Waste Management Reporting for Sustainability: How to Track and Report Waste Data

Waste is one of the most visible environmental impacts for manufacturing and distribution businesses, and increasingly, customers want to see data. How much waste do you generate? What percentage is recycled? Are you sending hazardous waste to landfill? Do you have a zero waste target?

For many suppliers, waste management has been as simple as "we have bins, they get emptied." ESG reporting requires more detail, but the good news is that the data exists—you just need to know how to access it and structure it for reporting.

Understanding Waste Streams

Before you can track waste, you need to understand what waste streams you have. Most businesses generate several categories:

General waste (residual waste): Mixed waste that goes to landfill or incineration. This is typically your black bin or general skip.

Recycling (dry mixed recyclables): Paper, cardboard, plastics, metals, and glass that go for recycling. Often collected together in a blue bin or mixed recycling skip.

Organic waste: Food waste, canteen waste, or biodegradable materials. Some facilities have separate food waste collection for composting or anaerobic digestion.

Hazardous waste: Chemicals, contaminated materials, batteries, e-waste, fluorescent tubes, or regulated waste requiring special disposal. This must be tracked separately and disposed of through licensed carriers with hazardous waste consignment notes.

Specialist waste streams: Wood, metal scrap, confidential paper shredding, or WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) if you have significant volumes.

Walk through your site and identify every bin, skip, or waste container. What type of waste goes in each? How often is it collected? This audit is the foundation of waste tracking.

Getting Waste Data from Your Hauler

Your waste contractor already has the data you need. They're weighing your waste every time they collect it—you just need to ask for the reports.

What to request:

Monthly waste collection reports showing tonnage by waste stream
Waste transfer notes (required by law for each collection)
Destination facilities (where your waste is actually going)
Waste treatment method (recycling, landfill, incineration, composting)

Most commercial waste contractors provide online portals where you can download this data. If yours doesn't, call your account manager and request monthly reports. This should be standard service—if they can't provide it, consider switching contractors.

For hazardous waste, you should receive consignment notes for every collection. These are legal documents that track the waste from your site to disposal. Keep these filed—customers and auditors will ask to see them.

Setting Up a Waste Tracking Spreadsheet

Create a simple monthly tracker with columns for:

Month
General waste (tonnes)
Recycling (tonnes)
Organic waste (tonnes)
Hazardous waste (tonnes)
Total waste generated (tonnes)
Waste diverted from landfill (tonnes) — recycling + organic
Recycling rate (%)

Add formulas to automatically calculate totals and percentages. This gives you the core data needed for most ESG questionnaires.

Practical tip: If your waste is collected in litres or cubic meters (for example, wheelie bins rather than skips), you'll need to convert to weight. Your waste contractor can provide conversion factors, but approximate conversions are:

General waste: 1 m³ ≈ 0.1-0.2 tonnes
Cardboard: 1 m³ ≈ 0.05-0.1 tonnes
Mixed recycling: 1 m³ ≈ 0.1-0.15 tonnes

Weighed collections are far more accurate, so request weighbridge tickets if possible.

Calculating Your Recycling Rate

The recycling rate is the percentage of total waste that is diverted from landfill through recycling, composting, or energy recovery.

Basic formula: Recycling rate (%) = (Recycled waste + Organic waste) / Total waste × 100

Example: A manufacturer generates 48 tonnes of waste annually:

General waste to landfill: 18 tonnes
Recycling: 26 tonnes
Organic waste: 4 tonnes

Recycling rate = (26 + 4) / 48 × 100 = 62.5%

What counts as recycling? This depends on who's asking:

Strict definition: Only material that is actually reprocessed into new products (paper, metal, plastic, glass recycling)
Broader definition: Includes energy recovery from incineration and composting of organic waste
Zero waste to landfill definition: Anything not sent to landfill, including incineration with energy recovery

Most ESG questionnaires use the broader definition, but always clarify what the customer means by "recycling rate" if it's ambiguous.

Understanding "Zero Waste to Landfill"

Many large customers are asking suppliers to commit to "zero waste to landfill." What does this actually mean?

True zero waste to landfill: No waste is sent to landfill. All waste is either recycled, composted, or sent to incineration with energy recovery. This is achievable for many businesses.

95% diversion rate: Some definitions allow up to 5% of waste to landfill and still call it "zero waste." This accounts for contaminated waste or materials with no viable recycling route.

Hazardous waste exceptions: Hazardous waste sent to specialist disposal facilities (even landfill) is sometimes excluded from zero waste calculations, as it must be handled according to regulations.

If a customer asks if you're "zero waste to landfill," ask what definition they use. Achieving true zero waste is realistic for many suppliers:

Maximize recycling of dry materials (paper, cardboard, plastics, metals)
Separate organic waste for composting or anaerobic digestion
Switch residual waste from landfill disposal to energy-from-waste incineration
Work with your waste contractor to identify additional recycling streams

The key is ensuring that your general waste skip is being sent to an energy recovery facility rather than landfill. Many waste contractors offer this as standard now—check your waste transfer notes to see where your residual waste actually goes.

Tracking Hazardous Waste Separately

Hazardous waste must be tracked separately because it has different regulatory requirements and disposal routes. Common hazardous wastes include:

Chemicals and solvents
Paint and coatings
Oils and lubricants
Batteries and electronics
Fluorescent tubes
Contaminated PPE or rags

You must use a licensed hazardous waste carrier and complete consignment notes for each collection. Keep copies for at least three years. When reporting hazardous waste in ESG questionnaires, customers typically want to know:

Total tonnage generated annually
How it's disposed of (recycling, incineration, specialist landfill)
Whether you have procedures to minimize hazardous waste generation

Waste Intensity Metrics

Advanced ESG reporting asks for "waste intensity"—waste generated per unit of production or revenue. This allows year-over-year comparison even as your business grows.

Common intensity metrics:

Tonnes of waste per £1 million revenue
Tonnes of waste per tonne of product manufactured
Kg of waste per employee

Example: A company generates 48 tonnes of waste and has £12 million revenue. Waste intensity = 48 / 12 = 4 tonnes per £1m revenue

If next year they generate 52 tonnes of waste but revenue grows to £15 million: Waste intensity = 52 / 15 = 3.47 tonnes per £1m revenue

Absolute waste increased, but waste intensity improved—showing efficiency gains.

Common Reporting Mistakes to Avoid

Estimating instead of measuring: Don't guess your waste tonnage. Use actual data from your waste contractor.

Not tracking hazardous waste separately: Hazardous waste must be reported separately in most ESG frameworks.

Forgetting off-site waste: If you have skips at multiple locations or send waste directly from production to specialist recyclers (like metal scrap dealers), include it in your total.

Mixing waste categories: Be clear whether "recycling" includes organic waste, incineration with energy recovery, or only material recycling.

Annual data gaps: If you only request waste data once a year, you might miss collections or have incomplete records. Monthly tracking is far more reliable.

Using Waste Data in ESG Questionnaires

When customers ask about waste, they typically want:

Total annual waste generated (tonnes)
Breakdown by waste type (general, recycling, hazardous)
Recycling rate or diversion rate (%)
Waste reduction initiatives or targets
Whether you're zero waste to landfill (or working towards it)

If you're managing ESG responses across multiple customers, tools like ESG Passport allow you to store waste data centrally and automatically populate answers, saving time and ensuring consistency across questionnaires.

Setting Waste Reduction Targets

Once you have baseline data, you can set meaningful targets:

"Achieve 75% recycling rate by 2027"
"Reduce waste to landfill by 50% by 2028"
"Achieve zero waste to landfill by 2026"
"Reduce waste intensity by 10% by 2027"

Even small improvements demonstrate commitment to sustainability. Common waste reduction initiatives include:

Better segregation at source (more bins, clearer labeling)
Staff training on waste sorting
Reusable packaging instead of single-use
Working with suppliers to reduce packaging waste
Process improvements that reduce production scrap

Final Thoughts

Waste tracking for ESG reporting doesn't require complex systems—it requires consistent data collection from your waste contractor and a simple tracking spreadsheet. Start by understanding what waste streams you have, request monthly reports from your hauler, and calculate your recycling rate. Within a few months, you'll have robust data to answer customer questionnaires and identify opportunities to reduce both waste and costs. The companies succeeding in sustainability aren't necessarily those producing the least waste—they're the ones measuring it, reporting it honestly, and improving it over time.