Waste Audit Guide

Welcome To Your Garbage!

A waste audit is the first step in becoming more intimately acquainted with the trash that your facility produces. Americans are producing too much trash and are running out of politically and environmentally acceptable places to put landfills. No one wants a landfill on their land or adjacent to the land they use. The only clear choice is to reduce our waste stream going to landfills. 

Your role:

You want to reduce your waste stream going to landfills. In order to reduce the amount of garbage your facility sends to the landfill, you need to first conduct a waste audit. This will tell you how many pounds of waste your facility produces and where reduction and recycling efforts will have the most impact.  

Waste Audit Importance:

Each waste audit will vary from facility to facility. However, this guide will provide some variations so that you can pick and choose what will work best for your facility.  Waste audits provide measurements of waste for an entire day’s worth of trash generated by your facility. The total weight calculated from the entire day’s worth of trash is the estimate of trash thrown out daily. This figure will be concluded in a second waste audit at the end of the year to show proof of waste reduction.

Waste audits are usually conducted at the beginning of starting a recycling program. 

Audit rules:

• Be courteous, helpful, polite, and respectful
• Have a professional and pleasant demeanor
• If conducting and audit in an institution, be cooperative and a problem solver 
• Ask For: Advice on how to be a better participant or facilitator during the waste audit or  how to solve any problems you may encounter 
• Give: Precise and clear reasons for the waste audit and its purpose.
• Clearly define the purpose of your role and expected roles of others
• Determine what specific activities will need volunteers
• Make sure your goals and objectives are clearly stated before putting volunteers to work.
• Always be open to suggestions
• Following these rules will result in a timely and successful audit
• Always: · Thank participants and those who help you 
• Document all information
• CLEAN UP after your audit

In conclusion, be organized. Thank participants during the waste audit and always send a thank you note. 

General Organizational Tips: 

• Establish waste audit dates
• Before conducting a waste audit, educate yourself about the topics of recycling, reducing, and reusing
• Read this entire guide and seek education (online is a good source) if you have questions
• Two days should be reserved, day one for collection and day two for accounting

• Identify containers for each item to be separated
• Use Trash bags, preferably clear ones to make trash visible for display
• Have a visible sign on each container to mark each item separated
• Disposable gloves for each volunteer separating the Trash
• Have a scales to weigh the trash
• Use a tarp
• Use the attached Waste Recap chart to map out items, quantities, and total weights
• Use sealed leak proof containers for liquids and food
• Clean-up: Put sorted waste in separated and clean containers. Recycle bins (you may have to take certain items to the recycling center yourself) 
• Establish a plan to separate, manage and collect sorted materials
• Establish a responsible party to make sure program is working
• Contact your local recyclable reclaiming center or waste handler to schedule pick up or drop off

List of some categories you may want to include:

Being a successful recycler:

General Recycling – Once you understand how to recycle and you have accessed your waste categories.  Simply start separating different products for collection.
Most places that have a large population or a production facility have large amounts of various waste byproducts.  These are very valuable in large quantities.  You need to sort and separate them so they remain as clean as possible and have them collected.  In certain cases these recyclables can generate an alternative revenue stream. 

Download Waste Audit Recap

Download Waste & Recycling Plan