Take a look around your facility. In general, anything that does not leave your facility as a product or service is probably a waste. Can you identify all of the different forms of waste that may be generated by your facility? The acronym below may help find some of them:

Water and wastewater
Air emissions
Solid waste or (liquid) hazardous wastes
Time
Energy

Knowing what types of waste are generated will help you determine what the associated costs are. Some attentive facilities may have a pretty good idea of how much they spend to ship out a drum of waste oil or hazardous waste/materials, but the costs associated with waste are really much greater. Other costs can include:

• raw materials that are used inefficiently (e.g. most spray painting operations have transfer efficiencies of less than 50 %.  Less than half the paint they buy actually leaves the facility on the product.)
• raw materials and work time that end up as scrap or rejects
• utilities such as water and sewer, natural gas and electricity
• floor space that must be designated for special storage areas
• pollution control equipment used to collect and treat wastes
• sampling, laboratory analysis and other monitoring expenses
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and training for staff members
• permit forms, manifests, and other documentation
  

Benefits of Waste Minimization
By eliminating pollution at its source, pollution prevention:

• helps protect the public health and the environment by reducing the health risks associated with the release of pollutants to the environment
• avoids shifts of pollutants from one medium (air, water or land) to another
• protects natural resources for future generations by cutting wastes and conserving resources
• benefits the businesses that implement the P2 practices by reducing operating costs, reducing risk-and liability, and by improving the company’s image.