“Oh no, please don’t take
away MY bin!”
This week sees two
recycling awareness events. ‘Recycle Awareness Week’ and ‘Recycle Now Week’ So,
let’s take a look at recycling in the workplace.
Most of us now recycle at home, but do you recycle at work?
Workplaces are notoriously full of paper, disposable
coffee cups, cardboard, printer cartridges and more. All this stuff is
recyclable, so it should be disposed of in the correct fashion. However,
getting employees to recycle, understand where to dispose of their waste, and
to know what items can be recycled can be a challenge.
Though it may seem like a chore, recycling is
essential to help protect
the environment. Not
only are you reducing the amount of waste that goes into landfill, you can also
save your company money by spending less on waste disposal. It’s important that you do your
part in the workplace to help encourage recycling.
Some InterestingFacts
- 1
recycled tin can save enough energy to power a television for 3 hours.
- 1
recycled glass bottle can save enough energy to power a computer for 25
minutes.
- 1
recycled plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light
bulb for 3 hours.
- 70%
less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it from raw
materials.
How do I encourage staff to use the recycling
service? Here are
some of our top tips.
Encourage senior management to get involved and lead by example: their
buy-in is important. It is also beneficial for key message come from them.
Educate staff. Tell them why you are starting to
recycle (why it will save money and what the environmental benefits will be).
There is still a lot of confusion about what can be recycled, especially over
plastics, so clearly labelled bins will make it easy to remind people to
recycle.
Install printers, which need a personalised code to
collect printing. This should reduce the amount of redundant paper sitting on
machines waiting for collection (some of which ultimately gets put in a bin at
the end of the day!) Did you know that 40% of office waste comes from paper?
Speak to cleaning staff to ensure that they recycle
correctly. It’s great to separate materials in the office, but pointless if
they all end up in the same big bin outside!
Remove individual under-desk bins and install centralised waste and recycling points. This increases the amount of
material recycled by removing the temptation for people to easily throw-away.
It is important that the rationale for this is clearly communicated in advance,
as you are likely to see some initial resistance.
Make the recycling point a design feature, build it into a bespoke housing
or invest in some interesting colorful bins.
If your office is not currently recycling, then
changing the company’s attitudes towards it may take time. But don’t let this
put you off. Use the pointers above to sway your workplace to change to
recycling and begin on your Eco-friendly business path.
Hi Design ‘work spaces
that work’
