Republic Services Blue Print Waste Assessment Featured in USCCF Report

Republic Services, in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Corporate Citizenship Center (CCC) and other contributing partners prepared Trash to Treasure: Changing Waste Streams to Profits Streams to educate the private sector about the business value of circular economy opportunities. More and more companies are looking towards a circular economy business model as a way to cut costs and increase efficiency. Turning waste into a resource is a huge part of that, and this report takes a deep dive into how the private sector can make "trash" an economic opportunity.

One of the many resources highlighted in the report is Republic Services BluePrint™ Waste Assessment tool available as a resource to businesses across the country to evaluate waste streams and develop custom programs to meet the unique needs of each company and property.    

For a businesses to measure wasted resources, it takes a concerted effort to track inputs versus outputs of all types of resources. It also requires auditing how much waste is produced, what types of waste are produced, how that waste is removed from facilities, and the cost of that removal.  Republic Services BluePrint™ Waste Assessment service helps companies with this task, which can be difficult for any one company to complete or contextualize.

Among some of the largest 5,589 publicly traded businesses in the United States, 342 million metric tons of waste was sent to landfills in 2014.  Companies are already working to reduce waste and increase profits because of it. Waste affects all industries regardless of size and whether they are manufacturing products or offering services.

There are significant opportunities for companies to properly value their waste streams and make changes to their processes to take greater advantage of cost savings and new profit streams. For some companies, they can improve the efficiency of processes, package goods more effectively, and find ways to sell or donate their waste as raw materials.

For others, those opportunities exist outside of their companies. Some can work with consumers of their goods to get used products back for refurbishing, while others can develop industrial services to treat waste or turn it into energy. In all these cases, improving the ability of companies to measure and eliminate their waste are important steps to capturing lost opportunities.

Learn more about Republic Services free BluePrint™ Waste Assessment tool by visiting http://www.republicservices.com/businesses/business-solid-waste.