How to Estimate Waste Generated In-Office

In this article, we're diving deep into how you can accurately estimate the waste generated in your office environment, spanning across various types of waste streams and disposal methods. This process is a crucial step in assessing your company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory and contributing effectively to sustainability efforts.

Objective

The primary goal here is to help you accurately arrive at the mass of waste generated for each type, per specified time period.

By doing this, you're laying down a solid foundation for precise GHG emissions calculations within Breeze, despite a lack of actual data on the amount of waste generated.

Approach

At a high level, this approach to estimating your office's waste generation involves surveying a subset of data, which you will then extrapolate to arrive at annual figures. By selecting a typical time period and recording the volume of various waste streams and disposal methods, you lay the groundwork for an accurate and comprehensive estimation despite not having sufficient actual data. This snapshot serves as a basis to extrapolate the data for a full Reporting Year, ensuring precise GHG emissions accounting within Breeze.

Guidance

The journey to estimating your office’s waste generation starts with a survey-based method. You’ll need to:

1. Select a Representative Time Period: Choose a typical week or month that represents the usual business operations in your office. This time period will be extrapolated to a full Reporting Year for the purposes of emissions accounting.
2. Identify Waste Streams: List out all the different types of waste generated in your office (e.g., paper, plastic, organic waste) and how they are disposed of (landfill, recycling, compost, reuse). Create these Sources in Breeze.
3. Measure and Record: Use scales (household scales work fine in most cases for weighing and/or bins marked with volume measurements to gather data on the amount of each type of waste generated. You can even measure the average fill per bag, count the number of bags, and weigh only one. Whatever your approach, be sure to document how you arrived at the final values. The desired outcome of this step is the total mass (eg. 280 kg) of waste of each type over the whole period.
4. Extrapolate the Data: Based on the total actual waste generation for each type measured in step 3, extrapolate this to cover the full Reporting Year.

By following this approach, you can ensure that the data collected is representative and comprehensive, providing a solid basis for your GHG emissions calculations on Breeze.

Tips

To make your journey smoother, here’s a checklist to guide you through the process:

• Get Everyone on Board: Ensure all team members are aware of the importance of accurate waste measurement and their role in it.
• Label Bins Clearly: Clearly mark bins for different waste streams to avoid contamination and ensure accurate measurement.
• Document Everything: Keep a detailed record of measurements, types of waste, and the time period covered.
• Seek Expert Advice if Needed: Don’t hesitate to reach out to waste management professionals or Breeze support if you’re unsure about any part of the process.

Resources

To further enhance your understanding and execution of waste generation estimation, here are some resources:

1. GHG Protocol for Corporate GHG Accounting: This standard can help you align your waste generation accounting practices with global standards (Link: GHG Protocol)
2. Breeze Support: Contact our team to ask any questions you may have about this process.

By utilizing these resources and following this process, you can ensure that your waste generation estimation is not just accurate but also aligns with global best practices, paving the way for a more sustainable future. Enjoy navigating through Breeze, and here’s to making a difference, one accurate estimation at a time!