Waste is a huge problem in the manufacturing industry. It is very difficult to manufacture anything without producing some waste. A lot of waste products can be reused, especially if they’re just excess raw material. However, a thriving business will always produce some trash. Because it is never free to dispose of said trash, it pays to reduce your waste production as much as possible. So, with that in mind, let’s look at 5 manufacturing sectors that can improve their waste reduction techniques.
1. Construction
The construction industry can certainly do a lot more to reduce its waste. When a home is built or remodeled, there are usually huge dumpsters full of waste. This will include things like wood, tiles, linoleum, plumbing, insulation, wiring, and all sorts of other things. While some of these things are indeed just trash, many of them can be reused or re-sold.
It is common for DIY types to gather materials from construction site dumpsters because everyone knows that they throw away a lot of usable stuff. While it might help people to remodel their homes cheaply, it isn’t so good for construction companies. And so, we would recommend recycling your construction scrap or selling it off at a low price. Even if you don’t make much money doing that, it will reduce your disposal costs greatly.
2. Paper Goods
Manufacturing companies that produce a lot of paper goods can certainly improve their waste management and reduce their overall waste. Most of their trash can be burned without much trouble. Now, we aren’t telling you to just go out behind the business and dig a burn pit. There are probably regulations for your area that have to be followed, so don’t do that.
Instead, you might want to talk to a company that specializes in fired equipment solutions. They can help you to set up a fire waste disposal system that works for you. The goal is to reduce your waste without engaging in pollution or breaking any relevant laws. If your business produces a lot of paper goods, this kind of thing can greatly lower your waste disposal costs.
3. Food Retail
The food industry is also a major producer of waste. In this case, most of the waste is not toxic to the environment or dangerous to humans. However, waste is still bad for other reasons. First of all, it’s just dumb to waste things. Secondly, restaurants and grocery stores can lose a lot of money due to waste. When food products go bad, they are good for nothing but compost.
Apart from this, restaurants and other eateries tend to produce a lot of non-organic waste in the form of cups, napkins, plastic utensils, etc. This waste can be reduced by re-evaluating your food storage procedures so that things are less likely to go bad in the first place. A little bit of charitable giving is also a good way to get rid of excess food. Contrary to the way most restaurants do things, it is better to give something away than to throw it away.
4. Landscaping
This may not be a major world industry, but it’s a pretty big industry nonetheless. Landscaping always produces waste, which means tree limbs, grass clippings, rocks from the ground, trimmings of landscaping fabric, etc. Thankfully, since nearly all of this waste is organic, it can be disposed of easily. Wood waste can be sold (if it’s high in quality) or burned (if it’s low in quality). A landscaping company can also reduce waste by improving the methods used by its workers.
5. Bottling
Any bottling plant is likely to produce a lot of plastic waste. Worse, a lot of this waste will be difficult or impossible to recycle. If you think about the sheer number of plastic bottles that are produced in America alone every year, you realize how busy these bottling plants are. All that production creates plastic waste, chemical waste, and more. The best solution here is to switch over to wholly recyclable plastics. This will allow you to get rid of your waste plastic without dumping it, burning it, or sending it to a landfill.
Conclusion
There are a lot of wasteful manufacturing business practices out there. There’s no point in debating why that problem exists, as there are multiple factors. Instead, it is better to focus on solutions and that is what we have tried to do today. As such, we hope that we have given you some good ideas for the reduction or elimination of waste. Just remember, the less trash you produce, the less trash you have to remove.
