5 Ways Your Business Can Reduce Waste

As the population grows, demand for consumer goods increases worldwide. That increased demand puts pressure on the increasingly complex supply chains of businesses, often negatively affecting the environment. Companies are producing more waste than ever before.

Produced by an average person 4.9 pounds of waste Every day, double the amount of waste from the 1960s. And the global supply chain plays a major role as far as more materials are used to manufacture, package and ship products to consumers. The problem is permanent. Even in 2016, 90% of the environmental damage caused by consumer packaging products companies came from the supply chain. According to McKinsey & Co.. By 2024, despite a 25% improvement in sustainability, supply chain practices remained a major contributor to environmental damage. According to research Expert Council of MIT Transportation & Logistics Center and Supply Chain Management.

By developing a more sustainable supply chain, our business is:

• Reduce costly waste disposal and other ongoing costs
• Tighten efficiency
• Improves brand reputation
• Become an industry leader in environmental practices

Fortunately, many changes to basic business practices and supply chain processes can help reduce waste significantly. Reducing waste can help improve your revenue.

Here are some ways your business can reduce waste:

1. Audit the facility

When planning steps to reduce waste, one of the best ways to get started is to audit your facility.

Identify supplies chain related items that will become waste or create waste. Which consumables do you use regularly? Can I replace these items with reusable ones? How much damaged supply will be created? How do you dispose of waste?

Make sure you have a recycling system rather than sending all your waste to landfills. Consider also setting up a composting program. All staff should check what can be recycled or composted and where they can be placed.

Auditing waste and encouraging recycling and composting to reduce waste sent to landfills. Additionally, by monitoring business waste production and disposal processes, we can more efficiently reduce the amount of waste produced, increase the efficiency of removing that waste, and minimize the environmental impact of waste. It can be suppressed.

2. Rate the package

Packaging account Almost a third of our municipal solid wastetherefore, evaluating the package can have a significant impact on waste reduction.

For example, where can I switch to a reusable package? If you are shipping frequently between warehouses, consider using reusable plastic containers. This will reduce a significant amount of cardboard waste.

If that’s not an option, upgrade the package that wears after several shipments to a longer lasting stronger material. This reduces packaging waste and costs. Although it may be more expensive per item, several times more use can save you a lot of savings per package.

Also, consider repairing packaging and shipping supplies if possible. Pallets are famous for their destruction, but they are easily repaired, reducing shipping waste and cost savings in the process.

3. I’m going paperless

According to the EPA, paper is still the most prominent waste, with paper and cardboard being occupied 23.05% of municipal solid waste In the US.

We’ve talked a bit about reducing cardboard waste, but it’s even easier to get paperless with new technology. In fact, many of the paper alternatives are more efficient and can reduce supply chain issues.

A system that combines digital tracking and paper tracking opens up to an infinite number of potential problems. why? In addition to manual human input, there is no reliable way to digitally transfer written information. This can take time and introduce errors.

So, going paperless means not only reducing footprint, saving paper costs, or reducing the need for storage space for that paper. It also improves supply chain efficiency.

4. Use demand forecasts to predict usage

One of the most effective ways to avoid manufacturing-related waste is Demand forecast. This technique analyzes the demands of potential customers and enables businesses to make production decisions more accurate.

With no proper systems to predict demand, companies often overattack and sit in excess products that cannot move. Or they often cause rush supply and production orders to avoid losing valuable sales. This puts more pressure on the supply chain, leading to mistakes and allows for the addition of waste from the extra steps taken to promote the product.

Effective predictions can reduce wasted excess materials, packaging, fuel, time and energy. Instead, we anticipate demand and adjust accordingly.

5. Optimize communication channels

One of the most important factors in creating supply chain waste may surprise you.

Communication channel efficiency plays a major role in creating or reducing costly logistical problems that generate excess waste. These issues also cut down on your profits.

Logistical issues due to poor communication architectures can lead to supply space, consumables and excessive fuel use. for example:

• Misunderstandings can cause cargo trucks arriving at the wrong facility or fuel waste after closing.
• A slow bottleneck in communication or communication can cause batches of shipments that could be combined into one flight and shipped separately instead. As a result, you waste fuel through extra unnecessary travel.
• An unnecessary loop in the information flow can lead to additional supply and other waste due to accidental replicating of the order.

You may need to hire an external expert to organize your communication channels, but doing so will help you identify issues such as:

• Information Bottleneck
• No unnecessary loops in information flows
• Damage or lack of communication

To fix these types of communication issues and optimize the associated channels, look for issues such as the examples above. Where does information tend to cluster and stagnate?

Production speeds will be slower when looking for signs such as slow response times. Determine the central communication errors faced by the interview team and leadership.

Improved communication flows lead to natural reductions in supply chain waste due to fewer repeated manufacturing and logistical failures.

Work proactively about your business waste

Until you start looking around, you may not understand how much waste you can reduce in your business facilities and supply chains.

Supply chains continue to be a major environmental impact factor, until businesses acquire ownership of waste production and begin measures to make those waste processes more efficient.

The great thing about working to reduce waste in your business is that there are inevitably two benefits. The less waste, and the more future waste forecasts – your supply chain will be more efficient and you will be better Your business is operating as a whole.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on February 6th, 2020 and updated in February 2025.