A waste audit checklist is a simple form your organization can use to assess waste management practices. Whether your goal is to boost efficiency or sustainability, using the right tools can make your job in waste management exponentially easier. 

Let’s take a look at how you can own your waste management program like a boss (no pun intended) and help drive environmental protection, sustainability, and operational efficiency simultaneously in your organization. I’ll share some of my experience and some tips to help you integrate a simple yet powerful waste management audit program into your enterprise.

Understanding the Importance of Waste Management Audits

What is a Waste Audit?

All businesses and organizations have the responsibility to adhere to waste management regulations in their municipality. A waste audit is a process whereby said businesses and organizations review their waste management standard operating procedures and processes to ensure compliance with organizational initiatives. Furthermore, a waste audit is essential for not only regulatory compliance but also for operational efficiency.

Benefits of Conducting a Waste Audit

Here’s how conducting a waste management audit in your organization is of benefit:

Streamlining Operations

Waste audits help identify inefficiencies. In doing so, they help us make decisions to improve waste management practices. One thing I used to do when managing field service teams was to ensure that I had buy-in from my team members to adhere to company waste management policies. By engaging employees in waste reduction efforts, my efforts helped to boost personal and organizational accountability, resulting in a drastic reduction of issues caused by inappropriate waste management practices.

The Takeaway: Actively training team members and inspiring them to adhere to best practices for waste management is crucial to the success of your program or initiative.

Reducing Costs

With a robust program pre-scheduled for your facilities, you can uncover potential savings by identifying waste that can be diverted or resold. Furthermore, waste audits can lead to the renegotiation of waste-hauling contracts. Your organization can reduce waste and thus reduce costs, as I found during my tenure in management.

The Takeaway: A good waste management audit checklist can help you reduce waste costs and inefficiencies in your organization.

Supporting Sustainability and Compliance Goals

Waste audits are essential in achieving sustainability certifications like LEED and Zero Waste. They are also critical for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through better waste management initiatives. Suppose your organization wants to boast of a limited carbon footprint. In that case, you will undoubtedly need a robust waste management audit checklist like the one I created for the 1st Reporting application.

The Takeaway: Sustainability and compliance initiatives are much easier with a waste management audit checklist at your disposal (no pun intended).

Critical Components of a Waste Management Audit Checklist

There are five critical elements to a waste management audit checklist:

1. Pre-Audit Plan
2. Waste Identification
3. Waste Classification
4. Safety
5. Measurement Documentation

Let’s take a brief yet more comprehensive look at each below.

Pre-Audit Planning

The pre-planning stage of any audit is the most essential stage of the process because it lays the foundation for which you will build your audit in theory and practice. It would be best to include the following in your preparations:

• Conduct a regulation review to ensure local compliance.
• Assemble a team from different departments.
• Establish objectives and determine logistics for the audit process.

Identification of Waste Sources

The waste audit checklist should next include identifying waste sources, documenting each source, and describing the waste created. Identifying waste sources helps streamline the management process. It allows you to consider collection processes that work for your organization’s internal regulations.

Classification of Waste Types

Your waste management audit checklist should next classify the waste types to apply regulatory requirements again. These may include various types of waste, including hazardous, non-hazardous, recyclable, or organic. Appropriate classification of waste types is necessary to aid in safe handling and disposal management.

Safety Considerations and Equipment Preparation

The waste audit checklist should include any personal protective equipment as a reminder to the waste auditor of their duties and responsibility to stay safe while performing the audit. Furthermore, for daily operations, the checklist should include points to ensure the staff are correctly using PPE and tools for sorting waste.

Measurement and Documentation

Measuring and documenting waste is critical for any organization looking to manage its waste programs effectively. Furthermore, it’s crucial to monitor waste reduction initiatives. Therefore, we need to include the appropriate measurements on the waste audit checklist.

Crucial Tip: To perform a waste audit effectively, you can use a smartphone and the 1st Reporting app with the waste management audit checklist found in the form template library in the app. The app enables your team to create mobile inspection forms that your team can fill out during their audit using their smartphone or tablet.

Utilizing Technology to Enhance Waste Management Audits

The Role of the 1st Reporting App

I mentioned the use of the 1st Reporting app in the tip above at the end of the last section. However, to get the complete picture, it would be fair to include a few key features that make this application indispensable to waste management processes.

1st Reporting is an application that utilizes secure (ISO-Certified) cloud storage and mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, or laptops to create custom forms, complete them in the field, and manage the post-form submission process. The application includes a powerful custom notification system to automate, simplify, and streamline field-to-office communications and collaboration. These and more powerful features like GPS-empowered forms, dynamic form linking workflows, and public reporting make the 1st Reporting application the undeniable leader in field reporting management.

Benefits of Digital Reporting Tools

Using digital reporting practices and tools like the 1st Reporting app is advantageous for a number of reasons. These include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Typed reports mean no more handwriting concerns for your field reports.
• No paper copy to get lost or damaged with a digital reporting solution.
• Customization and instant form dispersal means no time lost trying to update your team with a revised form.
• Real-time submission and form review in-office means you don’t wait for field personnel to deliver a physical copy of a report. Reports submitted are instantly accessible to team members with the appropriate clearance (managed by user role in the 1st Reporting app)
• Exponentially reduced response time due to custom instant notifications like the system found in the 1st Reporting app. Your ability to respond to waste management issues is greatly improved with the use of digital reporting tools.

Best Practices for Conducting a Waste Management Audit

Here are three of the best practice tips from my experience to help you manage your waste management audit process:

Preparation and Planning

Defining objectives and scope for the audit is of utmost importance. As I mentioned earlier, the pre-planning and preparations for your audit are crucial to ensuring the audit gets you the information you need to meet audit objectives.

Execution of the Audit

A step-by-step approach to conducting the audit using a checklist is crucial for successful execution. By creating a standard operating procedure, you will create a learnable and effective process for your team members who are completing the audit. In doing so, you create uniform benchmarks in your waste management systems to analyze over time for best improvement implementation.

Resource: How To Write A Standard Operating Procedure

Analysis and Reporting

Once your team completes the audit, it is time to start your analysis. However, keep in mind that for the best results, you will need to complete a few audits so you can start identifying trends. I recommend using the KPI reports found in the 1st Reporting app. Suppose you want to dive deeper into trend analysis. In that case, 1st Reporting works well with tools like Microsoft Power BI, where you can use your data to create visualizations that can help deliver insights to you and your waste management team.

Wrap-Up: Achieve Sustainability and Efficiency Goals through Effective Waste Management

Now that you understand how to implement a waste management audit checklist, it’s time to take action. By streamlining your waste management practices, reducing costs, and supporting sustainability goals, you’re benefiting your organization and contributing to a healthier planet. A well-implemented waste audit can lead to significant operational improvements and long-term savings.

Don’t forget that technology, like the 1st Reporting app, can drastically improve the audit process. From real-time reporting to instant notifications, these tools provide the speed, accuracy, and efficiency that your business needs to stay ahead.

It’s all about staying proactive. Keep refining your waste management strategies, engage your team in the process, and watch your efficiency soar while your environmental impact diminishes. With the right tools and approach, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a leader in both sustainability and operational excellence.

1st Reporting is available for all devices. Sign up today or download and install 1st Reporting from Google Play or The Apple App Store.