United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA530-F-93-018 October 1993 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5306) PA WasteWi$e EPA's Voluntary Program for Reducing Business Solid Waste ------- ------- Become a Member! Many U.S. companies have demonstrated that by reducing and recycling materials that would otherwise become trash, they can reap substantial savings, sometimes millions of dollars per year. EPA developed the WasteWise program to assist businesses in taking cost-effective actions to reduce solid waste. To accept the WasteWise challenge, your company would commit to achievements that you choose in each of three areas: Waste prevention Recycling collection Buying or manufacturing recycled products ------- Why Reduce Solid Waste? Each of the three waste reduction activities offers distinct benefits, both for the environment and your bottom line. Waste Prevention Waste prevention can save your company money through lower purchasing and disposal costs. It can also save your customers money by reducing what they throw out. Avoiding the generation of waste reduces the burden on disposal facilities, conserves natural resources, and often reduces pollution. Recycling Collection Collecting recyclables can help keep large amounts of material out of your company's dumpster. It can reduce your waste disposal bill and generate revenues from the sale of some materials. Recycling offers some of the same environmental benefits as waste prevention: extending the life of landfills, conserving natural resources, and reducing pollution. Buying or Manufacturing Recycled Products Recycled products are of high quality and can be competitively priced compared to virgin products. Buying and manufacturing goods with recycled content helps ensure that recycling will continue to advance and will eventually help lower the cost of recycled products. ------- Why Join WasteWise? In addition to the benefits of waste reduction outlined above, participation in WasteWise offers several advantages. • EPA will provide technical assistance via a hotline and electronic bulletin board, "how to" publications, lessons from other companies, and regular program updatts. © Successful waste reduction efforts will be highlighted in EPA documents, business magazines, environmental journals, and trade publications. ® Participating companies also may use the WasteWise logo in their advertising. © WasteWise provides an opportunity for your firm to be viewed by peers and customers as a leader in environmental initiatives. Commit to Achieving Waste Reduction Results Becoming a WasteWise member means committing to achieve results in each of these three areas: Waste prevention Recycling collection Buying or manufacturing recycled products ------- Waste Prevention Waste prevention is eliminating waste before it is created. For many companies, this involves eliminating waste that would go into their own dumpsters, as well as materials that would become waste for their customers. Some ways to prevent waste are to use less of a material, reuse materials and supplies, and purchase products that create less waste. ------- What Would I Do as a WasteWi$e Member? As a WasteWise member, you would commit to identify and implement three significant waste prevention actions. Your firm would choose these actions after you have determined that they are practical and cost-effective. The types of actions your firm could implement include: • Purchasing supplies in reusable containers. • Reducing paper use through electronic communication and double-sided photocopies. • Leaving grass clippings on the lawn. • Redesigning products or packaging to use less material. • Working with vendors to reduce transport packaging. • Using two-way envelopes for billing customers. m ------- Recycling Collection Recycling collection involves the separation, collection, storage, and removal of recyclable materials. It also includes composting materials off-site, such as in a municipal composting program. Items collected for recycling will vary depending on the materials your company generates and the availability of markets for those materials. Collection of recyclables is a high-profile activity that many companies are already enthusiastically implementing. ------- What Would I Do as a WasteWi$e Member? As a WasteWise member, you would commit to expand or improve programs for collecting recyclables on company premises. This may mean starting a new program, if you don't already have one. It could also mean maldng improvements to an existing program by adding new materials to be collected, improving program efficiency through activities like employee education, or providing community outreach. Common recyclables include: ® Computer printout paper • Corrugated cardboard • Newsprint and magazines • High-grade paper (e.g., copier paper) * Low-grade paper (e.g., colored paper) • Glass containers • Plastic containers • Aluminum containers • Steel containers ------- Buying or Manufacturing Products Buying recycled means purchasing products that contain both preconsumer and postconsumer recovered materials. Company purchasing officials can work with your suppliers and vendors to determine which products contain recycled content. Often these products are competitively priced compared to virgin products. Manufacturing recycled, an option available to manufacturers, means increasing the amount of postconsumer recovered materials in products, thus ensuring that collected materials are used in new products. nxkch Ott (fa 8 ------- •" For this part of the WasteWise F program, nonmanufacturing L firms would commit to increase .»_^ the recycled content in I j(^\ il Q i3 purchased products, either by J—s\J CIO C3L purchasing recycled products instead of virgin products or by increasing the recycled content _ _ -. in those recycled products that Member? youaireadybuy- If you are a manufacturer, you have two options for meeting this part of the program: increase the recycled content in products purchased as described above or increase the percentage of postconsumer recovered material in your products. Some of the many products that contain recycled content: Office/Printing Janitorial » Office paper • Tissue products • Computer paper • Trash can liners • Newsprint Shipping and Receiving * • Containers and packaging • Lubricating oil • Pallets • Retread tires Construction Products • Dry wall • Insulation • Carpets • Paving materials ------- How Does the Program Work? There are four basic steps to setting and achieving your WasteWise goals. 1. Sign Up To join the WasteWise program, fill out the registration form at the end of this brochure and mail or fax the form to EPA. Be sure to complete sections A and B. Before completing the form, you'll need to determine: • The facilities that initially will be included in the program. The challenge can be taken by your entire company or by individual segments, such as corporate headquarters or a specific region, division, or facility. If you start with a segment of your firm, you can always expand to other facilities in a year or two. • The senior official who will commit your company to the program. Joining WasteWise requires the signature of a senior official who can commit company resources to the waste reduction program. It is also helpful if this person can effect changes in company operations such as purchasing and facilities management. 2. Get Started To get started in WasteWise, it's important to understand your company's waste and how it is generated and handled. EPA will provide WasteWise members with A Business Guide forTleducing Solid Waste to get you started. The guide will help you take a look at your operations and make educated decisions about waste prevention, recycling, and buying recycled. EPA will provide case studies of businesses that have achieved cost savings and improved operations through waste reduction. We'll also provide "tip sheets" that provide information on waste prevention, recycling, and buying recycled materials. 10 ------- 3. Your Based on your review of company operations, you'll choose the waste prevention, recycling, and buying or manufacturing actions that make the most sense for your firm. Using a one-page form that EPA will provide, let us know what your plans are, so that we can develop and provide targeted technical information to assist your waste reduction program. We'll also be available via telephone and electronic bulletin board to answer questions. 4. Share Your Results After your program is underway, we'll ask you to share your results with EPA so that we can highlight waste reduction opportunities for others and gauge the program's progress. Using a simple form that EPA will provide, let us know each year how your waste reduction initiatives are progressing and estimate your firm's achievements in terms of: • Waste prevented (weight or volume). © Recyclables collected (weight or volume). • Amount spent on products with increased recycled content or the increased amount (in terms of dollars or weight) of postconsumer content in products that you manufacture. We'd also like to hear about any cost savings or other successes resulting from your waste reduction program. ------- EPA Assistance The WasteWise program will offer several forms of technical assistance to help participating companies find waste reduction opportunities and set waste reduction goals. The following resources will be available to provide details on the elements of a successful program: • EPA's A Business Guide for Reducing Solid Waste. • Case studies of successful waste reduction by businesses. • Tip sheets on waste reduction. • Program updates. • Additional sources of waste reduction information. WasteWise staff will be available by telephone (1-800-EPAWISE) to assist you with questions on: • Enrollment • Waste assessments • Goal setting • Waste reduction tips • Reporting EPA's technical assistance will focus on nonmanufacturing waste reduction actions. 12 ------- Waste Reduction Successes These are just a few of the many firms that are successfully cutting waste . . . Waste Prevention State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company estimates that it saves approximately $300,000 each year through numerous waste prevention measures, including: • Reducing or eliminating shrink wrap packaging on forms and handbooks. • Using double-sided copies and electronic mail. • Reusing remanufactured laser cartridges, pallets, three-ring binders, and packing materials. McDonald's has made waste prevention part of its everyday business. Over the past year, through reductions in children's meal boxes and bags, sandwich wrap resizing, container packaging redesign, and other reductions, the average McDonald's restaurant in the United States has decreased its packaging by more than 650 pounds. These reductions resulted in a total of nearly 3,000 tons of avoided packaging waste from the 9,000 McDonald's restaurants. Recycling Collection In 1986, a small group of employees at Honda of America's Marysville, Ohio, auto assembly plant, called the "Wastewatchess," started a corrugated cardboard recycling program. Honda estimates that from 1990 to 1992, approximately 15,000 tons of corrugated cardboard were recycled, saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in avoided disposal costs. Buying or Manufacturing Recycled Products E.I. DuPont Company currently buys $63 million worth of recycled packaging materials and other recycled products each year. Since 1990, a "buy-recycled" team has worked to increase the company's purchases of packaging, paper products, plastics, office supplies, and construction materials with recycled content. ------- General Q: What materials are included in the WasteWise program? A . WasteWise is a municipal solid waste program focusing on reduc- "^^ * tion of materials that would otherwise end up in your trash dumpster. We also want to reduce materials that would end up in your customers' trash, if your firm's products or mailings even- tually are discarded. Some examples of typical materials are corrugated cardboard, office paper, food scraps, packaging, and wood pallets. The program does not include hazardous or indus- trial waste or recycling of materials within a manufacturing process. What kind of technical assistance will EPA provide to help me get started? A • A WasteWise hotline and electronic bulletin board will answer "^^* your questions about joining and implementing the program. In addition, you will receive business case studies and other materials to assist in planning your waste reduction program shortly after joining WasteWise. Although limited resources prevent EPA from visiting your offices to personally conduct a waste assessment, you will receive A Business Guide for Re- ducing Solid Waste to assist you in conducting a waste assessment. Tip sheets and program updates will be distrib- uted periodically and be available through the bulletin board. (~V What kind of public recognition does WasteWise ^* provide to member companies? A • EPA will provide the press with news stories and program updates on "^ * the collective behalf of member companies. Likewise, EPA will at- tempt to place notices (such as WasteWise public service announcements and special supplements) in trade publications, en- vironmental magazines, and business journals. By distributing ready-to-use WasteWise materials, EPA will encourage members to publicize their participation. Members also may use the WasteWise logo in their own advertising. In addition, special recognition will be provided for exemplary programs on a regular basis. 14 ------- Sign-Up Q. Who signs the WasteWise registration form for my * company, and do a!i company facilities have to sign up at once? A . Any senior company official able to commit all or some of your "^* facilities to a waste reduction program can sign the registra- tion form. It is also helpful if this person can effect changes in company operations like purchasing and facilities manage- ment. The WasteWi$e challenge can be taken by your entire company or by individual segments, such as corporate head- quarters or a specific region, division, or facility. If your initial commitment does not apply to your entire company, please specify which divisions or facilities will be participat- ing in the program. Q» My company is a member of another solid waste challenge program. JVlay I still join WasteWise? A • Yes! EPA applauds and strongly supports existing programs •*••*•• that promote one or more aspects of waste reduction. Such programs include the Conference of Mayors' National Office Paper Recycling Project, the National Recycling Coali- tion's Buy Recycled Business Alliance, and the Coalition of Northeastern Governors' (CONEG) Challenge to Reduce Packaging. Under these and other programs, many companies have taken the initiative to prevent waste, recycle, or buy and manufacture recycled products. If you have recently made a commitment under one or more programs, it is very likely that your actions will satisfy the parallel WasteWise component. We'll be happy to work with you to build on such efforts. Q. IVIy company has already made significant progress in • reducing waste, recycling, and buying or manufacturing recycled. Do our past achievements qualify us for WasteWi$e membership? A • EPA applauds the efforts of those companies that have taken •^ * the lead in waste reduction. We would like to hear about your earlier progress so that we may publicize exemplary ef- forts and share your successes with other member companies. The goal of WasteWise is to spur additional pro- gress in business waste reduction nationwide. Therefore, we ask that new or expanded waste reduction initiatives be im- plemented for WasteWise membership. ------- Implementation (~~V How long do I have to achieve my WasteWise ^* commitments? A • The amount of time it takes to meet your WasteWise goals is up to you. It may take some time to get your waste reduc- tion program up and running to the point where you have measurable results. Regardless of where you are in the proc- ess of implementing your program, EPA would like to hear from you at least once a year. Let us know about the pro- gress you've made and obstacles you've encountered in implementing your waste reduction program. Once your program is established, we would like to receive,the following estimates each year by March 1: • Waste prevented (weight or volume). ^ • Recyclables collected (weight or volume). • Amount spent on products with increased recycled content or the increased amount (in terms of dollars or weight) of postconsumer content in products that you manufacture. We will provide a simple form for you to use to report these estimates. Each year, EPA will compile WasteWise results into a progress report. Beginning after the first year of the program, EPA will provide special recognition on a regular basis for companies that have achieved outstanding results and supported this progress with numerical estimates. Waste Prevention WasteWise requires companies to undertake three "significant" waste prevention actions. What qualifies as "significant"? A • Although you will be the ultimate judge of which actions are sig- nificant and feasible for your company, significant waste prevention actions generally will result in a substantial reduc- tion in the material being targeted. For example, office paper is one of the largest components of many companies' waste. A significant effort to reduce paper usage probably would be composed of several smaller efforts such as double-sided copying, posting memos rather than routing to individuals, and reducing the number of "all employee" memos. Companies have found that these paper 16 ------- reduction activities can dramatically reduce paper consumption, sometimes by hundreds of tons per year. EPA will share examples of waste prevention programs that other companies have implemented and view as significant for their operations. Based on these examples and your firm's waste assessment, you can then decide what actions are significant for you. Recycling My company already has a great recycling program. We collect office paper, metal cans, glass, and plastic. What can I do to expand or improve my program? A • EPA recognizes that some companies already have well-developed collection programs. There are several potential ways to im^ prove even the most comprehensive collection programs. First, check your operations to see what additional materials could possibly be collected (e.g., corrugated cardboard) and see if lo- cal markets make collection of these materials cost-effective. If collecting additional materials is not feasible, you could make sure that your collection program has been expanded to all pos- sible facilities and offices, try to increase the proportion of each material you are already collecting, or decrease contami- nants (e.g., colored paper in the white paper bin) through more employee education. For example, if your company has an orientation course for new employees, you could incorpo- rate information on recycling. Where in-house recycling is well developed, you might also consider providing community edu- cation and outreach on recycling. Buying or Manufacturing Recycled Products When buying recycled products, does both the preconsumer and postconsumer content of the products count as recycled content? A • Yes, ERA's goal is to increase the total amount of recycled content in purchased goods, both preconsumer and postconsumer ma- terial. In order to provide additional incentive to manufacturers to use materials collected from business and community recy- cling programs in their products, WasteWise does encourage increases in recycled content to consist of postconsumer material. ------- A •^• A •^^ For manufacturing purposes, what is a postconsumer recovered material? A postconsumer recovered material is a finished product or other material that has served its intended use and has been discarded for disposal or recovery, having completed its life as a consumer item. Postconsumer materials do not include those materials and by-products generated from, and commonly reused within, an original manufacturing process. What would my company do if it chooses the "manufacturing recycled" option? Identify the product or product lines that you believe can ac- commodate increased postconsumer material and each year report your progress in achieving this increase. When you have achieved your goal, report the increased percent- age of postconsumer content and the total increase irf" postconsumer material (in dollars or weight) attributable to the increased percentage. For example, if your com- pany increased a product's postconsumer content from 10 to 15 percent, you would report the 5 percent increase and the dollars spent on acquiring the additional postcon- sumer material for all units of the product (or if this information is confidential, the weight of the additional postconsumer material). 18 ------- Registration Form D My company is ready to become a WasteWise member. (Please complete both Sections A and B.) D I would like more information about the program. (Please complete Section A.) Section A Company Name Company SIC Code Principal Contact Title Address City Phone Number State Zip Fax Section 8 My company is ready to become a WasteWise member! Please send a membership packet. Facilities to be included in initial waste reduction efforts (e.g., corporate headquarters only, regional facilities, all plants) Signature of Senior Official Print Name Title Date Approximate number of employees in these facilities Please cut and mail to the WasteWi$e program at the address indicated. Or, fax to WasteWi$e at ------- PLEASE PUT STAMP HERE WasteWi$e (5306W) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 401 M Street, SW Washington, DC 20460 fold and seal ------- |