Easy office recycling
Office recycling
Start by contacting your existing waste management company to find out if they can provide an office recycling service. They may also be able to provide you with data on the amount and type of waste your company produces. This will help you establish the type and frequency of collection service you need, and provide a baseline to measure the success of your office recycling.
Mixed recycling collections are the most convenient way to recycle, reflected in the price. Staff put all recyclable materials into one bin without the need to separate including mixed paper, aluminium cans, tins, plastic bottles and glass.
Separating your recyclable materials prior to collection will reduce costs. Paper is collected as three material types: mixed paper including newspapers, envelopes, post-it notes and magazines; white paper such as clean print outs and photocopies; and cardboard.
Following the implementation of a paper recycling scheme, other materials such as aluminium cans, glass and plastic bottles can be added to reduce the levels of general waste you are producing. General waste disposal is often more expensive than recycling enabling recycling costs to be offset against falling waste disposal costs. If you occupy a multi-tenancy building, consider approaching other companies to share the cost of recycling collections.
Some recycling companies or even your office supplier may recycle additional materials such as toner and ink cartridges. Some charities and social enterprises recycle mobile phones and old computers such as Help the Aged, Oxfam and Rainforest Concern. Cartridge recycling companies such as Environmental Business Products (inkagain.co.uk) provide free collection boxes through which you can support a charity of your choice.
Donate unwanted materials
Reusing materials is preferable to recycling: unwanted stationery can be donated to local schools, scrapstores or community groups; furniture reuse companies such as Green-Works (green-works.co.uk) accept large quantities of office furniture which are sold at low cost to charities, community groups and start-up businesses across the UK; and redundant IT equipment can be donated to charities such as Computer Aid (computer-aid.org) or Maxitech (maxitech.biz). Computer Aid offers a collection service for a small charge.
Recycling success
Monitoring your recycling system ensures it is working effectively and helps to pinpoint any problem areas. Changes to your waste collection system may be necessary as recycling levels rise. Waste contractors usually charge per bin or pick-up and the number of bins and frequency of collection can be reduced as your recycling system starts to take effect.
Reducing your waste
A strategy to reduce levels of waste will complement your office recycling system. Focus on materials which are not made from recycled materials or which cannot be reused or recycled. Why pay for a recycling service, such as plastic cups, when they can be eliminated from the waste stream altogether? Provide staff with reusable cups, such as Remarkable's recycled plastic mugs (remarkable.co.uk) and glasses. Consider fitting taps with a water filter in place of a water cooler. Reassess any disposable purchases and research sustainable alternatives. Link to sustainable product directory.
Reducing paper waste will help increase your bottom line and give an immediate and tangible boost to your environmental strategy. Monitor the number of uncollected print-outs left in the printer tray and report back to staff on a monthly basis to ensure staff are aware of the amount of waste they are creating. Set achievable targets to cut waste paper and report on successes. Default printers to double-sided print wherever possible, consider using track changes instead of automatically printing out all documents, share limited copies of lengthy reports to avoid unnecessary printing and reduce the margin size on your standard word document layout. Add a footer to emails encouraging recipients not to print unless absolutely necessary.
If you would like help to set up your office recycling scheme, have a browse through our sustainable product directory.
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