Part 4: Useful Templates from the Leaner & Greener Waste Workbook

Use this template to note your 2022 waste baseline and benchmark and then to measure and monitor on a monthly basis going forward.

This template helps you get clear on how much waste is generated in your business and how much that waste costs. It allows you to monitor waste volumes and costs year-on-year and month-on-month.

You only need to complete the cells shaded in green:

You must complete a separate table for each of landfill waste, recycling waste and food waste.

• 2022 Total m3 - Get this data from your 2022 bills
• 2022 Total Cost - Get this data from your 2022 bills
• Benchmark Measure - Insert a unit of activity against which you will benchmark e.g., number of customers / covers / tickets / transactions / rooms / square metres. Select the benchmark activity that is most appropriate for your business. This allows you to work out how much waste is generated per customer, per ticket, per transaction, per room, per square metre.
• Volume kg - Insert the volume of landfill waste in kg. Get this data on your monthly bill.
  Comments - Note anything that happened in this month that may have affected water use. This will be useful when comparing year-on-year.

Use this table to note your observations during a Bin Audit.

Set aside time to walk around your business and focus exclusively on bins.

• Look into each bin and empty onto the floor where necessary.
• Note what is the most disposed item in each bin.
• Simply write down what you observe and where you believe improvements could be made.
• Use this table to collate data from all areas of your business. You will quickly see the priority items for attention.
• Try not to blame or judge – during the audit phase, you are just gathering information.

Use this table to note your observations during a during a Walkaround Waste Audit.

• Set aside time to walk around your business and focus exclusively on waste that is being generated.
• Just observe how things are done in your business on a day-to-day basis.
• Ask yourself ‘Where are we generating waste unnecessarily?’
• Consider where changes in materials or standard practice could lead to significant savings.
• Simply write down what you observe and where you believe improvements could be made.
• Try not to blame or judge – during the audit phase, you are just gathering information.

This template allows you to document a practical Action Plan to reduce waste and reduce costs.

This creates a single document where all actions that you can commit to are listed. It establishes priorities and responsibilities within the team, as well as timelines for action.

• Action - State the action you will take
• Responsibility - Clearly identify who is responsible for delivering on this action.
• Deadline - Set a specific date when this action is targeted for completion.
• Notes - Add any information here that is relevant to the particular action e.g., additional resources required. (The first line is filled in as an example)