Reduce

It is always better to prevent waste from being produced in the first place than to try and deal with it afterwards, especially when it costs your business to dispose of it.

Reducing your waste is good in many other ways - it saves on natural resources, it reduces the amount of energy used, it cuts down on transport costs, the need for landfill is reduced and it helps to reduce the risk of climate change.

Here are some general tips on how to reduce your businesses waste;

• buy only what you need, think of stock control and how to streamline processes across departments
• look at your purchasing policy, for example, could you buy recycled or recycled content paper instead of virgin paper?
• purchase products without excessive packaging whenever possible
• consider buying photocopiers and printers with double sided printing capabilities
• when buying new equipment, consider durability, equipment that costs more initially could save you money in the long run in terms of replacement and disposal
• ask staff and colleagues to 'think before they throw'. Someone else may be able to use old or used items
• share resources in the office where possible, such as staplers and hole punches
• print out documents only when you have to and, if you do, print on both sides of the paper
• add a message to the bottom of all your emails which says "Don't print this email out unless absolutely necessary" to encourage colleagues and customers to think before they print
• if you have a water fountain or cooler, bring in your own glass or bottle and keep refilling this rather than using disposable plastic cups, which can be hard to recycle
• use notice boards or email rather than sending paper memos to other staff
  cancel unnecessary magazine subscriptions
• use solar powered items such as calculators, as this helps to reduce battery waste.