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fact sheet	printable PDF

Key Practices for Small Businesses with Regulated Waste

Keep your business competitive, save money and comply with environmental regulations by using the following tips. They are designed to help you evaluate current practices, increase efficiency and improve waste reduction at your shop.

Organize the Shop
Keep a well organized layout. All materials and equipment should be accessible and ready to function. A clean, organized appearance is important to your shop's image. It can greatly affect customer impressions and word-of-mouth referrals. Try using the five S's. Developed in Japan, the five S's—each S is a Japanese word—are components that will help you keep your business clean all of the time.

1. Organization (seiri)
   Remove unnecessary items from the workplace and
   develop a system to prevent future accumulation.
2. Order (seiton)
   Maximize efficiency by creating functional storage systems so employees can find what they need when they need it.
3. Cleanliness (seiso)
   Maintain a clean workplace by picking up trash, sweeping floors and cleaning machines. Develop a five-minute daily cleanup routine. Give each employee a specific task to carry out in this time.
4. Standardized Cleanup/Neatness (seiketsu)
   Keep the shop and equipment clean. Prevent things from getting dirty in the first place to minimize the need to clean. Machinery that leak fluids should be repaired.
5. Conduct (shitsuke)
   Train employees to maintain cleanliness standards.

For more information about the five S's see the article, "Getting Clean, as Much Fun as Getting Dirty."

Organize the Records
Keep track of inventory to help plan for purchases and avoid redundant products and overstocking. Record keeping allows you to track shelf-life limits and can reduce employee time spent restocking.

Businesses generating hazardous waste are required to keep records. These records can prove that you are complying with environmental laws and help protect against liability. Track and maintain documents related to employee training, material safety data sheets (MSDSs), waste shipping, waste evaluations, and licensing and permit records. When documents are well-organized, regulatory inspections can take less of your time.

To keep its waste-related files in order, the John Roberts Company, a commercial printer in Coon Rapids, developed a filing system. Check your system against the file titles at the bottom of this fact sheet, which were based on John Roberts' system. Cut out any applicable file titles that your system is missing and insert them into your hanging file folders or three-ring binders. The titles listed in bold indicate a category grouping.

For more information about record keeping see the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's fact sheet Step 10: Keep Records.

Train Employees
New employees need training and seasoned employees improve with retraining. Even the most experienced employees are never done learning. Work performance and efficiency can be improved with new ideas and technologies. Go beyond health and safety requirements by providing complete and clear instructions on new waste reduction tasks and standard procedures. Routinely encourage employees to contribute ideas for improving work practices and reducing waste.

Label All Materials and Containers
Proper identification of inventory and waste reduces the chance for mistakes that waste costly supplies. Inventory consolidated or transferred into smaller containers should be labeled. Information about the contents of waste containers is required. When a container is empty, remove the label and recycle the container, or relabel and reuse it.

Avoid Spills
Use funnels and spigots to limit spills. Avoid filling
large transfer containers too full. Heavy containers are hard to safely move. Have a procedure in place for cleaning up spills to recover as much material as possible for reuse. Dust pans with squeegees work well with both liquid and solid spills. Use absorbents as a last step in spill cleanup and use them sparingly. Remember, absorbents are expensive and add cost and volume to proper waste disposal.

Be Open to Change
New products and technologies are constantly emerging for small businesses. For example, to improve cleaning and lengthen bath life, partswashers now include filtering and oil/cleaner separation techniques. Heated aqueous cleaners now compete effectively with petroleum solvents.

Money can also be saved by changing routines. For example, by stretching your partswashing changeout schedule from eight to 10 weeks, you can reduce annual waste by 20 percent.

Finding new uses or reuse opportunities, conserving supplies, or eliminating duplicate supplies will influence disposal costs. Because you have less waste your usually full Dumpster may only be half full on collection day. Change your pickup schedule and build on your success.

Additional Resources
For more information about record keeping see the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) fact sheet, “Step 10: Keep Records.”

The MPCA’s Small Business Environmental Assistance Program can provide free, nonregulatory, confidential environmental assistance on how to properly manage waste and meet regulations.

The Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry’s Workplace Safety Consultation provides free, on-site assistance to improve employer’s safety and health record, lower accident costs and reduce Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MNOSHA) citations and penalties.

For More Information
MnTAP has a variety of technical assistance services available to help Minnesota businesses implement industry-tailored solutions that maximize resource efficiency, prevent pollution, increase energy efficiency, and reduce costs.Our information resources are available online. Or, call MnTAP at 612.624.1300 or 800.247.0015 from greater Minnesota for personal assistance.

Organize Your Files—File Tiles

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Vehicle Maintenance
Prevention Basics
Collision Repair
Mechanical Repair

Training & Associations
Regulatory Information
A to Z Waste Topics