How do you track your waste and recycling?

1 Why track waste and recycling?

Waste and recycling are important indicators of your food manufacturing performance. They can tell you how much raw material, energy, water, and packaging you are using, and how much you are wasting. Tracking your waste and recycling can help you identify areas of improvement, set goals and targets, and monitor your progress. It can also help you avoid fines and penalties for non-compliance with environmental laws and standards.

2 What to track and how?

In the food manufacturing industry, there are various types of waste and recycling that need to be tracked. For example, food waste should be weighed, recorded, and categorized according to source, type, and destination. Packaging waste can be counted, weighed, and sorted by material and recyclability. Hazardous waste needs to be labeled, stored safely, and disposed of according to regulations. Other waste, such as office waste or equipment waste, can be estimated, measured, or monitored with meters or sensors. Tracking these different types of waste is essential for ensuring the safety of human health and the environment.

3 How to use data and tools?

Once you have collected your waste and recycling data, analyzing it is essential for improving your processes and practices. Spreadsheets are a great way to store, organize, and manipulate your data, using tables, charts, graphs, and formulas to visualize and compare your data. Software can also simplify data collection and analysis, with options designed for specific types of waste and recycling. Apps can be used to access, update, and share your data on the go, while dashboards can be used to display your key performance indicators in an easy-to-understand way.

4 How to communicate and report?

Tracking your waste and recycling is not enough; you need to communicate and report your results and actions to stakeholders such as employees, customers, suppliers, regulators, or investors. To do this, you can use meetings to discuss issues, goals, and achievements with a team or partners. Newsletters can inform an audience about initiatives, updates, and success stories. Websites can showcase policies, practices, and performance to the public. And reports document data, analysis, and actions in a formal and structured way. Visuals such as presentations, slides, posters, images, videos, web pages, blogs, or social media can help you convey your message in an engaging way. Templates, standards, or guidelines can also ensure that your reports are consistent and credible.

5 How to improve and innovate?

Tracking your waste and recycling is an ongoing process that requires continuous improvement and innovation. To achieve this, you can use benchmarking to compare your performance with peers or best practices, auditing to evaluate processes and compliance, training to educate staff and customers, and innovation to create new or better ways of reducing, reusing, or recycling your waste. You can use tools, databases, checklists, experts, materials, courses, workshops, methods, and platforms to assist in these activities.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?