SayPro How To Conduct A Waste Audit

What is a waste audit and why do one?

A waste audit is a formal, structured process used to quantify the amount and types of waste being generated by an organisation. Information from audits will help identify current waste practices and how they can be improved. Being waste-wise can mean:

• a more efficient and effective organisation
• reduced waste management costs
• better use of limited natural resources.

Isn’t picking through waste disgusting?

It’s not as bad as you think. Waste audits are carefully planned and the safety of people conducting the audit is paramount. Sorting is done in ventilated areas and is carefully controlled. Sorters undertake safety training and use protective equipment such as tongs, gloves, masks and overalls. Waste is never handled with bare hands.

Types of waste audit

Audits can be done on any type of waste e.g. paper and office waste, municipal waste, commercial and industrial waste, construction and demolition waste etc. There are a number of different ways to conduct a waste audit, such as visual waste audits, waste characterisation, desktop audits and others. The type of audit you use depends on the type of waste, where it is and what you want to get out of the audit.

How do you do an audit?

Organizations are encouraged to contact the EPA for more information on waste auditing. Audits can be done either in-house (using agency staff), contracted out or a combination of both. Before launching into an audit a number of issues need to be considered:

What are the objectives of the audit?

The audit’s objectives will largely determine the waste types and physical locations to be audited. Some examples of audit objectives could be:

• to determine composition and quantities of waste being generated
• to measure effectiveness of existing waste management systems
• to identify opportunities for improving waste management systems and strategies
• to collect baseline data for measuring the effectiveness of waste minimisation strategies.

Do you have management approval and support?

Management support is essential for ensuring the smooth completion of the audit, and means that any findings or recommendations are more likely to be considered and implemented. You will need to justify the time and resources needed to do the audit.

Do you have people to help?

Unless you have a tiny office you will need others to help sort the waste. Some estimates of how long it takes to do a waste audit are provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Time and resource estimate for different organisations
Type of office/ building	Number of staff	Number of days waste is collected	Number of trained sorters	Time to do sorting
Small regional office, single story	<20	5	2	1 – 5 hours
Medium sized agency with three stories	<100	5	6-8	1 – 2 days
Large agency, multi-story building	450 – 500	5	2-5	3 – 5 days

You may need to train others to audit their respective offices. Alternatively, temporary staff or professional auditing contractors can be used.

• Have all safety issues been considered?

Training, safety equipment and tetanus shots must be organised to ensure sorters are safe from potential hazards associated with handling waste. You will need to involve the agency’s occupational health and safety officer(s). The EPA can provide more information on safety issues.

• Are policies in place to protect confidentiality?

The confidentiality and privacy of documents or personal information found in the waste stream must be assured. No documents can be read or removed from the sorting area. If waste is to be transported to another location to be sorted then it must be stored and disposed of securely.

• Has the date of the audit been kept secret?

Staff must not know when the audit is happening, otherwise they may change their waste behaviours and audit results will not represent normal waste practices.

• Who is going to report results?

Analysing the data is also simple. There are computer programs available from the EPA to do most of this for you.Addressing these issues will help the audit to run smoothly, and will protect the safety of staff and ensure that results provide an acccurate picture of reality. A robust, well run audit will enable management to make positive recommendations that will reduce the amount of waste generated by your agency.Steps toPlease visit our website at www.saypro.online Email: info@saypro.online Email: info@saypro.online Call: + 27 11 071 1903 WhatsApp: + 27 84 313 7407. Comment below for any questions and feedback. For SayPro Courses, SayPro Jobs, SayPro Community Development, SayPro Products, SayPro Services, SayPro Consulting, and SayPro Advisory visit our website to www.saypro.online