In an article titled It's time to stop managing waste and start preventing it, Frank E. Celli and Rick Perez write about waste within businesses. They discuss how many companies' focus in terms of the waste which they produce currently lies on managerial methods through traditional means of recycling. Recycling materials such as paper, plastic, cardboard, glass and aluminum are commonplace but they are simply not enough; they do not help the underlying problem of waste production, nor do they target the largest component of municipal solid waste - this component being food. Food waste "accounts for a significant portion of the U.S. methane emissions" as millions of tons of food are dumped into landfills every year. Reducing waste in this area as well as all others through efficient practices can benefit businesses by reducing companies' overall expenses since they will be consuming less resources and simultaneously generating less waste. The issue is that many businesses are not thoroughly informed about their own production, consumption, and disposal. They blindly believe that taking the initiative to learn about these aspects to potentially reduce them would be expensive and time consuming. The opposite is actually true. Analytics tools are available to businesses to monitor their "performance metrics" and these metrics can easily assess what could be reduced and where. A company that fully understands its consumption patters will be able to save time and money by implementing more sustainable and efficient operational practices. As the zero waste movement gains popularity and the technology to make it happen becomes more readily available and recognized, we can hope that businesses will take a turn for efficiency.
http://www.greenbiz.com/article/its-time-stop-managing-waste-and-start-preventing-it
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