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Waste is a resource which can lead to greater business productivity if managed correctly.

Advantages of waste reduction in your business

Shifting from methods of waste disposal to processes of waste reduction can bring a range of key benefits:

• You can save money through more efficient use of raw materials, packaging and technology.
• It allows you to cut your waste disposal costs.
• Compliance with environmental legislation becomes cheaper and more straightforward.
• You can improve your reputation among customers, suppliers, potential employees and insurers, who may want to be sure that you take your environmental responsibilities seriously. You may also boost the morale of existing staff.

How much can my business save by reducing waste?

The amount of money you can save by managing waste depends on the nature of your work. For example, a manufacturer will probably be able to save more than an office-based business by reducing the amount of raw materials and waste water in production processes.

Similar benefits are available to your business by reducing your energy use.

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Get a free sustainability report

All Northern Ireland businesses with an annual energy and resource spend of more than 拢30k can get a free assessment of their environmental performance across areas such as raw materials, energy, carbon, packaging, biodiversity and waste - .

Cutting the amount of waste your business produces isn't just good for the environment - it can also save your business money. A good waste minimisation programme looks at your whole business and will identify where to reduce waste. Getting a strategic overview of your business and its waste will help you to make the most effective choices.

Conduct a waste management audit

Take a walk around your premises, noting down the quantities and direct costs of any wastes that you can see. If you can't work these out easily, make simple estimates to provide an approximate idea of the situation. Identify the major sources such as packaging waste, waste lubricants and wastewater.

Examine your processes and business activities more formally by all other means, from talking to employees to examining your business' documentation.

For example, are you duplicating your invoice and reminder processes - sending out product information both in hard-copy and by email - or are your packaging and paperwork requirements over-specified? Could raw-material wastage be cut by redesigning your products?

When considering the costs of waste don't just look at raw materials wasted. You also need to consider other costs such as decreased efficiency of production processes and additional waste-disposal costs.

For more detailed information see how to carry out an environmental review of your business.

Create a waste management action plan

A waste management action plan sets out your priorities for tackling waste in your business.

Focus on some relatively cheap and easy waste-reduction measures to begin with. Even a service-based business could look at ways of recycling more paper. For example:

• Look at the information you collected for your waste audit.
• Identify the areas where there are large quantities of waste and the highest net costs, eg in the shape of waste disposal costs, energy consumption, packaging waste and raw material wastage.
• Talk to staff involved in the activities that produce this waste. They may be able to suggest ways to reduce waste - perhaps by replacing or repairing machinery or changing working practices. Or they might tell you that a process is inefficient because they aren't adequately trained to operate key equipment.

For more information see our introduction to waste management.

Getting the involvement of employees or raising awareness through training initiatives will improve the results of your waste-reduction strategy.

Turning waste management ideas into action

You can now start developing ideas to prevent waste from being generated. Brainstorming sessions can be a good way of doing this. If possible, work out the savings you stand to gain from the best ideas. Weigh these up against the potential costs and timescales of implementing the necessary changes.

Once you have chosen a few key ideas to put into action, set out what the key actions are and the deadlines for achieving them.

You'll need to select someone to co-ordinate your waste-reduction programme. To ensure they have the necessary authority they should be a senior member of staff, or someone with access to management.

For more information see how to improve your environmental performance.

Waste arising in production processes can have a significant effect on profitability. The challenge is to reduce waste from production without undermining the effectiveness of the process.

Some typical problems include the excessive consumption of energy or raw materials, losses in the production process itself, rejection at the inspection stage, and failure when the customer is using the end product.

To know where waste is arising, you need to have a detailed understanding of the process. You might get a production manager to produce a flowchart of the operation.

You can then discuss the process with other relevant employees and get their feedback on where waste is occurring, and what you could do to reduce it.

This broad-brush approach helps you focus on the most important areas, with more detailed analysis following later if necessary.

Ways to make your business processes more efficient

Common things you might do to improve the efficiency of production processes and reduce waste include:

• reusing rinsewater in cooling systems
• regularly checking that equipment is correctly calibrated
• reducing unnecessary stoppages in a production line
• upgrading or replacing old equipment
• minimising spills or leaks
• using sealed systems

Prevention is better than cure, of course. Constant monitoring of your production processes and preventive maintenance can ensure waste is avoided before it occurs.

You could employ an efficient business methodology such as Lean and Six Sigma. Energy costs can also be cut by improving your business processes.

If you're a manufacturer, using raw materials more efficiently can bring significant cost savings and environmental benefits. To do this, you should look at all aspects of your production process, including transportation and warehousing.

Try to ensure you don't over-order materials for one-off or bespoke jobs. Check how you handle and store raw materials. Even failing to empty all bags and containers properly could lead to significant amounts of waste.

Look carefully at the waste you're disposing of. Could any of it be reprocessed and put back into the production process? Could it be reused for another purpose?

Reducing waste through design

Another important area to consider is product design. Are there ways of designing your product so that it uses fewer raw materials? Try to use raw materials that are easier to recycle.

One practical way of approaching product design is to dismantle your product and then consider how to redesign it to make it less harmful to the environment.

Issues such as raw material use, waste production, energy consumption and emissions to the atmosphere should be considered at each stage of the product lifecycle.

Your business may be able to treat waste biologically to produce a nutrient-rich material or biogas. If you produce biodegradable waste you can send it for recycling into compost.

You can treat biodegradable waste on an industrial scale by either composting or anaerobic digestion. Composting is more suitable for fibrous materials. Anaerobic digestion is more suitable for wet wastes and sludges that degrade easily.

If you treat food waste containing meat and fish, or other animal by-products, you must comply with strict rules.

Composting biodegradable waste

If your business produces biodegradable waste such as food, garden waste, paper and cardboard, you can send these for recycling into compost.

You must ensure that any composting business you give your waste to has the permits it needs to handle food and other biodegradable waste and to produce compost.

The cleaner the waste you send for composting, the higher the quality of compost and the greater the benefit for the environment. High-quality compost is used for gardening and farming. Low-quality compost is used for top soil to cover landfill sites.

Composting facilities on or close to farms provide farms with a less expensive fertiliser and cheaper power. Some farms and food firms are licensed to operate composting facilities and can earn extra income from this business - see producing and selling compost.

Anaerobic digestion of waste

Anaerobic digestion can be used to treat food and similar wet organic wastes. It takes place in a closed container, excluding oxygen. It is clean and relatively odour-free. It produces a nutrient-rich solid material called digestate and biogas containing methane and CO2.

The biogas may need further processing before it can be burnt to produce electricity. Electricity that you produce can be used to power the plant or exported to the grid. Alternatively, it can be used as a transport fuel.

Spreading waste on land

You may also be able to reuse your waste, such as paper or sewage sludge, by spreading it on land. However, before you do this, you must check what restrictions apply and whether you need a waste management licence or registered exemption, or permission from the Divisional Veterinary Office.

You may be able to use your waste to recover energy or produce biofuel.

Recovering energy from waste

You can treat waste using thermal and non-thermal technology to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and produce heat, gas or electricity.

Energy-from-waste processes may produce waste by-products that need to be disposed of at landfill, such as ash or digestate.

The main technologies for producing energy-from-waste are:

• anaerobic digestion
• gasification
• pyrolysis
• incineration

Anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic digestion can produce energy on a small scale. It uses bacteria to break down organic matter without oxygen in specially made digesters - see treating and composting biodegradable waste.

Gasification

Gasification involves heating organic waste with a reduced amount of oxygen and/or steam. It produces a synthetic gas, known as syngas, which can be burned independently in a boiler, engine or gas turbine to produce electricity.

Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis is carried out in the total absence of oxygen. It also produces an energy-rich gas and solid residue. These can then be burned separately to produce electricity. In some pyrolysis processes, the gases are condensed into a liquid fuel.

Incinerating your waste

Incineration involves burning organic material such as waste to produce electricity and heat. Conventional waste incineration plants use the heat produced to generate electricity using a steam turbine. In some cases it is also possible to use the left-over heat. The government is encouraging the development of such combined heat and power (CHP) plants which may be able to provide your business with a source of heat, where the necessary transmission infrastructure exists or can be installed at reasonable cost.

Other ways of recovering energy from waste include recovering methane and mechanical or biological treatment.

Some landfill sites recover methane which is produced naturally when biological waste breaks down in the absence of oxygen. It can be used to generate energy. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and contributes towards climate change if it is not captured.

Mechanical and biological treatment composting units can also produce solid recovered fuel. There are concerns over the toxicity of burning solid recovered fuel, which the government is trying to address.

Producing biodiesel

You may be able to use waste to produce biofuel as an alternative to non-renewable fuels used for transport.

Reducing the amount of waste your business has to handle is the most cost-effective and environmentally-friendly method of dealing with waste.

Six ways to reduce business waste

Here are some key tips to help your business reduce waste:

1. Look for easy wins - seemingly trivial changes can produce significant savings, such as printing and photocopying double-sided, refilling printer cartridges, switching off lights and electrical equipment, and using rechargeable batteries - see office resource efficiency.
2. Procure carefully - buy only what you need, control stock and streamline processes across departments. Buy equipment in bulk to reduce packaging and consider the product's durability and lifespan - replacing equipment less often will reduce the waste you create - see how to make your business more sustainable.
3. Review your processes - ensure that equipment and materials are used efficiently and packaging is kept to a minimum - see process efficiency to cut waste.
4. Product design - keep the amount of materials you use in products to a minimum - see ecodesign for goods and services.
5. Packaging design and use - make sure you use as little packaging as possible to achieve an adequate level of protection for your products - see packaging and packaging waste management and how to design packaging to reduce environmental impact.
6. Use advice about resource efficiency from a range of organisations, such as , the  or see if you can access .

Adopting a strategic and systematic approach is the best way to achieve significant reductions in the amount of waste that your business produces - see waste reviews, policies and action plans.