Every business generates its share of trash, but many businesses create hazardous waste without realizing it. Here’s how to handle such waste safely.
Waste is just a part of doing business—sometimes a big part, and sometimes involving the production of hazardous waste. Hazardous waste has the potential to harm human, animal, or plant life. While the word hazardous waste may make one think of large factories spewing out deadly chemicals, some hazardous waste seems harmless at first glance.
Properly managing waste is an obligation every business has to the community and the planet. Here are a few innovative solutions for hazardous waste management. Through them, you can ensure greater safety and compliance, protecting the reputation of your brand.
What Is Hazardous Waste?
Hazardous waste, as mentioned, goes beyond the classic cartoonish image of yellow barrels filled with bubbling chemicals. Generally, hazardous waste is any substance subject to ignitability, toxicity, reactivity, and corrosiveness. All of these pose hazards to individual health, the ecosystem, and buildings or other structures to one degree or another. With that in mind, hazardous waste can be as extreme as several barrels of acid or as innocuous as a large container of used batteries.
It falls to business owners to ensure they’re handling their hazardous waste in a way that follows regulations to avoid legal issues and the potential for harm. For example, they may need to secure the right permits to handle hazardous waste. Following the rules brings several benefits, including enhanced safety, greater cost efficiency, and sustainability. Being safe is just good business sense.
Waste Management Solutions Steps
Establishing a hazardous waste protocol in your business is a fairly easy process. Keep the following steps in mind as you proceed.
Assessment and Classification
Perform a periodic waste audit. Review all the waste your business produces, both hazardous and safe, and determine the best practice for handling them. It helps to bring in a waste management consultant to perform this task. Furthermore, the classification of waste may reveal ways to reuse or recycle materials, resell them to others, and go about acquiring the necessary permits.
Technological Integration
Be ready to boost your processing capabilities by investing in more advanced means of processing waste. Filtration units, IoT monitoring systems, and AI-synced data analytics can help you find ways to reduce waste production, streamline waste disposal, and identify opportunities to profit from hazardous waste.
Education and Training
How savvy are your employees when it comes to dealing with regular and hazardous waste? Maintain a constant cycle of training and education by introducing your team to waste management technology, safe handling and disposal, and more. A smart team is an effective team.
Call In the Experts
If you’re at a loss about the next steps, contact a reputable hazardous waste disposal company for a consultation. Whether you contract them to handle all your waste or are simply seeking good advice, they’ll be an excellent ally in handling it all. Those are just a few innovative solutions for hazardous waste management. Take the time to determine the best course of action for your facility’s hazardous waste needs today and work toward a brighter and more profitable tomorrow.