Business Waste Audit Checklist: What Can Be Recycled Before Landfill?

TL;DR — Business Waste Audit Checklist: What Can Be Recycled Before Landfill?

At Sol Recycling, we use a business waste audit to understand what your facility discards, how much you generate, and which material streams could be reduced, reused, recycled, securely destroyed, or recovered before landfill. From there, we use those findings as the starting point for a practical recycling program that fits the way you operate. 

Key takeaways:

• We define the audit boundary and confirm who on your team will be responsible for each part of the review.
• We collect invoices, recorded weights, pickup schedules, service notes, and any extra charges so you can see the full picture.
• We walk through every area where materials are generated, handled, stored, or staged for collection.
• We check major recoverable and controlled streams, including cardboard, plastics, metals, paper, organics, product destruction materials, and mixed waste.
• We measure both weight and volume, because some materials take up more space than their weight suggests.
• We create a prioritized work plan, so you know what to address first, what can be recycled, and where landfill diversion may improve.

What is a business waste audit?

When we carry out a business waste audit, we are taking a structured look at the materials leaving your facility and the systems you use to handle them. The goal is to give you a clear baseline. You can see what materials are being generated, how much is leaving, where those materials begin, how they are collected, where they go, what they cost, where contamination is showing up, and where landfill diversion may be possible.

A useful audit should not stop at one bin or one department. We look across the full operation, from receiving and production to packaging, maintenance, offices, cafeterias, returns, damaged inventory, storage areas, and loading docks.

Waste usually does not come from one place. The best opportunities often appear when we follow materials through your facility and understand how they move, where they pile up, and where a better recycling program could fit.

Does an Ontario business need a waste audit?

Some Ontario businesses and institutions are required to complete waste audits and waste reduction work plans. Others complete them voluntarily because they want better cost control, cleaner operations, stronger recycling programs, or more progress toward diversion goals.

Ontario Regulation 102/94 applies to certain industrial, commercial, and institutional establishments that meet specific sector and size thresholds. The Government of Ontario states that covered businesses and institutions must prepare waste audits, written audit reports, and waste reduction work plans.

Because applicability depends on your operation, size, and activity, you should review the regulation and seek qualified advice instead of assuming that a voluntary checklist satisfies a legal requirement.

How should you define the audit scope?

When we define the audit scope with you, we make it clear which facilities, departments, shifts, materials, contractors, and time period are included. That boundary matters. An incomplete sample, a shutdown week, a seasonal peak, or an unusual production run can all distort the results and lead to decisions that do not reflect your normal waste stream.

We also record the operating schedule, production level, containers, equipment, vendors, material destinations, and pickup activity. We note peak periods, seasonal conditions, shutdowns, inventory changes, and any temporary operating issues that may affect the numbers.

The clearer the scope is at the start, the easier it becomes to compare results later and build a recycling program around how your facility actually runs.

Which records should you collect?

When we review your waste stream with you, we want the records to show quantity, frequency, destination, and cost. If they are available, we usually ask you to gather twelve months of invoices, contracts, scale tickets, rebate statements, destruction certificates, contamination notices, rental charges, and internal diversion reports. That history helps us see what is actually leaving your facility, how often it moves, where it goes, and how it is being handled.

We also look closely at how your pricing is structured. Some services are priced by lift, container size, weight, distance, equipment, or a monthly amount. Others may include rental charges, fuel adjustments, contamination fees, or separate processing charges.

These details matter because they help us understand whether a recycling program, a collection change, or a better material separation step may reduce unnecessary disposal and uncover material value in your waste stream.

How should you inspect the facility?

You should inspect the facility by following materials from the point they enter your business to the point they leave. Walk through receiving, production, maintenance, staff areas, returns, storage, and loading docks. At each point, identify what is being discarded, why it is being discarded, which container receives it, and who handles it.

When we assess your waste stream, we look at whether each material can be prevented, reused, returned, donated, recycled, securely destroyed, or recovered. We also record its condition, including whether it is clean, mixed, wet, damaged, confidential, regulated, or difficult to separate.

We involve the employees who perform the work whenever possible. They often know the practical reasons sorting fails. A container may be too far away. A sign may be unclear. A bin may be missing on one shift. A process change may have created a new waste stream that was never added to the recycling program.

These day-to-day details are easy to miss from a desk, but they can make a major difference in the audit findings.

What materials should you check before landfill?

Before material goes to landfill, we look for clean, separable waste streams that may have a practical route for reuse, recycling, composting, secure destruction, or recovery. What makes sense for you depends on your operation, the condition of the material, how much you generate, and which processors are available in your area.

For cardboard and paper, we check volume, cleanliness, moisture, and whether your team is flattening or baling the material. Steady quantities may support scheduled collection or rebates, while contamination can lower material value or create handling issues. Cardboard is often one of the first materials we review because many facilities generate it every day, but its value depends heavily on keeping it dry, clean, and separated.

For metals, look at production offcuts, strapping, damaged components, maintenance remnants, fixtures, and other metal-bearing materials. Separate them when it is safe and practical. Record sharp edges, residues, coatings, mixed attachments, or other handling issues that could affect collection or processing. Metal streams can hold material value, but they still need the right sorting and storage approach.

For wood, review clean pallets, crates, and lumber for return, repair, reuse, recycling, or recovery. Pallets may be reusable within your own operation or through a pallet recovery route. Treated, painted, composite, or contaminated wood may need a different option, so it is important not to assume all wood belongs in the same stream.

For organics, review food and other organic material from cafeterias, production areas, warehouses, and damaged inventory. Environment and Climate Change Canada explains that landfilled organics generate methane and that emissions from Canadian landfills accounted for 17% of national methane emissions in 2023. If your facility generates consistent organic material, separating it can support landfill diversion and cleaner waste handling.

For textiles and controlled inventory, assess whether materials can be reused, donated, recycled, securely destroyed, or recovered. Recalled, defective, branded, expired, or not-for-sale products may require documented destruction. In those cases, your audit should record quantity, access controls, proof of handling, and intended disposition. The recycling or recovery route must match the product risk.

For suitable residual materials, evaluate non-hazardous residuals only after conventional recycling streams are separated. Some materials may qualify for refuse-derived fuel, reverse-engineered fuel, or another recovery route, but this depends on composition, processing requirements, regulatory conditions, and receiving-facility specifications. We treat this as a later-stage option, not a replacement for separating recyclable materials first.

How do contamination and container placement affect results?

Contamination and container placement affect results because recoverable material may be rejected, downgraded, or sent for disposal when it is mixed with incompatible items. During the audit, record what is mixed and why the mixing occurs.

When we review your recycling setup, the cause is often simple. Labels may be unclear, containers may be too far away, colours may be inconsistent, openings may be too small, or bins may overflow. Some shifts may also be missing the right containers, and on-site instructions may not match what the processor can accept.

The fix is not always a complicated policy. We may adjust signage, move a container closer, change an opening, provide short staff training, or update the collection schedule so your team can sort with more confidence.

Audit first, then build your recycling program

We start with a business waste audit because it gives you reliable information for building a recycling program around your actual operation. By connecting material data with handling practices, service costs, documentation requirements, and available receiving options, we can help you identify practical priorities for waste reduction and landfill diversion. That gives you a clearer path to build a recycling program that fits your operation.

At Sol Recycling, we help Ontario businesses evaluate waste streams and turn findings into practical programs for cardboard, paper, metals, organics, wood, textiles, secure product destruction, and suitable residual recovery.

If you want to understand what your facility may be able to divert from landfill, request a waste assessment from us, and we can help you identify the first practical implementation steps.