The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and the IFMA Foundation are proud to announce the release of “Waste: A Comprehensive Guide to Waste Stream Management,” the latest free publication in the “Sustainability ‘How-to’ Guide Series” which provides facility managers with workable solutions to minimize waste.

“To recycle an old cliché, waste not, want not,” said Marina Badoian-Kriticos, sustainability director at IFMA. “The modern facility manager is under tremendous pressure to do more with less. One way to accomplish this is by managing the waste stream to reduce the amount of waste in the built environment. Waste flow management is one of the most profound examples of sustainable practices saving money, improving productivity and benefiting the triple bottom line for organizations around the world.”

Waste is defined loosely as the useless consumption or expenditure of resources. This not only encompasses the popular understanding of waste (in terms of energy and garbage), but wasted time and effort as well. Waste stream management is the process of tracking resources from the beginning to the end of their existence. Below is an excerpt from the executive summary of the guide:
This guide covers the use of resources from harvest through manufacture/production, transportation, use and disposal of materials. It discusses environmentally preferred purchasing programs, life cycle assessment and various disposal methods. It explains rapidly renewable resources, embedded energy, virtual water, package design, the effect of materials on indoor environmental quality, recycling, document destruction and landfills. It focuses on the four “Rs” — reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink — in managing resources and the waste products derived from them. Finally, the guide will show how managing resources throughout a product’s life cycle will save time and money.

Among the subjects covered in the free guide are:
• Best practices for conducting a waste audit
• A guide for environmentally preferred purchasing
• Best practices to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink
• Tips for making the business case for waste reduction
• Detailed case studies

The peer-reviewed guide was co-written by Bill Conley, IFMA Fellow, CFM, SFP, FMP, CFMJ, LEED AP and Sharon Jaye, D.Ed., SFP.

Bill Conley has more than 35 years of experience in facility management. He has managed facilities for VeriFone, Hewlett-Packard and SCAN Health Plan, and has served as managing director of the LEED®/Sustainability Development Group for Pacific Building Care (PBC). He is past president of the Orange County (U.S.) Chapter of IFMA as well as the Facility Management Consultants Council and has served on the IFMA board of directors. He is a director on the board of OC IFMA and is a member of IFMA’s sustainability committee. He currently practices as a facility management/sustainability consultant through his own company, CFM2.

Sharon Jaye is the director of sustainability at the New York City Department of Education Division of School Facilities. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Clayton State University, a master’s degree in project management from the University of Wisconsin Platteville and a doctorate of education in educational leadership from Argosy University. She holds Sustainability Facility Professional accreditation through IFMA and currently serves on IFMA’s sustainability committee.

“Waste: A Comprehensive Guide to Waste Stream Management,” is available online free of charge. In total, 14 publications from the “Sustainability ‘How-to’ Guide Series” are available online. The IFMA Foundation produced the guide in partnership with the IFMA Sustainability Committee.