Aloha!
A GBS trip to Hawaii usually means more than sunshine, beach fronts and mai tais. The State of Hawaii (SOH) has been ramping up their sustainability efforts and we’re helping them down the right path. Last week we had the pleasure of doing some dirty work with the staff and intern team of Honolulu’s State Office Tower with a waste stream audit for the building. We’re breaking down the process step-by-step to show how a little elbow grease, some protective gloves and teamwork can give an enlightening look into a building’s overall materials flow and waste management efforts.
We used a toolkit of easy-to-find supplies that you may already have on hand, these items are recommended but you might find some additional items to be helpful as well. While on the island we picked up a few things at the local Home Depot to assist in our efforts.
Inventory of Items 
- Wet wipes
- 5 gallon or larger buckets or containers to sort rubbish
- Shoe protectors
- Dust masks
- Clothing protection
- Tarps to lay rubbish on
- Utility knife to cut garbage bags
- Trash bags to re-load rubbish in after sort
- Table to dump rubbish on to avoid bending over
- Scale to weigh rubbish
- Clip board along with report template to record results
- Samples of your favorite waste audit reports
The Big Day
We were greeted by 11 staff and interns that were eagerly waiting to begin the waste audit. We determined roles and responsibilities and then headed down to the waste sort area. One group was responsible for sorting and the other group was responsible for weighing. As it turned out everyone but the recorder of weights got involved in sorting rubbish, it was one big trash party!
The team got right to work sorting through the waste. Non-recyclable trash was separated from recyclable items and each category of waste was weighed. The team discovered a lot of mixed paper that currently the SOH does not have a resource to recycle, but is currently looking into. Another big contributor to the waste stream appeared to be food waste, single use plates and cups which are for the most part not recyclable.
The SOH intern team took on the task of compiling a full report of the waste stream audit and making recommendations based on the results.
The chart below illustrates the results of the audit. The building is already doing an impressive job of recycling 58% of the waste stream, but there are plenty more recycling improvement opportunities. The team is using these results to make recommendations to the State and increase overall recycling rates.
Below we’ve included the step-by-step instructions for a successful waste audit and some recommendations on diverting more of your waste stream from the landfill.
Can’t get enough? Elaine is facilitating a free webinar October 19 on green materials and waste management for green buildings. Sign-up and more information here.
Happy auditing!
Elaine & Crystal
The Waste Audit Process
- Review instructions
- Dress with safety gear
- Arrange supplies for easy access during audit
- Mark buckets with appropriate labels-Sorting Team
- Corrugated Cardboard
- Mixed Paper
- Tin and Aluminum Cans
- Plastic Bottles and Tubs
- Glass Bottles and Jars
- Compostable Food and Fibers
- Single Use Cups and Plates
- Non-Recyclables
- Restroom Waste
- Office Reuse Items
- Place scale away from actual sort
- Begin to sort waste
- Weigh results
- Record results
- Rebag garbage dispose in dumpster
- Clean up area
- Write report
Recommendations
- Food waste in the office accounts for a majority of the wet fraction in the waste flows. Wet waste also prevents reuse of garbage liners. So, by source-separating food waste (or anything wet) the office can save on garbage liner costs.
- Find local resources to compost food waste
- Provide internal infrastructure for easy recycling
- Double side all paper products –coordinate with IT department
- Think twice before printing
- Find local resources to take mixed paper waste
- Non-recyclable plastics and other materials (lignin or cellulosic materials) can potentially be harnessed to be made into RDF or RPF.
- RDF or RPF are viable energy solutions for applications such as cement-making. A RDF or RPF-producing facility can accept several inputs including organic wastes. For example, RDF or RPF can substitute the importation of fossil fuels for basic infrastructural maintenance.
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