Managing Waste Output

The following excerpt is from IREM’s publication, A Practical Guide to Green Real Estate Management (IREM © 2009): 

You’ve applied strategies for reducing your inputs into the waste stream; now what are you going to do with the waste that’s left? Most people want to think of trash as out of sight, out of mind. But that creates another wasted opportunity for potential environmental and financial savings. A little forethought can make it easy for you and your tenants to reduce your impact and cash in on these opportunities. 

Don’t Be Afraid to Get a Little Dirty 

To manage waste, you need to know what goes into your garbage. This doesn’t mean that you have to go Dumpster diving, but talk with your janitorial service to see if they can give you a synopsis of the types of materials they see in the trash. Talk to your tenants to get an idea of what products they use and throw away. Do a walk-through of your properties and record which materials make up the majority of the waste stream. 

Going one step further, a waste audit can be a very helpful exercise. This requires building staff or a contracted assessor to actually examine the composition of the waste stream, determining the types of waste and how much of each material is present. A waste audit gives you a baseline for your “business as usual” waste stream that you can compare to future measurements, as you put recycling programs in place. The audit will also tell you which materials your recycling program should cover. Waste composition can be measured by weighing each type of material, or by estimating its volume and then converting that to a weight measurement. (At the city or state level, waste is measured by weight (lbs or tons) rather than by volume the majority of the time, but either can be used for tracking purposes. Just keep it consistent when measuring each material.) 

The goal is to determine how much of your portfolio’s waste stream is composed of materials that can be recovered or diverted from landfills using recycling or composting methods. The amount of waste that can be diverted divided by the total waste output is the diversion potential. Once you start recycling and composting, the amount of waste actually diverted divided by the total waste output is your diversion rate. The higher the rate, the better! As your recycling and composting programs achieve momentum, comparing the diversion rates over time to your diversion potential provides an idea of where you stand and how much you can improve. 

Ask the Right Questions 

Materials only become waste when they’re unusable. Once this happens, you and your tenants next need to decide what to do with that scrap of paper, sandwich wrapper, or landscape trimmings. Under business as usual, everything is simply discarded into universal trash containers that accept all forms of waste. However, you actually have a decision to make. First, re-examine whether the material is really unusable (i.e., can you use the other side of that paper, or is that cardboard box still intact)? In the previous chapter, you learned some ways to reuse common materials. Use your imagination to come up with more. 

If the item is truly unusable, here’s your next question: is it recyclable or compostable? If so, are these alternatives to the trash can actually available? Create alternatives that diversify the waste management process, reduce the amount of trash discarded, and potentially reduce the number of trash hauls required each month. There lie your potential savings.