These forms & worksheets are included to provide a structure for collecting and organizing the information needed to evaluate waste reduction opportunities. Additionally, they can be a record of your waste minimization efforts for compliance purposes.

Note for Online Version: Print out the forms & the hardcopy versions for your records. Each form and worksheet is hyperlinked to the primary corresponding discussion in Chapter Three: Your Waste Minimization Program.

General Potential Worksheet (WS-3)

Refer to Your Waste Minimization Program: Conducting A Waste Reduction Assessment

Option: _______________________________ Date: __________
Wastestream(s) Affected: ___________________________________

The following questions will help you to determine the general potential of alternative waste reduction options. Copy a form for each option being evaluated, and place a check in the column which corresponds to your answer for each question:

• Is this option high in the Hazardous Waste Management Hierarchy (source reduction or recycling?)
  
  • _____Yes^* _____No _____Not Sure

• Will this option impact waste generation by:
  • significantly reducing a hazardous wastestream?
    
    • _____Yes^* _____No _____Not Sure

  • reducing one of the wastestreams identified as being a high priority (see Wastestream Priority Worksheet)?
    
    • _____Yes^* _____No _____Not Sure

  • shifting waste to a different form or media (e.g. from solid waste land disposal to wastewater discharge or air emission)?
    
    • _____Yes _____No^* _____Not Sure

  • producing any new hazardous wastes?
    
    • _____Yes _____No^* _____Not Sure

• Will this option have a net environmental benefit? (e.g. Even if new or shifted waste/materials are introduced, there is less negative environmental impact than from the current process.)
  
  • _____Yes^* _____No _____Not Sure

• Will this option require the use of new expensive and/or hazardous raw materials?
  
  • _____Yes _____No^* _____Not Sure

• Will this option require additional utilities or labor?
  
  • _____Yes _____No^* _____Not Sure

• Will this option improve product quality?
  
  • _____Yes^* _____No _____Not Sure

• Will this option increase production capacity/rate?
  
  • _____Yes^* _____No _____Not Sure

• Will this option (new equipment or process) be compatible with existing procedures, work flow, etc.?
  
  • _____Yes^* _____No _____Not Sure

• Will this option improve worker, community, or environmental safety and health?
  
  • _____Yes^* _____No _____Not Sure

• Will this option reduce regulatory fees and/or reporting requirements?
  
  • _____Yes^* _____No _____Not Sure

• Will this option produce by-products which can be sold or reused?
  
  • _____Yes^* _____No _____Not Sure

Evaluation

If you answered with several "not sures," you should do some more background research before continuing.

Look at your answers to the questions above. The more checks in answers with astericks (*), the more desirable characteristics of the waste reduction option, and the more likely it is a good choice for further study.

Look at the questions to which your answers are not in answers with astericks (*). Do any of these issues indicate a poor chance of success with this option? (Not all issues are critical to the potential success of the waste reduction option.)

Make a preliminary judgement regarding the general potential of this option and decide if further evaluation should be continued. Check the appropriate answers below.

General Potential

• ____Good
  ____Average
  ____Poor

Continue with Economic and Technical Evaluations?

• ___Yes
  ___No