7 - Manage Commercial Business Waste

How To Effectively Manage Your Commercial Business Waste

In Commercial waste disposal service by David FahrionLeave a Comment

Is your organization burdened with managing the fast-accumulating waste you generate daily?

According to 2018 reports, the United States recycled up to 16.9 billion pounds of the waste it produced from production companies.

Management of production-related wastes in the United States by 2018, by type

What is the one thing that successful businesses do?

They are always looking for ways to cut costs and still improve their service delivery. If you are interested in how much your business makes and how much you could save by being more eco-friendly, you should be more proactive in building a sustainable business.

So, whether your commercial building is a hotel, warehouse, office park, mall, or restaurant, you are most likely generating a significant amount of waste.

Regional waste generation

What strategies are you putting in place to combat your commercial waste?

We will look into the many ways property managers or directors of operations can manage and reduce their residential and commercial wastes effectively.

Get ready to learn:

  • Commercial waste: What is it?
  • Why should you take up the responsibility of managing and reducing your commercial waste?
  • Benefits of addressing  waste in commercial buildings
  • How can property managers effectively manage and reduce their commercial building wastes?

Let’s dive in!

Commercial Waste: What Is It?

Most people get confused about what types of wastes can be categorized as commercial business waste.

What exactly is commercial business waste?

Any waste that a business produces on its premises is referred to as commercial waste. Some examples of such wastes include paper, retail packaging, food wrappers, cans, and cardboard.

Do you run an office, a trade site, a recreation center, a restaurant, an entertainment establishment, or a hotel?

Any waste produced by any of these places falls under commercial business waste. In some cases, they include wastes that result from agriculture, construction, industry, and even demolition.

If you are a property manager, you should be concerned about discarding your commercial waste in a manner that is acceptable by the waste agency in your area. For example, it is illegal in some countries to dispose of your commercial business waste in your home waste bins.

Why Should You Take Up the Responsibility of Managing and Reducing Your Commercial Waste?

Smart property managers are on the lookout for avenues to get optimum value and price.

Commercial waste is one such area.

Every business generates one form of waste or the other. The type of waste a business generates depends on the type of business you are running.

So, as a property manager, you need to know the level of responsibility that you have about waste disposal.

Why should you take up the responsibility of waste management and reduction in your business premises?

  • If your waste is not properly collected, sorted out, and disposed of, could end up in landfill sites or end up fly-tipped.
  • When you continually contribute to building up waste and recycling at landfill sites, you are contributing to air, water, and earth pollution. The environment will suffer from a combination of these.
  • Apart from the fact that it is illegal to dispose of your commercial wastes improperly, it also poses a lot of danger to the environment.
  • The wildlife also suffers from the physical environment being damaged, it doesn’t matter whether they stay on land or in the ocean.

It is quite clear that you have to properly and correctly dispose of your waste, and the best way to do so is by hiring an expert waste management company.

Benefits of Addressing  Waste in Commercial Buildings

Recently, organizations are becoming more conscious of the way they manage and reduce their wastes. Although some organizations are happy to just have a system of trash removal or disposal, the more proactive organizations are putting more effort into managing their wastes.

Perhaps if more people knew the benefits, they could enjoy by simply addressing the management of their business waste. We would have a more sustainable environment.

EPA has listed the three principles for hazardous materials as:

  • Reducing waste generation
  • Preventing human and environmental exposure to hazardous chemicals
  • Managing wastes and following environmentally sound methods to clean up chemical releases

According to recent studies, embracing these three principles can help to reduce the waste disposal of an organization by 50 to 90%.

Would you like to be among the business owners who would more proactively manage their commercial wastes?

If your answer is yes, then here are some  benefits you will enjoy:

  • Save more money
  • Enhance sustainability
  • Conserve natural resources
  • Reduce emissions of greenhouse gases
  • Easy sharing and reporting of information
  • Gain knowledge

How Can Property Managers Effectively Manage and Reduce Their Commercial Building Wastes?

As a property manager, you must investigate new opportunities to manage and reduce your commercial waste because office buildings and other commercial buildings generate a considerable amount of waste.

Examples of the more common commercial building wastes include paper products, electronic goods, litter, and packaged food.

Let’s look at some of the best ways you can manage and reduce your commercial waste.

      1. The Waste Hierarchy

One of the best ways you can manage and reduce your commercial waste according to government guidelines is by using the waste hierarchy:

The Waste Hierarchy

The waste hierarchy is a pyramid that prioritizes the best practices for the environment  and the most efficient use of resources. It covers five stages of waste management, arranged based on how they affect the environment. They are:

 

  • Avoid (prevention)
  • Prepare for reuse
  • Recycle
  • Waste to energy
  • Disposal

      Avoid (Source Reduction)

Not creating waste is, so far, the most cost-effective and eco-friendly method for managing waste. To do this, you may have to review the type of materials you use in running your business. 

After this review, you can choose less hazardous items, then adjust your design, and either incorporate fewer items in production or try using the items for a longer period. Sometimes, you may have to reuse as many items as possible.

Waste avoidance and prevention, also called source reduction, has to do with reducing waste right from the source. This is the most preferred strategy for the environment.

Source reduction is also vital in manufacturing. The more popular ones are:

  • Reducing the weight of your packaging
  • Reuse
  • Re-manufacturing

When you purchase products that contain these features, you will be supporting source reduction.

Here are some  things that source reduction can ensure:

  • Conserve energy
  • Save natural resource
  • Save money
  • Reduce toxic waste
  • Reduce pollution

How can your business reduce or prevent waste generation altogether?

  • Reduce food waste
  • Reduce packaging
  • Careful handling
  • Use fewer materials while manufacturing
  • Reduce surplus materials from other businesses
  • If you have unwanted items, sell, donate, or swap them
  • Repair and keep items instead of purchasing new ones
  • Lease or hire items
  • Reuse

     Reuse

As shown by the waste hierarchy, reuse is preferred. Some materials are unsuitable for re-use if they remain in their original form. In such cases, you may have to change or re-purpose them.

Sometimes, all you need to do while preparing materials for reuse is to clean them, repair them, or use them as spare parts.

     Recycle

When an item no longer looks useful, it may still contain materials that can be extracted and then used in the manufacture of new items. This helps to conserve natural resources by reducing the number of raw materials harvested from the Earth.

Recycling describes activities such as collecting items that are used, reused, or unused and are considered waste. Then sorting the recyclable items among them and processing them into raw materials. Afterward, you can re-manufacture the raw materials that have been recycled and make new products out of them.

Incineration vs. Recycling

When the re-manufactured products are ready, consumers will purchase them as a way of playing their part in the recycling link.

Another aspect of recycling is the composting of yard trimmings, food scraps, and lots of other organic materials.

Some  benefits you could enjoy from recycling include:

How Business Recycling can Benefit your Company

  • Saves energy;
  • Prevents the emission of many water pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHGs);
  • Creates jobs;
  • Reduces the need for combustors and landfills;
  • Supplies raw materials that are crucial to industry;
  • Conserves resources for the future generation;
  • Stimulates the development of technologies that support a greener environment;

     Waste to Energy

Waste to Energy (WTE) relates to energy recovery after disposal. The concept of energy recovery from waste means converting non-recyclable waste products into useable electricity, fuel, or heat through a wide range of processes, some of which are combustion, pyrolization, gasification, combustion, landfill gas (LFG), and anaerobic digestion.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover

So, what exactly does WTE mean?

When you convert waste materials that are non-recyclable into electricity and heat, it generates a source of energy that is renewable. This helps to reduce carbon emissions and the generation of methane from several landfills. To achieve this, it has to first offset the need of getting energy from fossil sources.

After recovering the energy, about 10% of the waste remains as ash and this is then sent to the landfill.

      Treatment & Disposal of Waste

Before disposal, it is important to treat your waste first. Waste treatment plays a major role in the reduction of waste volume and toxicity.

What kind of treatment can be done on waste?

Waste treatment can take the following forms:

  • Physical (such as shredding)
  • Chemical (such as incineration)
  • Biological (such as anaerobic digester)

If asked what the most common method of waste disposal in your environment is, what will be your response?

Landfills are by far the most common and most important part of a well-integrated system of waste management.

Want to know a fun fact?

Mount Rumpke, towering 1045 feet above sea level, which makes it the highest point in Ohio’s Hamilton County, is a mountain of trash known as the Rumpke Sanitary Landfill.

Modern landfills are well-engineered, designed, located, monitored, and operated to comply with the regulations of the state and the federal government of your place of residence. Landfills regulated primarily by the state and local governments can accept municipal solid waste.

S0, for these landfills to stay open, they must meet the stringent requirements for their design, operation, and closure.

You can collect methane, which is gotten from decomposing waste, then use it as fuel for generating electricity.

Also, after capping the landfill, the land can be utilized as a recreation site for activities such as picnicking, golfing, and skiing.

      2. Store Commercial Waste in a Safe Place

You are legally required to store your commercial waste securely. Use suitable containers to store these wastes with suitable covers to protect the waste from weather elements such as wind and rain.

Also, you have to label each container correctly to show the waste each contains clearly.

      3. Check for Hazardous Waste

You need to check your waste to know if it is hazardous. Hazardous wastes have to be disposed of differently and not like your regular commercial waste.

How do you know if your business produces hazardous waste?

Hazardous waste includes the following:

  • Acids and caustics
  • Batteries
  • Chemicals
  • Cleaning solutions
  • Contaminated soils
  • Corrosive items
  • Ignitable items
  • Lab pack materials
  • Oils
  • Plating solutions
  • Reactive materials
  • Sludges
  • Solvents
  • Toxic metals
  • Used solvents

Storing your hazardous waste separately will prevent them from contaminating each other or further contaminating other waste.

If you are not sure how to store and dispose of your hazardous waste materials, contact a reputable waste management company for guidance.

      4. Hire a Licensed Waste Management Company

If your business produces a lot of hazardous wastes, your best resort will be to get your waste handled professionally. A waste management company like Waste Control Inc. will make sure that your hazardous waste is decontaminated and properly disposed of.

How do you choose the best commercial waste removal company?

  • Vast experience: The waste removal company you hire needs to have experience in dealing with different types of commercial wastes. You need assurance that they can get the job done.

So, instead of hiring a newbie to handle your commercial waste, give Waste Control Inc a try. We’ve been around for over 100 years and must have, at some point, handled a waste situation that is similar to yours.

  • Licensed: The best commercial waste management company has to be licensed and authorized to manage commercial waste. It will be hard to get your commercial waste cleaned up if the company is not a licensed expert.
  • Has all the necessary equipment: It is necessary for the company you hire to be well equipped to handle the nature of your commercial waste. Also, be sure to check if their team members are fully equipped with the right protective clothing for the job.

Commercial waste removal can be quite tedious, so make sure you hire a company like Waste Control Inc, with their experienced, and physically fit crew.

  • Very reputable: Reputation is important when you are thinking of investing in a waste management company. The best waste management company will be quick to refer you to former clients and referrals from people they have served in the past.

Where Can You Find The Best Waste Management Company To Handle Your Commercial Building Waste?

Choosing the best waste management company is not as challenging these days because most of them have an online presence. When you find the one closest to you, ensure they are experienced, licensed, well-equipped, and reputable.

Why not give Waste Control Inc a call? Tell us about your business and let us help you handle your commercial building waste efficiently.