

Measure quantities of waste generated

Knowledge is power – measuring the quantity and types of waste in your organisation will put you in a better position to identify ways to recycle, reduce and remove waste from your business processes. This knowledge will also help you to identify an appropriate waste management company.

What next?

If you would like to speak with a waste management specialist on how to implement your own waste management improvement programme, please contact us.