Office Waste Audit Checklist

For Facilities and Property Management Teams
This checklist helps identify gaps that lead to contamination overflow, tenant complaints, and higher hauling costs. It is designed for typical office environments including multi-tenant and corporate offices.

1. Audit Preparation

• Confirm building profile
  • Office type single tenant or multi-tenant
  • Number of floors and shared amenities
  • Food service presence kitchens cafés pantries
• Confirm current waste streams
  • Landfill
  • Recycling
  • Organics (if applicable)
• Review local recycling rules
  • Accepted materials
  • Common contamination issues
  • Hauler requirements
• Gather basic data
  • Current hauling frequency and costs
  • Contamination reports if available
  • Sustainability or ESG goals tied to the building

2. Front of House Waste Stations

• For each floor and shared space confirm:
  • Recycling is always paired with landfill
  • No standalone recycling bins
  • Equal convenience for both streams
  • Bin placement is intuitive
  • Stations located in break rooms copy rooms lobbies and near exits
  • No excessive walking distance to recycle
• Consistency across floors
  • Same bin style colors and openings
  • Same stream order and layout
• Signage clarity
  • Labels visible from approach
  • Icons and text easy to understand
  • No conflicting or decorative graphics
• Bin condition
  • No broken lids or missing labels
  • Bins clean and presentable
  • No frequent overflow

3. Desk Side and Work Area Review

• Confirm desk side setup
  • Desk side bins used consistently or removed entirely
  • Recycling paired with centralized landfill if desk side recycling exists
• Check employee behavior cues
  • Clear path from desk to centralized station
  • No mixed messaging between desk side and common areas
• Evaluate effectiveness
  • Paper captured correctly
  • Minimal contamination observed

4. Kitchens and Break Rooms

• Confirm stream availability
  • Landfill recycling and organics where food waste exists
• Check placement
  • Bins placed where waste is generated such as near sinks microwaves and coffee machines
• Review contamination risk
  • Food waste in recycling
  • Liquids disposed incorrectly
  • Coffee cups and packaging missorted
• Evaluate signage
  • Specific examples shown
  • Simple language and visuals
  • Aligned with local rules

5. Conference Rooms and Shared Spaces

• Confirm bin presence
  • At least landfill and recycling available
  • Bins easy to access without disrupting meetings
• Check consistency
  • Same labels and layout as rest of building
• Review overflow risk
  • Adequate capacity for large meetings or events

6. Back of House and Custodial Areas

• Waste room organization
  • Streams clearly separated
  • No cross-contamination
• Capacity and sizing
  • Adequate space for peak days
  • No overfilled containers
• Custodial workflow
  • Easy access to bins
  • Standard liner sizes
  • Minimal re-sorting required
• Storage and staging
  • Clear paths for carts
  • No obstruction of egress

7. Data and Performance Review

• Review hauler reports
  • Diversion rates
  • Contamination notices
  • Rejected loads
• Compare performance by floor or tenant if possible
• Identify problem areas
  • Correlate issues with placement or signage
• Confirm tracking process
  • Who reviews data?
  • How often performance is assessed

8. Tenant Communication and Education

• Confirm tenant guidance exists
  • Move-in materials
  • Kitchen signage
  • Shared space instructions
• Evaluate clarity
  • Language simple and consistent
  • No conflicting messages from different tenants
• Identify gaps
  • New tenants without guidance
  • High turnover areas needing reinforcement

9. Improvement Opportunities

• Identify quick wins
  • Missing paired bins
  • Inconsistent signage
  • Overflow locations
• Identify medium-term improvements
  • Standardizing bin styles
  • Repositioning stations
  • Adding organics where appropriate
• Identify long-term planning needs
  • Portfolio-wide standardization
  • Updated sustainability targets
  • Future program expansion

10. Final Audit Summary

• Document findings
  • Photos of issues
  • Notes by floor or space type
• Prioritize actions
  • Immediate fixes
  • Short-term upgrades
  • Long-term investments
• Assign ownership
  • Facilities
  • Property management
  • Vendors or partners

How Recycle Away Supports Office Waste Audits

Recycle Away supports office buildings by helping teams standardize recycling systems, address audit findings and implement solutions that reduce contamination, improve diversion and simplify daily operations.