Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District
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  Conducting a Waste Audit in Your School

How to Complete the Waste Audit

Step 1: History Lesson
Gen an idea of the current waste generated at your school. Review the school's waste record for the past 12 months to determine.

  • how much waste was produced
  • how often the waste is collected
  • what happens to the waste after it leaves the school
  • what has been done so far to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste

Step 2: Take a Look Around
The audit will look at the type and amount of waste generated in each area of the school. A building tour will tell you where you school's waste is produced and some of the reasons why. The tour may identify.

  • places that generate a lot, a little, and average amounts of waste
  • places of recycling activity
  • custodial routines

Step 3: Making Plans
Based on the information gained in the building tour, the structure of the audit can be determined. The amount of waste and the period of time over which it has collected has a drastic effect on the accuracy of the audit findings. No two weeks of an operation are exactly alike. It is important to select an audit sample which captures as many functions as possible. Audit design and preparation will include:

  • where the waste is produced and where it will be sampled
  • how much waste will be generated
  • how much waste will be sampled
  • when the sampling will occur
  • who will conduct the audit
  • what equipment and space will be needed

Step 4: Getting Down and Dirty
During the "hands on" stage of the audit, waste is sorted by hand to determine its composition. It is very important to carefully label all materials at this point to determine their source. This is also an excelling time to collect additional information about common contaminants or specific packaging which can be reduced. In this hands-on stage you will:

  • gather all waste and recyclables designed for weighing
  • label and weight all bags
  • hand-sort materials and place them into individual waste-stream categories
  • note contaminants in recyclable stream (ie. paper in the metal can recycling bin and vice versa)
  • record findings and any observations

Step 5: What Does It All Mean?
After the raw data is compiled, you can determine:

  • how much waste is generated per year
  • the waste composition
  • how much material is diverted through 3Rs activities
  • how and why the waste is generated

Where to Now? Next

Home Cuyahoga County
Solid Waste District

323 Lakeside Ave W, Suite 400
Cleveland, Ohio 44113-1009
Tel: 216-443-3749
Fax: 216-443-3737
[email protected]