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In today's eco-conscious business landscape, waste management is no longer just a checkbox; it’s an integral part of a sustainability strategy and adopting the circular economy. But how do you quantify your waste impact and optimize it for reduction? This is where Waste accounting steps in. Waste accounting enables businesses to track, measure, and manage their waste footprint, providing insights that are crucial for meeting zero-waste goals and reducing waste fees. Just like how normal accountants track the incomings and outgoings of a business from a finance perspective, waste accounting looks at the inflows and outflows of waste in the same way. In this blog article, we’ll walk you through the fundamentals of waste accounting, including key concepts like commodity tracking, end-market design, and design for recyclability.
What is Waste Accounting?
There is no official definition of waste accounting, so we're here to put a stamp on it.
Waste accounting is the process of systematically tracking and quantifying the material resources that is consumed by an organization, and the subsequent disposal of that material into a new end-market. Much like financial accounting, it offers a clear view of where waste is generated, where it goes, and what impact it has on both costs and environmental footprint.
Waste accounting is essential for organizations aiming to transition towards zero-waste by identifying opportunities to reduce, recycle, and repurpose waste.
Why is Waste Accounting Important?
Many businesses have fantastic zero-waste goals, but they reside behind an entire strategy that relies on waste-for-energy - a process that has been found to be as detrimental for the environment as burning coal. As seen in previous blog articles, we love the saying: You can't manage what you can't measure. Understanding the inflows and outflows of waste (otherwise known as materials or resources), is paramount to forming an effective zero-waste strategy and accurately quantifying you goals.
1. Cost Reduction
By tracking waste streams, businesses can optimize operations to reduce waste-related costs.
2. Environmental Responsibility
Reducing waste footprint aligns with sustainability goals and appeals to eco-conscious customers.
3. Compliance
Regulatory standards often require businesses to report on their waste footprint.
4. Better Decision-Making
Making informed decisions moves businesses forward, but it requires data. Without data, it is all a shot in the dark.
5. Benchmark Progress
Extrapolating the data over the years, and forecasting forward, can allow you to look back and see how far you've come.
Key Concepts in Waste Accounting
Understanding Your Waste Footprint
Waste footprint refers to the total impact your business's waste has on the environment, measured across various stages – from production to disposal. Tracking your waste footprint provides a baseline, helping you identify high-impact areas to focus your waste reduction efforts. Check out this article on your waste footprint.
Primary Actions: Measure the inflow of waste coming into the business. Use invoices, receipts, purchase orders and other data types to look at what is coming into the business. Organize your waste data and get in all in one spot, so you can then look at the checks and balances that is coming in and out of your business in a given month.
Tracking Methods: Use digital tools or waste accounting software to log waste data consistently. By setting up automations, like with what you can do with Scrapp, you can sit back and relax while the data collects itself.
Commodity Tracking and Value Recovery
Waste accounting enables more transparent commodity tracking. This is the process of identifying valuable recyclable materials within your waste streams. These materials, often termed "commodities," can be separated, repurposed, or sold in secondary markets. By tracking commodities, companies can uncover hidden revenue streams and improve waste diversion rates.
Benefits: Reduces landfill reliance, generates revenue, and supports circular economy goals.
Action Plan: Implement scanning and sorting technologies to streamline commodity tracking (check out what we currently do for businesses).
Design for Recycling and End-Market Design
To reduce waste at the source, businesses should prioritize designing for recycling, also know as end-market design. This approach focuses on creating products that are easier to recycle, repair, reuse or repurpose, ensuring that waste materials are compatible with existing recycling infrastructure and can serve in secondary markets local to the point of consumption. This can be achieved through collaborating with recyclers and design teams who understand the secondary materials market.
How Waste Accounting Reduces Waste Fees and Enhances Sustainability
By implementing waste accounting, businesses can achieve cost savings and sustainability benefits. When companies understand their waste footprint, they’re able to leverage data to better understand their waste streams and know the value of the material they are disposing. Not only does this reduce their environmental impact, but it can generate cost savings like more efficient waste collection schedules. Some of Scrapp's clients have seen a saving of 35% off their waste bill, just by knowing what waste they are producing to begin with.
Use this blog post as a way to help communicate the importance of waste accounting within your business.; from potential revenue on the table, to reducing costs - knowing the inflows and outflows is the first step to making an informed waste reduction strategy.
How can we help?
Ready to take control of your material flows and start tracking your waste? Scrapp’s waste accounting platform empowers all organizations to track their waste footprint. Book a call with our team to start your tracking your impact!