How your waste is stored is an important part of pollution prevention, as well as something that gives a good impression to visiting customers. If you see the waste storage area every day, you probably don't really look at it. But visitors will see it with different eyes.

Will it tell them that you are careful, tidy and organised? Or will it paint a picture you'd rather they didn't see.

Escaped waste can get into waterways and drains, causing pollution directly or causing blockages that lead to pollution. Careful storage reduces this risk.

Litter

Litter can easily escape from its skip or cage and blow around the site, particularly when it's small trimmings. Paper getting into waterways rots down and pollutes, as well as being unsightly. Other wastes may contain substances that are harmful to waterways or their inhabitants, even the kind of things you would think of as safe - even milk can pollute water, or spray powder.

Lidded containers will help reduce this. The printer where the picture was taken has to be particularly careful - a stream runs right alongside the yard, and the skip has to be next to it so the skip lorry  can back down and pick it up. The lid here is open for the picture - but is necessary not just to prevent litter, but also to prevent rainwater running through. Rain can pick up all sorts of pollutants as it runs through waste and then take them down into the drain or, as here, a nearby stream.

Litter will inevitably escape when the skip is collected, so is swept up promptly.

Waste chemicals need to be stored carefully, as described on the previous page.

You also need to think about vandals. A skip full of paper for recycling is at risk of being set alight - so lockable lids are a good idea.