How to Audit and Reduce Your Waste

When Town Hall conducted a waste audit, we found out that over half of what we throw away could be composted. That’s 3,500 pounds a year!

Diverting waste from landfills helps save space and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air and water pollution. Not to mention, it can turn waste into valuable resources like natural fertilizer or recycled raw materials.

Read on to find out how to conduct your own waste audit and start reducing your contribution to landfills.

Conducting a waste audit

A waste audit is essentially categorizing and weighing what you throw away. Here are the steps:

1. Gather your materials. You will need a scale and all the most recent bags of trash found in your house (but not things you are already recycling). A cleared surface may be helpful for sorting. Plus a large plastic bin will make weighing easier. The waste audit will be most accurate if all the trash bags were replaced at the same time so that you are measuring what you’ve thrown away in a certain time period, like a day or a week. 

2. Separate your waste. It is helpful to know how much of your waste could be composted, recycled, or reused—and how much actually has to go to a landfill. Here is some more information on each category.

  • Compostable: This includes food scraps and organic material like yard waste but not bones, meat, or pet droppings, which cannot be composted at home.

  • Recyclable: Check Orange County’s list of accepted recycling materials during your waste audit to make sure you are accurately identifying recyclables.

  • Reusable: This includes any items that could have been used again, whether by you or someone else.

  • Landfill: If something truly cannot be composted, recycled, or reused, it can go to the landfill. This includes things like styrofoam, K-cups, and greasy pizza boxes.

3. Weigh your waste. Once the categories are broken up, weigh each one and write down the weight. If you are using a plastic bin or other container, make sure to subtract its weight from your measurements.

4. Do some calculations. This spreadsheet makes it easy to find out what percent of your waste should actually be going to the landfill and how many pounds of waste you produce in a year.

I’ve done a waste audit. Now what?

Your first waste audit is like a baseline. It can help you set goals and start reducing your household contribution to landfills. In the future, you can conduct another waste audit to see how you’re doing.

Here are some tips on how to reduce household waste:

  • Replace common disposable items with reusable ones. 

  • If you aren’t already, start composting! Composting at home is easy and produces nutritious fertilizer you can use in your garden. There are also compost pickup services that gather your compost and give you a clean bin every week. Town Hall uses CompostNow.

Know what you can recycle. Having Orange County’s accepted materials list near your recycling bin can help.