BIARO recommends - Developing a waste management policy/plan
A waste management policy / waste management plan is a guiding document that tells the business how to manage its waste. It is usually based on the company's Environmental Policy.
What is considered waste is defined in the Environmental Code and the Waste Ordinance.
What should a waste management policy contain?
The policy should focus on the working systems that:
- Enables the business and its employees to ensure that all waste is disposed of properly without endangering human health and without using processes or methods that may be harmful to the environment.
- Ensures that persons handling, producing, packaging, transporting and/or disposing of waste take measures to avoid harm or risk of harm to themselves or others (including the public).
Waste minimisation
A business should minimise the amount of waste it produces as far as is reasonable and economically feasible.
Reuse. As far as possible and economically justifiable, an establishment should seek to reuse items that have not yet reached the end of their useful life.
Recycling
Recycling of waste should be promoted and implemented to minimise the amount of waste going to landfill.
Disposal
Where the generation of waste is unavoidable, an operation should ensure that its segregation, storage, handling, transport and disposal processes comply with applicable legislation.
What goals can be set?
It is very important to set goals for your work. A business should continuously improve its environmental performance. Examples of what this could mean:
- Ensure that correct and appropriate waste containers are made available and easily accessible to all employees.
- Ensure that waste is recycled or disposed of without endangering human health and by using processes that have the least possible impact on the environment.
- Develop and implement sustainable processes and procedures.
- Contribute to a circular economy by sorting everything that can be recycled in a circular way, thus enabling the material to be processed and become the same material again.
- Contribute to minimising the landfilling of commercial and industrial waste.
