With costs spiralling, managing the problem is critical to reducing bill.

Rising costs are a problem for everyone. Whether you're the head of a multinational corporation, owner of a local grocery store or simply your own home, you are faced with an abundance of costs from electricity, telephone and gas bills, and invoices for any other services to which you subscribe. However, according to a recent survey, one of the fastest rising costs facing Irish businesses today is waste.

The survey, by employers group Ibec, found that the rising cost of waste collection and treatment was placing an increasing burden on businesses. This is backed up by a study by consultancy Deloitte, which shows that waste costs have increased significantly and are running at about 4.5 times the level of inflation.

"Waste management costs are on average equal to about 1.1 per cent of a company's turnover and this can be a huge burden on the bottom line, particularly for small and medium-sized companies," says Eric O'Donovan, secretary of the Irish Waste Management Association.

Keith McCormack, head of marketing for waste management group Greenstar, agrees. However, he says companies can take simple measures to reduce their cost base and help the environment. "Companies should have a waste management strategy to enable them to minimise their waste output and in turn to lower their waste-related costs."

By adopting a Greenstar policy known as the binless office, whereby all recyclable materials are placed into a desk tray throughout the day and then taken to a recycling point where they are separated into bins specific to each waste stream, McCormack estimates companies can reduce their general waste bill by as much as 20 per cent a year.

Recycling in this way can also generate income as in some cases materials such as waste paper and aluminium can be resold to developing countries.

A separate analysis of the Deloitte study demonstrates that the issue of waste management is becoming more prevalent. The 2004 study found that 96 per cent of companies knew their waste streams and had either a detailed or reasonable knowledge of the volumes produced. This is a 12 per cent increase on 2003. Moreover, 72 per cent said they had implemented waste prevention or minimisation measures in the preceding 12 months, a substantial increase from 50 per cent.

While the percentage of companies that segregated their waste source was little changed on the prior year at 95 per cent, the survey showed that 86 per cent believed that by segregating waste they had lowered costs.

Implementing such policies is not as hard or as costly as it sounds. "Source, segregate and recycle is what it's about," says McCormack. "Once people know what waste streams they are producing then it's simple. The more waste that they avert going to landfill, the cheaper their waste costs will be."

Still, while industry experts welcome the increased recognition that something has to be done, they are all quick to point out that some responsibility also lies with Government. In fact, it is the Government they blame for the state of the industry.

"We have an awful long way to go until we've caught up with our fellow Europeans," says O'Donovan, pointing out that only a handful of the 46 waste management facilities in the National Development Plan have been built. The average cost of sending something to landfill in the Republic is €180, compared with €39 in the UK.

"We have a severe lack of sites and this is a result of failure on the Government's part to push through any new planning legislation," says O'Donovan.

Planning processes that take a few weeks in some parts of Europe take years in the Republic, says McCormack.

Many city councils are not only responsible for collecting the waste but also for setting the price of disposal and for the awarding of contracts to private companies to collect waste.

"You have the same people operating in and regulating the market," says O'Donovan.

Introducing a proper regulatory regime will reduce prices. "In the end the onus is on us all - individuals, companies and Government," says O'Donovan.