Introducing a company-wide recycling scheme is another excellent way to get the entire organisation engaged in an environmentally friendly initiative.
The emissions generated by your workplace depend not just on the volume of materials consumed but also on how effectively these materials are disposed of. Diverting as much of the waste as possible away from landfill will reduce your total greenhouse gas emissions.
What Are The Steps?
Set Up A Team
Empowering workers from different departments to get involved in developing and executing a recycling scheme will invite a broader range of ideas and increase accountability throughout the office.
What does effective recycling look like to your employees?
What ideas do they have about how to improve your processes?
Is there anywhere in the organisation they think waste can be reduced?
Look At Your Waste
Conducting a waste audit is a necessary next step to discover what types and quantity of waste your business produces as well as how much is recycled versus thrown out. This will show you what’s working well, what’s not working and where your company needs to focus its efforts. It will also allow you to compare your performance with industry standards to see if best practice is being followed.
Develop A Strategy
Each type of waste produced by your company will have its own impact on the economy and its own method of disposal. Do the services your organisation is currently using for waste collection match your needs, or will you need to hire a new recycling service? Set a goal for increasing your recycling waste, such as: 75% of paper, cardboard, glass and cans are recycled, 80% of plastic is recycled and 80% of food waste is composted.
Determine the steps needed to meet that goal, invest in the necessary services and share actions and responsibilities with your members of staff, including office management and your cleaning team.
Make It Clear
Making recycling easier for your workers will increase the likelihood they will participate effectively in the scheme. Changes such as analysing the flow of traffic in the office to determine optimal bin placement, investing in bins with all collection streams rather than just one and using clear images on recycling bin graphics will help to ensure workers make the right decisions when it comes to waste disposal.
Monitor & Improve
Continually check in to see how your company is tracking in relation to its goals. Identify areas of improvement and work these into a rolling revised scheme.