Everything you need to know about plastic waste management systems, including trash disposal options, waste reduction tools, waste auditing, and other resources to help your company comply with environmental requirements.
What is a Waste Management System, and how does it work?
A waste management system is an organization’s approach for disposing of, reducing, reusing, and preventing trash. Recycling, composting, incineration, landfills, bioremediation, waste to energy, and waste minimization are all options for waste disposal.
Waste management refers to the procedures used to manage waste across its full life cycle, from generation to disposal or recovery.
Methods of Waste Disposal
There are a variety of waste management strategies and methods to choose from. These tactics can be mixed and matched to create a waste management strategy that works for a company. Modern waste management systems are designed to be long-term. Other waste management options include trash reduction, reuse, and recycling.
Recycling, also known as physical reprocessing, is a great way to get rid of inorganic trash including plastic, glass, and metals. Composting, which turns organic waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer, is a superior waste disposal option than recycling organic waste like paper and food.
The biological recycling of animal dung and human excreta into methane-rich biogas is known as anaerobic digestion. To convert hazardous waste into syngas, plasma gasification uses a plasma-filled vessel operating at high temperatures and low oxygen levels. Bioremediation, or the treatment of contaminants, poisons, and pollutants using microorganisms, is another option for hazardous waste disposal.
Best Practices and Approaches
An audit of a company’s waste management system is called a waste audit. It examines how trash moves from generation to disposal. Records examination, facility walk-throughs, and garbage sorting are all common methods for conducting waste audits.
- The initial strategy – Examining garbage hauling and disposal records, as well as contracts with recycling businesses, is part of the process.
- The second strategy is to – requires a team of internal auditors to observe and question employees to detect waste-generating activities.
- a third strategy – is the physical gathering, sorting, and weighing of a sample of a company’s garbage. A day’s worth of rubbish or a collection of waste from each department can be used as a sample.
When performing a trash audit, best practices include not disclosing the audit date to the entire organization, preparing personal protective equipment and a sorting location ahead of time, and committing to acting on the waste audit results. This can be accomplished by developing corrective action plans for each and every probable outcome.
If the company, for example, received a low score in one area, the procedures below should be taken. It is critical for the organization to specify the criteria before doing the waste audit in order for this to work. Another suggestion is to employ digital waste audit checklists for easier recording and data analysis.
Checklists for Waste Audits
Before, during, and after a waste audit, a digital waste audit checklist is used. It usually includes planning, waste sorting, and next steps, as well as descriptions of the organization’s waste stream. Digital waste audit checklists are not only handier, but they are also better for the environment than paper checklists.
Check to see if your company has a solid waste auditing system in place. Assess the trash audit team’s readiness, evaluate sorting equipment, and develop corrective action plans. Confirm that the objectives and forecasts have been listed. Make sure you have puncture-resistant nitrile gloves, a full Tyvek coverall, and plastic-covered tables.
To critically examine the organization’s waste management system, compare findings to past waste audit results and original forecasts. For more information, have a look at a sample report.
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