5 Tips on Conducting a Waste Audit
Organizations that wish to conduct effective waste audits can benefit from these tips:

Build a team – It is important to build a collaborative team comprised of staff from key areas of your organization – management, procurement, facilities, building management, and waste management – who can show commitment to the waste audit process.

Don’t announce the audit date – Plan ahead and decide on a date but the team should commit to keep audit date a secret. The auditing team can observe the real waste production of the organization if the audit is unknown to people who may change their behaviour if they know that a waste audit is going to happen.

Prepare equipment – Prepare these before the waste audit: personal protective equipment (PPE), labels, permanent markers, weighing scale, clear garbage bags, large plastic sheets, containers, tongs, first-aid kit, and your auditing tools to document findings.

Prepare to sort waste – Make sure that there’s a proper venue where the sorting of waste can be done on a large plastic sheet and that the sorted items can stay in place and not be blown away. The team will be physically sorting through waste so they all should be wearing the right PPE to protect from sharp objects and possible exposure to harmful substances.

Review audits – Review the collected audit reports to help determine the organization’s waste stream, find recycling opportunities, and address issues that can help improve waste management.