Conducting a Waste Assessment is an important first step for municipalities and communities towards adopting a zero waste municipality plan. This tool has been developed to guide stakeholders when conducting both a waste assessment and brand audit, which have been designed to help municipalities analyse and understand the current levels of waste generation locally, from which future policies can be based upon to ensure as much material and resource is recovered as possible:

• What non-recoverable materials are most common and how can these be replaced with reusable, repairable or recyclable materials
• How to design your separate collection system so that it encourages the least amount of residual waste generation as possible
• What support residents need & therefore should receive to help them reduce their waste generation
• How much budget to allocate to your ZW Plan and the level of income you can expect to generate from this.

Building on existing materials, we have developed this “how to” guide on the necessary steps needed when conducting an assessment of municipal waste. It is designed for both municipalities and community stakeholders, recognising the strength and success of such assessments when they have been conducted by engaging a wide cross-sector of the community.