10 Tips to Increase Recycling in Your Office
Choosing to recycle around the office is easily one of the best business decisions you can make. It not only helps an ailing environment but helps you to cut back on your overheads and makes it easier and more affordable to run affairs at the office.
With so many varying approaches to recycling, the only challenge is where to start. Luckily, it is just as easy to get this done. Here are some quick tips that will take the confusion out of recycling and help you hit the road running.
-
Start small
When going green, you have many impressive ideas in your mind on how to reduce waste and cut back on expenses while improving the environment. But, even with the financial muscle to actualise your dreams, you should start small.
It’s going to be a new culture for the office and the employees and you need to give everyone time to catch up with the new requirements and sustain it.
By starting small, you reduce the pressure on your employees and give them a chance to embrace the idea because it’s doable. Start with no brainers like duplex printing. This will not only halve paper consumption but it doesn’t need any additional resources to carry out.
You can also initiate pull printing at the office to reduce printing volumes and make sure any work sent to the printer is collected and useful.
-
Go for the organics
This tactic is often underused in most office spaces and you can’t afford not to pick it up. By picking up on organic materials and waste, you can increase your diversion rate and get closer to your goal of zero wastage.
Some of the organic waste is compostable and can be used to grow crops and revive nutrient-deprived land. Some can even be used to produce power. Some of the organic waste you can collect around the office include:
- Paper towels and napkins
- Compostable plates and cutlery
- Food scraps
- Tea bags and coffee grinds
- Cardboard sleeves from hot beverage cups
-
Have centralised recycling bins
To get the best effects, take away individual bins and have centralised recycling bins. By having bins in convenient locations, the employees have to sort out their trash. In the process, they become more away of what they are throwing away as opposed to just chucking it into a bin at the end of the desk.
This method also allows the employees to learn to sort out the waste properly and understand what goes where prevent stream contamination.
-
Cut back on the take out coffee cups
It’s impossible to get employees to give up their morning coffee, but you can do something about the take out coffee cups. Think of the number of cups that are tossed in the waste bin daily. It’s a huge waste of resources and one that you can easily nip in the bud.
Replace the takeout coffee cups with reusable mugs and water bottles. This little change will drastically reduce the number of cups and plastic bottles filling up the system and will also help to cut back on expenses around the office.
-
Reduce on the waste coming into the office
One of the key parts of recycling is reducing. You can reduce a lot of things around the office. From the consumption of power by switching off electronics and lights that are not in use to making sure the taps are not dripping.
You can also make your vendors aware of your recycling program and encourage them to only bring recyclable or compostable items to the office. If you can control consumption and what is coming into the facility, you can greatly reduce what goes into a landfill because your waste is recyclable.
-
Go paperless
With the current technology trends, it’s possible to run your business on a paperless system. Send emails instead of fax and letters, save papers for only formal documents and make sure all internal communication is done by email or on an online message board.
To save even more, you can have all billing done online to save on paper. Also, let your customers and vendors know of your decision so they can adjust accordingly.
-
Re-use
Some of the items around the office can be used multiple times. Things like packaging boxes and stationery items should be carefully stored so they can be used at a later date when the need arises. This saves you the trouble of buying new items and at the same time, you reduce what goes to the landfill.
-
Post reminders
With so much going around the office, it’s easy for a few notes to slip through the fingers around the office. Make sure you have plenty of reminders to keep everyone on their toes about the new changes.
Have stickers close to the switches to remind people to switch off the lights and electronics once they finish using them and at key points and send out email blasts to remind the employees of the recycling goals and the different methods you’re using to help increase recycling around the office.
-
Make it a competition
You can make the recycling mission much easier with some healthy office competition. Competitions are a great incentive when you want people to participate in different activities. It makes the challenge at hand easier and more fun. After all, who doesn’t like winning?
Give your competition an interactive edge and keep constantly updating the teams on the progress and who is winning. If possible, set up a leader board so employees know what their current status is. Ensure there is a prize waiting for the winner.
-
Buy recycled
Don’t aim to recycle only but also promote the recycling trade. Use recycled paper for printing and other items. Today, recycled products are no longer the low-end and poor quality products they once were.
There are ethical, good quality and you will be doing the environment a great justice by reducing landfills. In some cases, you will also be able to save some money by buying recycled products.
Increasing recycling around the office is not an easy task, especially for a big office with more than 50 employees. But, with these tips, you can improve and gradually achieve your recycling goals.
With OCCO Cleaning Services we can help you start to recycle more while providing our office cleaning services.
Why not also read: 7 Best Places to Live in Sheffield
