What?
A waste audit is just any process that consistently documents the waste being produced or being littered in a specific area or business for a set period of time. This allows interested parties to identify consistent problems and solutions.
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For example, say you wanted to make your English classroom more waste-conscious, but you didn’t know how. A good place to start is with a waste audit. First, establish where waste is collected. Let’s say some trash ended up on the floor, and some ended up in the trash cans. With this information, establish your procedure.
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Here’s an example procedure:
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Once a week, sweep the floors and make sure all trash from the week is collected in the trash can. Then, cleanly and carefully (wearing gloves), count and record all pieces of trash. Continue this process for one month. Then empty the trash can. This is a post-occurrence waste audit, meaning it’s documenting the trash after it’s been thrown away.
2. Set up a chart on the wall above the trash can that lists all sorts of trash in an easily understandable manner. Then, request that your classmates record what type of trash that they’re throwing away as they do it. Also, request that whoever sweeps the floors documents the trash that they sweep up. Continue this for one month. This waste audit documents waste as it’s being produced.
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Example data set:
Item Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
Water Bottle 3 4 3 2
Pencil 1 1 5 1
Note Paper 2 3 5 2
Cans 2 3 2 2
Erasers 3 4 8 2
So with this data, you can see pretty clear cut patterns. For example, there is a spike in pencils and erasers in Week 3. You could ask yourself why this happens- maybe you had an art project that wasn’t cleaned up well. A simple solution would be to ensure that everyone cleans up after their project. There’s also a consistent number of water bottles and cans, so maybe if your teacher offered an incentive to bring reusable water bottles, that number would likely decrease.
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This is obviously a very simplified example, but it shows how much a waste audit can lead to specific solutions with direct results. Presenting data often leads to other people being more willing to work with you to find results, as you’ve shown that you’re dedicated to the problem. Also, if you’re a student, adults are often really persuaded to act with community youth that have shown dedication and specific goals to improve their community.
How do waste audits look in the real world?
Our last section showed a simpler, smaller-scale waste audit, but in reality, waste audits can be of any size and are often conducted by large organizations with very professional standards. Seeing examples of what these look like can show you how to present your data, and the standards that your organization should aim for.
Here is Carlsbad Cleanup Crew's first waste audit report.
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Other Examples:
One of our inspirations is the Surfrider Foundation. Here's an overview of their data collection process, as well as one of their waste audits. If you'd like to learn more about waste auditing on the municipal level, we recommend checking out this waste audit paid for by the City of San Francisco. It’s a good example of how waste audits can be conducted if you’re holding cleanups. However, from a first glance at these sources, the idea of making a waste audit from scratch may seem intimidating, leaving many to wonder just how one goes about this process.
How?
We get it.
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Based on the waste audit examples linked above, the idea of creating a waste audit may seem like a daunting task at first. That’s why we’ve created our own simplified guide to the waste-auditing process, free to access for you and/or your new organization's disposal.
Setting Goals
What would you or your organization like to gain from creating a waste audit?
Collecting Data
​What are the different ways to collect data in preparation for making a waste audit?
Waste Auditing
How do you get from stacks of spreadsheets to a clean, concise waste audit?
What To Do With It
What doors become open once your complete a waste audit? What can you do next?
Setting Goals
Before starting your first waste audit, it’s crucial that you and your organization set goals such as:
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Establishing what you would like to gain out of waste auditing. Are you simply trying to track the amount of trash your team picks up? Are you aiming to analyze your data and propose local solutions?
Click here for more ideas.
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Establishing the method your organization will be using to collect data. Not sure what your options are?
We have a few suggestions here.
When setting up a waste audit, your next decision will be choosing a method of collecting data. There are two main options we recommend:
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1. A physical waste audit (pen and paper)
2. A digital waste audit (online website/app)
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Choose Your Route:
The Manual Route
C3 personally uses the manual method of data collection. During each cleanup, our groups are given a physical spreadsheet. One group member is responsible for ticking off each item of trash picked up in the appropriate category.
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As C3 has learned and grown together through the years, we’ve gone through several different spreadsheet iterations, eventually landing on our current model, the eighth spreadsheet iteration. By sharing our current method with you, we hope to lessen the learning curve for new cleanup groups.
Terra Tip #8: When setting up a data collection system it is important to take note of what information to gather.
Some variables we recommend gathering data for are:​
Not convinced the manual route is for you? That's a-okay! Perhaps the digital route will better suit your needs.
The Digital Route
While we along with many other groups use the manual route, there are many easy-to-use methods online to track your trash. Check out these three digital alternatives to create a wasteless waste audit:
This website allows for each data/trash report to hold up to 50,000 pieces of logged litter and can be flexibly used to fit your community’s needs! Their app LitterData allows access to all of their auditing features and communication features to easily host cleanup events on any scale.
For our coastal friends, we recommend an app that can be downloaded both on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store: Marine Debris Tracker. This tool is used to take note of trash along coastlines and waterways, thus better characterizing trash problems specific to your beaches.
Google Forms & Spreadsheets
The Waste Audit
After cleaning your streets and collecting data, it's time to clean your numbers. These are the final steps to complete your waste audit:
Organize your Spreadsheets
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It is important for your group to keep track of and organize your spreadsheet. You don’t want to create a single cluttered spreadsheet because it will be difficult to analyze and compile when you need to. Here is an example formatted waste audit.
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Clean Your Data
Although tedious and annoying, it is important for you to go through your data and fix any discrepancies that could arise from human error when inputting data. This is one reason we recommend a digital waste audit where human error is negligible.
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Verify and Authenticate
Verification and authenticity is extremely important. After all, if your data cannot be backed up by evidence and verified, it will have no real impact or tangible impact. An easy way to do this is to use a platform like Literati that takes a picture of every piece of trash that you pick up.
IV. What To Do With It
The best part of creating and finalizing a waste audit is putting it to use! After compiling your data and formatting it into an easy to understand format, your waste audit will reveal hidden information about your city, such as trash hotspots, top pollutants, seasonal trash changes, and much more. Great creative with it! The doors are now open for you and your team to push for environmental initiatives and sustainable policy.
You are the catalyst for change in your community!
Why?
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Verifies the work
you’re doing
Tracking the trash that you’re collecting allows your voice to be heard. It’s easy to say that there is a litter problem in your city. It’s much more credible to say “We’ve picked up 375 pounds of trash on these blocks in the past six months.”
Verifies the work
you’re doing
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Having broad goals, like increasing sustainability or becoming more eco-friendly, are good places to start. But when you don’t set specific goals for improvement, those words become empty. Having data lets you identify smaller parts of the problem, and design specific and attainable goals.
Lets You Find Targeted Solutions
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Builds Skills in Practicing Consistency
When working towards a waste audit, every cleanup will have to follow the same format. But with such a simple, clear system, anyone can join and understand how to get the job done. With each cleanup that passes, it becomes easier for everyone to execute their role, leaving more time to just enjoy the cleanup and the people with you.