Until a company starts looking at waste seriously, most have no idea of what it's costing them. The cost is often thought to be just the cost paid out to the waste carrier, and even then many company directors are unaware of what this cost is.

But consider this - everything that you put into your waste skips has already been paid for once when you bought it, and now you're paying someone all over again to take it away. And some of it will have even more costs involved - for example, printed overs have also incurred the cost of your staff printing them and the energy and water involved, as well as the actual materials. So the best place to start is by reducing the amount of waste you create.

According to Envirowise, waste typically costs a company as much as 4.5% of turnover and can be reduced by up to 25% by straightforward means.

Up to 90% of what goes into the average waste skip can be recycled. Recycling saves you money from your waste bills. Print has a good recycling record, especially with paper and plates, but most printers can still do a lot more. And so help that bottom line.

Williams Lea, one of the largest print management companies in the world, worked with Envirowise to analyse their supply chain, and identified potential savings of £1.1 million through better resource efficiency. Their case study gives more information.

Initiatives based on Lean manufacturing are becoming popular, both with printers and their customers, some of whom are driving the initiatives. This involves analysis of all processes involved in delivering a product, to find ways of doing so more effectively: with less waste of any kind, including time, and delivering just what the customer wants, when they want it. It's fairly new to the printing industry, but a tried and tested means of improving performance in others, particularly the automotive industry. Vision in Print have done a great deal of work in this area, so have a look at Saving material costs with Vision in Print.