WHAT IS A WASTE AUDIT?
A waste audit is a procedure, as outlined in this plan, to guide an individual or team of individuals through a series of steps which will provide data on how much waste is generated, disposed of and recycled.

THE BENEFITS OF A WASTE AUDIT
Many businesses, industries and institutions are unaware of the actual composition of their waste stream. A waste audit puts a focused look on how materials are purchased, what is brought in to a facility and what goes out of a facility as waste, pinpointing just what and how many materials are actually recyclable.

HOW TO DO A WASTE AUDIT
1. Materials
Gather the following materials and resources before you begin your garbage audit: a large scale before weighing the waste, separate bins for each sorting category, gloves, surgical masks, a calculator, and materials for recording data.
2. Safety
Always wear protective clothing such as long-sleeved shirts, pants, gloves, and surgical masks. Conduct the waste-composition study under faculty or staff supervision. Avoid selecting garbage from areas which may contain hazardous materials, such as medical and chemistry facilities, unless you have professional guidance.
3. Select campus areas
Select three to six areas on campus that represent distinct waste-generation locations, such as residence halls, food services, administration, student union, academic buildings (separate physical sciences and liberal arts, if possible). Designate a sorting site where you can set up tables and conduct your analysis.
4. Collect garbage
Find out from waste-collection services what their schedule is for the locations under study. Then randomly collect at least five bags of garbage from dumpsters at each campus location prior to daily waste pickup. It may be easier if you contact a janitor for assistance so you can avoid picking bags with kitchen or bathroom wastes. Label the bags according to their collection points.
6. Calculate weight and volume
Once you have transferred all of the garbage to your sorting site, calculate the total weight and volume collected from each region before you begin sorting. Remember to weigh the sorting containers.
7. Sort the waste into catagories
At a minimum, sort your waste into two broad categories: "recyclable" and "other." A more detailed breakdown of recyclable waste may help you to distinguish between those materials which may be recycled for reprocessing now and those which may be marketable in the future. Carefully sort each bag of garbage into categories. Once you've completed sorting for one region, weigh your containers of material (subtracting the weight of the container itself) and record the figures.
8. Using the information
If you don't know the total amount of waste that a particular area generates over a given period of time, present your figures as a percentage. You can say, for example, that newspaper represents about 15% of the waste generated from the food service area on campus. If you do know the total weight of all food service wastes, you can multiply that percentage by the total weight to estimate the total amount of waste in each category.

Check out NIU Campus Facts on the Just the Facts page to see the latest results of our NIU Trash Audit.