Business Waste Reduction Case Studies
In 1998, the U.S. EPA Region 9 provided grant funding for the Sustainable Futures Project; a program designed to help businesses reduce waste and buy recycled. A major component of the program involved waste reduction assessments for businesses within San Diego County.
Why Reduce Waste at Your Business?
Reducing waste at your business is not only good for the environment -- it's good for your bottom line. As can be seen from the following waste assessment reports, each business was able to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills and, at the same time, save thousands of dollars. These waste assessment reports provide the quantitative information which can be used as a starting point for further investigation on how you can reduce your own business waste. Business and contact names have been omitted.
Different Ways to Reduce Waste
Reducing waste isn't the same for every type of business. That is why we have included waste reduction case studies for different types of businesses.
Note: The case study files are in PDF format, a popular format for online documents. A FREE viewer is available.
Hospitality Case Study (download now)
Case study for a large hotel. Highlights include reducing waste through recycling, reuse, and energy and water conservation.
Hi-Tech Case Study (download now)
Case study for a semi-conductor manufacturer. Highlights include reducing waste through restructuring purchasing procedures and using reusable materials.
Manufacturing Case Studies
Case studies for hot-tub (download ), golf club (download ), and recreational equipment manufacturers (download ). Reducing waste through restructuring shipping & packaging procedures and diverting hard-to-recycle materials.
Service Case Study (download now)
Case study for a naval ship repair company. Highlights include major cost and resource savings achieved through the implementation of a cardboard recycling program.
Additional Resources
EPA WasteWise
(http://www.epa.gov/wastewise)
CIWMB Website.
(http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov)
Alameda County Waste Management Authority Website
(http://www.stopwaste.org)
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