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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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•" 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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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).
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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$e at
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PLEASE
PUT
STAMP
HERE
WasteWi$e (5306W)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460
fold and seal
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