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Safety

WASTE ACCOUNTING – Measuring Your Pollution Prevention Efforts
Copyright ©   All rights reserved.
By Randy Oglesby 

Waste management and pollution prevention is steadily being incorporated into business strategies as a potential source of profitability and competitive advantage.  Waste accounting is the systematic collection, organization, and communication of waste-generation and management information related to an organization’s waste-generating activities.  Such a system enables a business to routinely collect consistent data pertaining to a company’s waste generation and disposal activities, along with their associated management costs.  Waste-generation management costs are tracked from the point of generation through final disposition and evaluated against specific pollution-prevention goals and budgets. 

Three key elements are essential to successful development and implementation of the waste-accounting system

• Accurate and consistent identification of waste types and waste-generating source

• Accurate and consistent collection of waste-generation and management data
• Accurate and consistent allocation of waste management and disposal costs related to specific waste type and waste-generating sources

Specific waste-accounting performance metrics should be used to measure improvement toward achievement of pollution-prevention goals.  These performance metrics should be specific and standardized to represent observable and verifiable measures associated with particular waste-generation and waste-management activities. 

Typical waste-accounting operational performance metrics include the following:

• Costs and volume of total waste generate
• Costs and volume of waste generated by waste type
• Costs and volume of waste generated by waste-generating source
• Costs and volume of waste generated by department
• Costs and volume of waste generated by disposal options

Standardization of operational performance measurements is a critical element to the success of the waste-accounting program.  Waste types should be consistently identified according to specific characteristics that are inherent to the waste and that may affect the management of the waste

• How it is regulated
• How it is packaged
• How it is managed or disposed
• The costs incurred
• The potential for supporting pollution prevention options

For example, waste oil and oily water from motor vehicles may both be designated as a state hazardous waste having an identical state-specific waste code.  However, the two wastes may have different management options available to them, different costs associated with their disposal, and different potential pollution-prevention opportunities. 

Under waste-accounting methods, waste oil might be standardized into the following distinct waste types:

• Vehicle motor oil
• Turbine lube oil
• Transformer mineral oil
• Oil and water
• Unspecified or mixed oil

Aggregating waste-management data could easily produce the following results:

• Potential pollution-prevention opportunities to go unnoticed
• Inaccurate measurement of the performance of implemented pollution-prevention options
• Overshadowing or nullification of a successfully implemented pollution-prevention option by the generation of other waste types with the same characteristic but from different generating sources and/or activity

Accurate data collection is another important element of a successful waste-accounting system.  All waste-management data should be converted to a consistent unit of measure.  All container volumes should be recorded by weight; especially when disposal charges are based on weight.

The following are common data collection mechanisms used in developing the data collection tools:

• Container issuance and inspection tags
• Operation and maintenance logs
• Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifests
• Vendor contracts
• Accounts payable (invoices)

Essential to the success of the program is single point accountability.  A facility or corporate waste-accountant should be designated.  The waste-accountant should perform the following functions:

• Establish and implement waste-accounting structure and prepare standardized tools easily supported by available resources
• Collect and compile consistent waste-accounting data
• Prepare waste performance reports
• Evaluate progress toward achieving pollution-prevention goals

Waste accounting offers a disciplined mechanism for routinely collecting consistent and reliable data.  Consistent and accurate identification and quantification of waste-generating activities, and their associated costs will assist in anticipating and managing waste-management costs rather than merely bearing the costs.

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