What is the purpose of waste elimination?

When it comes to waste, most of us know the basics of separating our recyclables from general waste and putting out the correct bin on bin day. However, less of us stop to think about where our waste is going and the impact of waste on the environment.

Índice Show

Types of Waste
Continuous Improvement
Identifying Value
Similar Questions
Additional Resources
A Structured Way to Eliminate Wastes
Starting to Reduce Wastes
Get Started!

Recycling is probably the easiest way to feel like you are being environmentally-conscious about waste management, and it is certainly beneficial, but did you know that reducing waste is equally as important in creating a sustainable future for generations to come?

Australia is currently facing a potential waste crisis as we continue to run out of landfills yet continue to send more than 6.2 million tonnes of organic waste to landfills each year. So while recycling should definitely be encouraged, we should also look to other options like reusing and reducing the amount of waste to begin with.

Reducing waste can be as simple as making the choice to use a keep-cup for your morning coffee and choosing to avoid purchasing bottled water. It may not seem like a huge move towards better waste management, but if everyone became more aware of how much waste they are producing, collectively we may begin to have a positive impact on our planet and its future.

Financial and Social Impact
There are many reasons why recycling and reducing waste is important. While environmental reasons are often talked about the most, reducing waste can also have a positive effect on your finances as well as a positive social impact by creating more jobs for people in industries developed to recycle goods. By purchasing only what you really need or reusing items, you can also save money through proper waste awareness.

Conserving Landfill Space
One of the bigger reasons to reduce waste is to conserve space in our landfills and reduce the need to build more landfills which take up valuable space and are a source of air and water pollution.

Conserving Resources
By reducing our waste, we are also conserving our resources. Resources like aluminium, petroleum and trees are all used to make new materials such as cans, plastic bags and paper packaging.

Saving Energy
Less energy is used to recycle materials opposed to creating new materials. The manufacturing of consumer goods is a process that consumes a lot of energy, so by limiting the amount of new resources required, a large amount of energy can be saved.

A safer future
The process of mining, refining and manufacturing is responsible for emitting dangerous greenhouse gas emissions which is damaging to the environment. By recycling, reusing and reducing the amount of waste we have, we are helping to build a more sustainable future for our children and grandchildren. We only have a limited amount of natural resources on this planet and a limited capacity to process waste, so it’s important to do our part each day toward a better future.

For more information on waste management solutions for government, business and households, contact Solo Resource Recovery today to see how we can help manage your waste.

Workers identifying and removing waste from the production line.

A Structured Way to Eliminate Wastes

Creating a structure is more work than just talking about eliminating waste and expecting people to “do it”. This structure needs to allow people to identify and report wastes that they find within their day to day tasks. Then to support them with the resources to go about reducing and eliminating the wastes. By creating a structured process and linking this to the daily routine can help to develop a repeatable process that builds upon itself towards a Waste Reduction Culture.

To move towards a waste reduction culture, it is difficult to get employees to offer up ideas or suggestions to improve their performance by removing wastes from a set process or their own work tasks. Many companies had tried to implement a “suggestion box” with varying levels of success but these tend to not be effective or are short-lived in providing beneficial returns.

The problem with the suggestion box approach is that the suggestions are usually aimed at “somebody else” in the company to fix. When one of the ideas is not implemented, or there is a lack of feedback about its status, most employees tend to stop suggesting improvement ideas. Ownership in the process is missing and it is difficult to develop any structure from these random suggestions.

A waste reduction culture starts with giving all employees the skills to contribute at their level. There is a place for the bigger picture projects that may be recommended by internal specialists or consultants however these are typically more sophisticated and need analysis and larger amounts of time to implement, such as in new processes or new machinery.

Waste can be seen and it can also hide in plain sight. Learn to identify wastes and remove them from your processes.

Starting to Reduce Wastes

Start by providing practical skills and know-how to all employees, so that every employee can develop their own suggestions which can be easily and rapidly be implemented. These teachings are a knowledge bank of waste identification, using The 8 Wastes (or the 7 Wastes, depending on which “Lean School” you went to) and the practical skills to be able to observe work that develops improvement ideas.

With these two teachings, the ability to identify an improvement becomes easier. This is then followed by the opportunity to implement a possible solution. Small amounts of time are needed to allow individuals and teams to set a regular time for offering, discussing, and most importantly, implementing and trialing ideas.

By having time to shared ideas and to work at implementing them, it becomes a critical part of developing ownership. Often the first improvement itself is less important than the improvements that might spin out from implementing an idea. This is how Waste Reduction starts and repeating it many times over will create a new culture of waste reduction.

The time may be a little as five minutes a day and be included as part of the Daily Team Meeting. Basic problem-solving tools can be used to assist our teams to work through ideas, including a flip chart or whiteboard, Before and After pictures, Waste walk sheets, and Observation sheets.

Get Started!

Having a structured approach to waste elimination will start the ball rolling, where many small suggestions are being rapidly implemented and achievements are being gained. These all add up to contributing towards improved performance and a culture of waste elimination as the norm.