Business waste audit template: a seven-day starter log

Fill in the editable log

Download all three files. Save a copy of the blank log and type into that copy. Keep the instructions file open beside it. Use the example only as a labelled pattern.

• Blank log, waste-log-blank.csv
• Instructions, waste-log-instructions.csv
• Fictional example, waste-log-example.csv

The files are plain CSV: text with commas between columns. There are no formulas, protected cells or checks. A spreadsheet usually opens the file as a table, and a text editor shows the same rows. Opening the file does not add a total, reject a bad number, or stop you adding the wrong rows. You do those steps yourself. The instructions file is enough to use the log without this page, and it is the complete column reference.

Record weights in kilograms only. Do not convert a count of items or bags into kilograms. If you only counted items, describe the count in notes and leave the kilogram cells blank, or mark the row missing. Dates use YYYY-MM-DD. Write one row for each new batch, estimate, gap, repeat or pre-week weight.

Do not tip out or sort hazardous, clinical, confidential or sharp waste for this log. WRAP’s all-workplaces audit guidance says to produce a risk assessment before a waste audit because of risks such as manual handling, and to take additional care where waste may include sharps, clinical waste or other hazardous waste. If a stream cannot be recorded safely, use entry_type missing, give the reason, and leave the weights blank. That is guidance about the practical exercise. It is not a restatement of health and safety law.

What each weight covers

Each new batch is waste you have not already counted. Observe the empty container and write that weight as the tare. Leave the newly accumulated waste in that container, then weigh the container and the waste together before disposal. Write that combined weight as the gross. Subtract tare from gross and write the net yourself.

A reusable bin has two moments. You start the measurement period when the previous contents have been removed through the normal disposal process, and you observe the empty bin. That empty weight is the tare, not a record of the waste. You weigh the batch later, when the same bin holds the new waste, before you dispose of it. Count that full batch once.

If you weigh the same contents again, set batch_status to already_counted. You may write the repeated gross, tare and net so the repeat is visible. Do not add that reading. Do not subtract it from the earlier reading.

If the bin was not emptied, do not enter the full bin weight, or the difference between two cumulative readings, as a directly weighed new batch. This CSV cannot calculate an addition from successive bin readings. Weigh a separately identifiable new batch once if that is practical. Otherwise record the affected coverage as missing.

Waste already in the bin when the week starts gets its own row with batch_status outside_starter_week. Do not call it Monday’s production. If you do not know when it started, leave period_start blank.

A weight that covers several days keeps both period_start and period_end. For one day, both dates are that day. Count a multi-day weight once for the whole period. Do not copy it onto each day and do not split the kilograms across the days.

These batch rules are this page’s method for a daily log. WRAP’s waste-audit guide describes a different task: collect waste for a set period, then sort and weigh it. The PDF says to weigh each material, deduct the container weight, and record the date, time, location and the weights in kilograms. If waste is collected weekly, it says that auditing the day before collection gives a week’s material. That is one sort of accumulated waste. It is not these columns, and it is not a reason to turn this starter week into an annual total.

Operating days and missing days

Seven consecutive calendar days is this template’s chosen starter window. Seven calendar days are not the same thing as seven operating days.

operating_status records whether the day was ordinary. Use open for an ordinary operating day, closed when the site is shut, and atypical when the day is inside the week but was not ordinary, such as a one-off event. An atypical day stays in the week. Label it so you do not describe it as an ordinary day.

A closed day is a context row. Leave the weight cells blank and give a missing reason, such as site closed and containers not checked. Do not enter zero kilograms unless someone actually checked and weighed nothing.

waste_stream is residual, paper_and_card, plastic, metal, glass, food or other. If you use other, describe it in stream_note. These names are a practical grouping for the log. They are not a legal list of what a workplace must separate.

Bromsgrove District Council’s commercial waste audit guide suggests a week and says the number of days is up to the business, and that the period should be typical. That suggestion is for the council’s commercial-waste customers in England. It is not a legal requirement, and that guide’s sheet counts items rather than kilograms.

Measured, estimated and missing weights

entry_type is measured_direct, measured_reported_net, estimated or missing. batch_status for a weight you are including is new_batch.

Use measured_direct only when you observed both the gross weight and the empty container. Write both numbers. Calculate net_kg as gross minus tare, and write the result yourself. If gross is less than tare, the net would be negative. Leave that row out of the total, then reweigh it or mark the coverage missing.

Use measured_reported_net when a collector ticket, invoice or transfer note states a net weight. Copy that net into net_kg. Leave gross_kg and tare_kg blank. Do not invent them. Name the document in notes, and keep the period the document actually covers. Do not also write a day row for each date inside that period.

An estimated row needs estimate_method and estimate_kg. Leave the measured weight cells blank. Add estimates on a separate line. A missing row is not an estimate and is not zero.

A missing row needs missing_reason and blank weights. A stream or day with no covering row is also missing coverage, including a stream that has no row at all. A multi-day row covers every date from period_start through period_end, and its kilograms stay as one figure.

The file will not stop you mixing these rows. A blank, a word or a negative number in a kilogram cell is invalid. Leave that row out of the total. The instructions file states the same checks. You apply them. The CSV does not.

Do the total by hand:

1. For each measured_direct row, net_kg = gross_kg − tare_kg, using the two observed weights.
2. For each measured_reported_net row, use the document net only when gross and tare are both blank and the notes name the document.
3. Add net_kg only where batch_status is new_batch and entry_type is measured_direct or measured_reported_net, and the row passed step 1 or step 2. Group that sum by stream. Call it recorded measured kilograms. Skip already_counted and outside_starter_week even when they contain numbers.
4. Add estimate_kg on a separate line.
5. List every stream you intended to watch, and every calendar day in the seven-day window, that no included new_batch measured row covers.
6. Leave out a reweigh of the same contents, a cumulative bin reading, and the difference between cumulative readings.
7. Leave out waste that was already in the bin at the start.
8. Compare only the step 3 stream totals. The largest one is a starting point for an action to investigate. Do not publish a daily average.

Worked example: a fictional office week

The table keeps the rows that change the total, and it leaves out the other columns. Included nets are the new batches that enter 35.1 kg. The pre-week row and the repeated Tuesday reading contain numbers and stay out. Closed Saturday and Sunday are context rows with blank weights. The last row is the action to investigate. Its weights are blank.

Included new-batch measurements:

• Residual: 3.8 + 3.2 + 7.1 + 3.0 = 17.1 kg
• Paper and card: 5.5 + 3.6 + 4.7 = 13.8 kg
• Food: 1.8 kg
• Metal: 2.4 kg, once for 4–5 March 2026, not split across the two days
• Recorded measured total: 17.1 + 13.8 + 1.8 + 2.4 = 35.1 kg

Left out of that 35.1 kg: the pre-week residual of 1.6 kg, the repeated Tuesday residual of 3.2 kg, and the separate food estimate of 3.0 kg. Adding any of those to 35.1 kg is a mistake. The metal gross and tare stay blank because they were not on the fictional ticket.

Missing plastic and missing glass mean 35.1 kg is not the whole week’s production. Other coverage is missing as well: plastic has no row from Tuesday to Friday; paper and card have no row on Wednesday or Thursday; food was not recorded from Tuesday to Thursday; metal is recorded only for 4–5 March; Friday has no residual row. Those gaps are not zeros. Unmeasured streams are not assumed to be smaller than residual.

Limits of one week

This log is what you observed over seven calendar days, and only the batches you recorded. The waste-reduction guide Phase 1 checklist asks for 4–8 weeks of weight or volume taken from invoices and transfer notes. Use the largest recorded measured stream as a starting point. Keep collecting that longer record before you treat a figure as the programme baseline.

One week can miss a monthly delivery, a seasonal pattern, a holiday or a one-off event. Two starter weeks can be compared only when both state their operating days, atypical days and missing streams.

The GOV.UK page on disposing of business waste tells a business to keep waste to a minimum by doing everything it reasonably can to prevent, reuse, recycle or recover waste, in that order. The responsibilities list on that page does not mention a waste audit or a sampling duration. The page points readers to separate guidance for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, so this observation is about the GOV.UK page only.

WRAP’s office audit guidance says that, where possible, it is a good idea to repeat the audit twice more, three times altogether, during a week, taking account of busier and quieter days, and to average the totals. The same page gives multiplying by 52 as an example of calculating annual production from a weekly measurement. That example is a calculation illustration. It is not evidence that one week represents a year, and the page does not require a seven-row daily log. Do not turn 35.1 kg into a daily average or multiply it by 52.

What this page does not decide

The log does not establish the whole workplace’s weekly production, the composition of a bin, a legal duty, whether a collector will accept a stream, a landfill-diversion percentage, a carbon result or a public environmental claim. You can plan where the bins and signs go. Hazardous and specialist streams stay outside the exercise.

Readers who want to publish a result need a stated method and the green-claims guidance. Avoid turning a starter week into a public environmental claim.

Choose one action to investigate

Add one row at the end of the log. Leave the weight cells blank, leave entry_type blank, and set batch_status to not_applicable. Fill chosen_action, responsible_person, follow_up_start and follow_up_end.

An action to investigate is an unproven hypothesis. Say that in chosen_action. It is not a measured saving, and it does not say what a bin is made of unless you sorted that bin and recorded the sort.

In the example, residual at 17.1 kg is the largest recorded measured stream. The fictional action is to inspect residual later, because this log did not sort it and unmeasured streams could be larger. The responsible role is office coordinator, a fictional role. The follow-up week is 16–20 March 2026.

When your own log has an action to investigate, a person and a follow-up period, plan the longer waste-reduction baseline.

Sources

Accessed 7 October 2026.

• Dispose of business or commercial waste, GOV.UK, section “Your responsibilities”. The first bullet says a business must keep waste to a minimum by doing everything it reasonably can to prevent, reuse, recycle or recover waste, in that order. That list does not state an audit length. The page signposts Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, so this point is about the GOV.UK page only.
• How to conduct a waste audit in the Office sector, WRAP Business of Recycling. Repeating the audit during a week, and calculating results, including the times-52 illustration. That illustration is not evidence that this starter week represents a year. The once-only batch rule on this page is not a WRAP requirement. WRAP does not limit this guidance to one part of the UK.
• The Business of Recycling: Waste Audit Guide (PDF), WRAP. Weighing each material, deducting the container, recording kilograms with the date, time and location, and the note that a weekly collection can be audited the day before collection. That is one accumulated sort, not this daily log. WRAP does not limit this guidance to one part of the UK.
• All workplaces: How to conduct a waste audit, WRAP Business of Recycling. The risk-assessment step, including extra care with sharps, clinical waste or other hazardous waste. The same guide repeats the net-weight and date, time and location recording steps. WRAP does not limit this guidance to one part of the UK.
• How to carry out a waste audit (PDF), Bromsgrove District Council commercial waste services. A suggested week whose length is up to the business, and a log of items and whether that council collects them. This is guidance for that council’s commercial-waste customers in England. It is not a kilogram method and not a legal minimum.