Factories and plants produce a lot of waste every day. But not all of it has to end up in landfills. As companies find their waste generation increasing, more and more businesses are looking for clear ways to track, reduce, and reuse their waste. With the right industrial waste solution, companies can save money while following the law and doing their bit to protect the planet.
This article goes over easy strategies, useful technology, and smart steps to make waste management better for both your business and the environment.This article goes over easy strategies, useful technology, and smart steps to make waste management better for both your business and the environment.
Strategies for Minimizing Waste Generation
The best waste is the waste that never gets produced — that’s why a good plan starts working before waste even leaves the plant. That way, you don’t need to invest as much into finding and implementing safe waste disposal methods. Some ways to lower waste include changing designs, using fewer materials, and fixing small gaps in your process.
Cost Reduction through Waste Minimization
Sustainable manufacturing methods are great for cost savings while minimizing waste. For example, you can try:
- Using lighter or reusable packaging
- Making parts with fewer scraps or leftover pieces
- Using less energy in machines and tools
Mitigating Environmental Harm
With sustainable waste management, you’re limiting the harm your company causes to the air, soil, and water around your plant. Reusing metals, plastics, and solvents keeps them out of landfills and lowers the need for fresh resources. For example, the European Chemical Industry Council has implemented new chemical recycling routes like depolymerization and conversion to turn plastic waste into secondary raw materials.
One step towards making your waste management more green is to focus on producing less waste, and recycling and reusing more. Thinking of waste as a resource instead of trash makes a big difference.
Embracing the Circular Economy
The circular economy is a way to keep materials in use, rather than throwing them away, by finding ways to use more recyclable materials. This creates a more sustainable supply chain, turning used items into resources for new products.
Transforming Waste into Valuable Resources
Many leftover materials can be reused to save money, lowering your overall cost of acquiring raw materials. For example, you can reshape leftover plastics into packaging. You can also melt down scrap steel to reuse it as parts for new products. This is becoming a more common part of manufacturing industry waste solutions, with US producers recycling over 5.2 million tons of scrap steel just in 2023.
The Role of Technology in Waste Minimization
New technology can help you see how much waste you make and where it comes from. With tools like RFID tags, GPS, and tracking software, it’s easier to keep track of your waste streams so you can better address each one.
Automation in Waste Reduction
Robots and machines are better at sorting waste than people, minimizing mistakes that block recycling. Automated lines also produce fewer extra scraps.
Smart Production Techniques
Smart tools like digital models and sensors help reduce broken parts. By catching problems early, you can ensure that you waste fewer raw materials. For example, BMW has installed automated technology in its Leipzig factory to recover plastics, steel, and aluminum, enabling the plant to reuse over 70% of its materials in the production process.
Ensuring Regulatory Compliance
Every city and state imposes strict environmental regulations that your company needs to follow to operate. Your waste management solution has to consider these rules to avoid potential fines and legal trouble.
Understanding Legal Obligations
Your legal obligations often include ways to store, label, and move hazardous waste. Newer software can help you keep up to date on the waste management laws in your area to help maintain regulatory compliance.
Avoiding Legal Liabilities
Maintaining accurate records and following safe processes prevent mistakes. If you use software to track your waste generation, it also provides you with proof for audits and helps avoid penalties.
Building a Waste-Free Culture
Waste management isn’t just about your business, it’s about educating your workforce on what industrial waste is, along with sustainability issues and solutions they can help implement. A company that encourages green habits builds long-term success.
The Importance of Employee Engagement
Workers who care about waste create better results. Some ways you can incentivize them to take an active role in helping with your waste management are to:
- Encourage them to share their ideas on sustanable practices to adopt
- Reward their efforts by crediting them if their ideas help
- Make them part of the planning process
Training Programs and Best Practices
Run regular training programs on waste handling, recycling, and reusing to improve habits. It’s important to keep your industrial waste management rules easy to follow, so staff are more likely to comply.
Collaborating with Suppliers for Waste Reduction
Waste starts with the supply chain, not the factory. That’s why you need to work with suppliers to cut waste before it even arrives at your facilities.
Effective Supplier Partnerships
Logistics industry waste solutions start with finding partners who understand your concerns on waste management. They can send materials in reusable packages and may also offer higher-quality raw goods, which leads to less waste in production.
Joint Waste Minimization Initiatives
You can work with suppliers on projects like closed-loop recycling or shared energy-saving goals. These partnerships improve trust while reducing waste from both the supply and the manufacturing sides.
Measuring Success with Metrics and Reporting
To know if a plan works, you need to measure it. That way, if something is underperforming, you can make changes to better meet your goals.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Waste Management
KPIs should directly relate to your goals with waste management. Some typical KPIs include:
- Waste made per unit of production
- Share of waste reused or recycled
- Money saved from waste reduction
- Number of safety or law issues avoided
Transparent Reporting Practices
Companies often publish how much waste they cut, recycle, and save to show their promise to go green. This is a great way to build trust with customers and regulators.
Achieving Operational Efficiency and Environmental Stewardship
A modern industrial waste solution takes a holistic view of your production cycle, so you can minimize waste at every step. Working with your suppliers and employees to mitigate waste both strengthens the supply chain and reduces your environmental impact.
Learn more about how Surgere can help you improve your supply chain while minimizing your waste generation to save money. tracks and analyzes data is also improving supply chain resilience. AI and other technology helps companies anticipate disruptions from weather, economic shifts, and other unexpected events. These companies can create contingency plans to reduce impact to their customers.
Surgere offers warehouse management solutions that improve visibility into the supply chain and help you scale your business. Contact us today to learn more.
