Why a Zero Waste Audit is one of the Most Impactful Earth Day Actions Your Business Can Take

Earth Day usually brings a wave of corporate sustainability initiatives. From park cleanups and reusable tote giveaways to recycling drives, these employee engagement events are great for building morale and raising awareness. But, to honor Earth Day with a truly lasting commitment to sustainability, your business must look beyond the event calendar and dive into operations. 

A genuine Earth Day pledge should include data, strategy and verifiable results that continue long after April 22nd. A Zero Waste audit, or a comprehensive waste audit, delivers all that. It is one of the most impactful actions your business can take to mark Earth Day. It is the difference between showing up for a one-day event and committing for the long-term.

Moving from Aspiration to Action on Earth Day and Beyond

Waste is an expense every business incurs and must manage successfully, especially in the face of rising disposal costs. 

A waste audit is the crucial first step of every effective waste management strategy, helping to transform your waste program from an unavoidable cost center into a source of efficiency. Without a commercial waste audit, any sustainability initiative is merely based on guesses. 

A waste audit:

• Provides the essential data for establishing a verifiable baseline for benchmarking and setting goals, taking your program from aspiration to action.
• Enables a roadmap for industry leadership and superior performance in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting
• Supports zero waste goals and credentials such as TRUE Zero Waste or LEED certification that move businesses toward circularity. 

Waste audits are so essential that the U.S. General Services Administration, one of the largest landlords in the country, requires regular waste audits across its portfolio, and mandates like New York’s Executive Order 22 (EO 22) are pushing more public institutions to develop waste diversion plans that include regular waste audits.

The Hidden Opportunity: 62% of Commercial Trash is not Trash  

The power of a waste audit is in uncovering opportunities your business is probably missing.

In the largest commercial waste characterization study to date, analyzing over 170,000 pounds of waste from 100+ commercial waste audits globally, Great Forest found that a staggering 62% of commercial “trash” is actually not trash at all, but is made up of materials that could be diverted from the landfill. In other words, most businesses are paying more than they need to for waste disposal.

A customized Zero Waste audit for your business will reveal what’s in your trash and other waste streams, and the real size of your opportunity.

The Hidden ROI of Zero Waste Audits

A comprehensive Zero Waste audit is an investment with a clear, measurable Return on Investment (ROI). By committing to this action to mark Earth Day, you unlock immediate financial and operational benefits. A professional waste audit can reveal hundreds of thousands of dollars in hidden savings by uncovering: 

• Over-servicing: Waste audit data often show that most businesses are paying to haul air. Rightsizing service levels and bins can save thousands each month by reducing pickups and aligning service levels with actual waste generation.
• Sources of contamination: A waste audit can pinpoint the top sources of contamination, allowing for targeted training and better signage to drastically reduce penalties associated with non-recyclables spoiling clean loads.
• Untapped value: By identifying high-volume divertible materials, an audit enables your business to negotiate better rates with recyclers or divert materials for sale, turning waste into revenue.

In addition, the verifiable data gathered during a Zero Waste audit directly supports a company’s pursuit of major sustainability credentials like TRUE Zero Waste or LEED. Waste diversion rates are also a critical measure of performance in ESG reporting, which investors, regulators and consumers are increasingly scrutinizing to gauge risk.

Engaging Stakeholders for Lasting Change

Your business can take advantage of the Earth Day focus to engage all your stakeholders in a small part of your Zero Waste audit. 

Challenge your employees to conduct their own mini waste audit. For instance, a company-wide “5-Minute Audit Challenge” can prompt employees to look at what they recently placed into their deskside or office bins. This exercise helps them to determine: 

• Is their trash bin filled with items that should be recycled, such as clean paper or empty plastic beverage bottles?
• Is their recycling bin contaminated with non recyclable materials such as used tissue, plastic bags or non-recyclable coffee cups?

By empowering every employee to fix common errors, the mini waste audit challenge can boost your office’s recycling and turn a one-day event into a permanent cultural shift. When stakeholders understand where contamination originates and how proper sorting can reduce waste, they become active stakeholders in the journey to zero waste. 

Commit to an Annual Earth Day Zero Waste Audit

To reduce waste, uncover cost savings, and maintain a commitment to zero waste, every business should conduct a Zero Waste audit at least once a year. 

Your business can pledge to conduct your yearly Zero Waste audit to mark Earth Day every year. Making it an annual tradition is what will maintain your corporate cultural shift and move your business towards circularity and zero waste.

Work With the Industry Leader in Waste Audits

Need help? As waste management pioneers, Great Forest established the comprehensive waste audit process that has become industry standard. Our team has collectively managed and conducted thousands of waste audits, not only in corporate offices and buildings, but also in schools, universities, VA hospitals, factories, stores, and even in NYC’s Penn Station. Great Forest conducts 100+ waste audits a year. Globally, we have conducted waste audits in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Germany and more. Contact us to learn more.

Photo: Charu Chaturvedi, Unsplash

Learn More

How to Plan and Conduct a Commercial Waste Audit: A Step-by-Step Guide