Recycling is one of the easiest (and best) ways to help the environment. Cutting into the more than 63 thousand truckloads of garbage Americans produce per day is simple to do at home, but it may not be so easy during the chaos of the workday. However, these five tips will help make recycling at your job easier.
How to Start an Office Recycling Program
1. BYOB – Bring Your Own Bin
Your office or job site may have one of those big blue recycling bins next to the garbage can in the kitchen, but do you have time to walk to it while in the midst of a two-hour conference call? To help save yourself valuable time, bring a small recycling bin to keep under your desk. This solution is a quick and easy way to make sure that coffee cup ends up in the recycling instead of the trash.
2. Invest in Reusable Products Instead of Plastic or Paper Cups
Speaking of that coffee cup, you aren’t using Styrofoam are you? Instead, go for recyclable paper cups. Most coffee shops have switched to them for many of their products, but you should make it a point to purchase your own if you bring your coffee or tea from home. Even better, invest in a reusable cup or thermos, especially if it is made from recycled material. Don’t just apply this tip to your beverages either. Invest in reusable cloth bags to lug your important papers to and from work. Bring a lunch box instead of a different brown bag every day. These are just some of the ways you can cut down on your waste.
3. Go Paperless
It’s becoming easier and easier to cut back on your paper usage in the office. Sometimes printing out dozens of copies of a presentation for a room full of people is inevitable. Still, you should cut down on paper use whenever possible. Instead of printing out a huge presentation, put it in an online storage cloud and provide people with a link. Bring a laptop to team meetings and broadcast your screen rather than printing out notes or project details. It can also save your employer some money, and they certainly won’t complain about that.
4. Recycle with Your Coworkers
On person focusing on recycling at work is great, but an entire office full of employees focusing on recycling at work is even better. Work with your employer to set up education and programs that focus on going green. Try to provide some incentive to employees that participate to make recycling a part of their daily activities. Even something as simple as a weekly e-mail can help spread the word and get people informed about the benefits of recycling. If you can get some more extensive buy-in from the higher ups, you can take your recycling program even farther.
5. Don’t Forget to Recycle Your E-Waste
It is important that companies know they can recycle electronic waste as well. Simply throwing out old and broken electronic devices is terrible for the environment and could potentially be dangerous. In today’s technology driven business world, chances are your company has plenty of computers and other electronic gadgets that are no longer being used. Make sure you and your company are doing everything you can to properly dispose of it. Don’t be afraid to educate your fellow employees about e-recycling either.
Commercial and Residential Recycling Facility in NJ
They may be small changes, but all of these tips can make a big difference if more people implemented them at work. Even when we are on the clock at our jobs, we are never off the clock when it comes to recycling. For more information on our recycling services we provide to New Jersey or how you can recycle better, please contact us today.