i WISE
aste w ise
Preserving Resources, Preventing Waste
WasteWise is an empow-
ering program. By showing
cost savings through waste
reduction, partners are
able to protect the envi-
ronment and at the same
time save their employers
money. Everyone wins:
taxpayers, businesses, and,
most importantly, the
environment
— JOHN F
WASHOE COUNTY, NEVADA
LESS PACKAGING = LESS
WASTE
Anheuser-Busch prevented waste by
lightweighting two packaging products,
Specifically, it reduced the amount of
aluminum used to produce its 24-
ounce cans by 5.1 million pounds and
saved 7.5 million pounds of paper-
board by decreasing the thickness of
its 12-pack bottle packaging,
What Is WasteWise?
WasteWise is a free, voluntary partnership program spon-
sored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
through which organizations reduce municipal solid waste
and select industrial wastes, benefitting their bottom line
and the environment. WasteWise is flexible, allowing part-
ners to design waste reduction programs tailored to meet
their needs. Any organization, including large and small
businesses; nonprofit organizations; and federal, state, local,
and tribal governments, is encouraged to join.
Why Worry About Waste?
Waste reduction makes good business sense because it
saves your organization money through reduced purchasing
and disposal costs and improved operating efficiency. Waste
prevention, recycling, and buying and/or manufacturing
recycled-content products form the cornerstones of a waste
reduction program.
Waste prevention, also
known as source reduction,
is the most effective way to
control municipal solid
waste and is the main
focus of WasteWise. When
waste cannot be prevented,
recycling is the next best
option. Recycling saves
energy and helps keep
valuable materials out of
landfills and incinerators.
Buying and/or manufactur-
ing recycled-content products helps to close the "recycling
loop" and creates a market for recycled materials.
www.epa.gov/wastewise
(800) EPA WISE (372-9473) • email: WasteWise@icfi.com
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Program Fact Sheet
AN A+ IN RECYCLING
Students at Miami University
recycled nearly 5,000 pounds of
hardcover books and 3 1,600 pounds
of computer equipment, in addition
to materials such as paper; aluminum,
and take-out food containers. By
reducing the total quantity of materi-
als landfilled, the university saved
$66,500 in avoided disposal fees.
TOTES SAVE PITNEY
BOWES $100K
Pitney Bowes, Inc. began to use
plastic totes, which last up to 25
times longer than cardboard totes,
for both intra- and inter-facility
transport of component parts at
all of its manufacturing sites.The
company realized a savings of
32,000 pounds of cardboard,
with a calculated annual savings
of more than $ 00,000.
REMANUFACTURING
ELECTRONICS FOR EMISSIONS
REDUCTIONS
By remanufacturing and refurbishing
computer equipment to donate or
sell, Public Service Enterprise Group
(PSEG) prevented nearly 60 tons of
computers from disposal in one year
The greenhouse gas emission reduc-
tions from this effort are equivalent
to the carbon sequestration from
growing more than 90,000 tree
seedlings for I 0 years.
Through waste prevention and recycling, Waste Wise partners
can greatly reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by conserving
raw materials, which reduces the energy needed to retrieve, process,
and manufacture those materials.
The concept of environmental stewardship is becoming
increasingly prominent as consumers are becoming more
interested in organizations' environmental records. By joining
Waste Wise, your organization can show employees, stockhold-
ers, customers, and communities that you care about preserving
resources and preventing waste.
WasteWise: Municipal and Industrial Waste
Municipal solid waste includes materials that could end up in your
organization's (or your customers') trash, such as corrugated con-
tainers, office paper, yard trimmings, packaging, and wood pallets.
Industrial wastes covered by WasteWise include non-hazardous
batteries, coal combustion products, foundry sand, non-hazardous
sludges, oil filters, non-hazardous ink, and porcelain.
How Does WasteWise Help?
As a WasteWise partner or endorser, you can access a wealth of
free technical assistance that will help you design and implement
effective waste reduction activities. Through our network of experts
and peers, you will leam cost-cutting waste reduction strategies and
gain valuable insight from other partners. Key benefits include:
• The WasteWise Technical Assistance Team helps you
design and implement your unique WasteWise program.
• The WasteWise Helpline, a
toll-free service, offers access
to information specialists
trained to answer questions
about WasteWise, including
technical questions.
• The WasteWise Web site
contains a variety of resources,
including publications, pro-
gram news, and links to addi-
tional waste reduction Web
sites. The Member Services section includes useful tools only
available to partners; the Member Service section provides
guidance on setting goals, measuring results, and reporting.
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• Partner forums present program information and educate
partners on technical
topics.
• Awards and recognition
are available through
national and local events,
media advisories, and
various EPA publications.
The WasteWise Awards
Program offers special
recognition for partners that demonstrate outstanding efforts in
all areas of the program.
• Meetings and mentoring opportunities allow partners to
learn directly from one another.
• Personalized Climate Profiles provide reporting WasteWise
partners with information on organizations' individual GHG
emission reduction efforts.
• Publications designed to guide you in developing and imple-
menting your WasteWise program by providing partner case
studies, exploration of specialized topics, and coverage of
specific business sectors.
• Communications from the WasteWise program, including
the eBulletin, an electronic newsletter, and a listserv to help
partners interact.
WasteWise offers us an excellent opportunity to
benchmark our waste reduction and recycling pro-
grams against the best in the country. It also provides
a steady stream of new ideas that help us sustain
and improve our programs.
— R. HAYS BELL, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
What Does It Take to Be a WasteWise Partner?
Joining WasteWise is easy! To join, complete a hard copy regis-
tration form or register online at .
Once you sign up, just follow these steps and you will be on your
way to being a successful WasteWise partner.
1. Identify your waste reduction opportunities. One of the
first steps in designing a successful waste reduction program
is identifying areas where waste can be reduced. WasteWise
COLLECTING NEW
MATERIALS ON "WEIRD
WASTE DAY"
Concerned with the amount of
trash that could not be recy-
cled, Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute's Green Team created
a "Weird Waste Day" on Earth
Day 2003 to collect recyclable
items that are not typically
recycled.
COURT COSTS LOWERED
BY $60 K
The Jackson County, Missouri,
Circuit Court cut costs by more
than $60,000 by placing labels
over pre-printed case folders,
avoiding the need for purchas-
ing new folders.
BOTTLE CAPS TO CARS
CM North America "closed
the loop" by annually using
8,500 tons of nylon fibers
from recycled carpet and
5,400 tons of polypropylene
from recycled soda bottle
caps in its vehicles.
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Program Fact Sheet
REDUCING CLIMATE CHANGE
IMPACTS
Waste prevention and recycling
programs at the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation achieved greenhouse
gas emission reductions equivalent
to removing nearly 90 passenger
cars from the road for one year
PURCHASING LESS PLASTIC
Spartech Industries, Inc. recycled
more than 2.3 million pounds of
plastic recovered from both inter-
nal sources and trim materials
purchased back from customers
to realize an annual savings of
$ .15 million in purchasing costs.
can provide tips for conducting a waste audit to character-
ize waste streams and identify waste reduction options. A
waste audit is not expensive or time'Consuming and will
likely save you money in the long run.
2. Plan your program and set goals. The Waste Wise Technical
Assistance Team will help you identify waste reduction
opportunities and help you set achievable goals in the three
key areas:
• Waste prevention
• Recycling
• Buying and/or manufacturing recycled-content products
J. Develop an employee education campaign. Employee
involvement will help you develop an employee education
campaign to increase participation and awareness.
4* Track and measure your waste reduction results. Knowing
how far you have come will help you assess your efforts and
plan your next steps. Waste Wise will provide resources for
calculating waste reduction results and determining the
environmental and economic benefits of your program.
4 4 Helping employees understand that their behaviors
do have an impact on the environment has helped us
meet our goals to reduce waste, while making gov-
ernment more efficient.
— RON SIMS, KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON
COMMUNITY COMMITMENT
Virco Mfg. Corporation launched
a "Cash for Cardboard" program.
Virco collects, bales, and sells cor-
rugated cardboard from 27 local
schools, ships it to a recycling
company, and donates the pro-
ceeds back to the schools. In one
year; more than $45,000 in pro-
ceeds were returned back to the
schools.
What Does the Waste Wise Endorser
Program Entail?
EPA launched the Waste Wise endorser program to help spread
the Waste Wise message to more organizations. Endorsers are
state and local government agencies, trade associations, nonprof-
it organizations, and businesses that help their members, con-
stituents, or customers realize that reducing solid waste makes
good business sense. Waste Wise endorsers commit to recruiting
organizations to become Waste Wise partners and providing
members with ongoing promotional or technical information.
^Ep Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100% Postconsumer, Process Chlorine Free Paper
'. United States Environmental Protection Agency
1 Office of Solid Waste (5306W) • EPA-530-F-06-009
May 2006 • www.epa.gov/wastewise
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