Recycling at Work

  
 
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More and more people are looking at ways to reduce their ecological footprint. Most people are driving less, doing at least some basic recycling, and trying to conserve on their electricity use. As individuals, we are increasingly aware of the impact we have on the planet and our fellow humans. The next step is to bring people together in their communities and neighborhoods to build on this fundamental ideas of conservation. By building community involvement in "green" projects we can all become empowered to help save our planet! We can green not only our own lifestyles, but our streets, neighborhoods, towns, cities and, ultimately, our societies.

Here are a few ideas on how to roll up your sleeves and help your community go green:
  • Reconnect with your community: in order to help it, you need to know more about it so get involved
  • Buy and eat local to reduce food miles and keep resources in the community
  • Spread the word by organizing evening educational meetings, joining already-established organizations in your community, and getting politically active
  • Participate in local Earth Day programs; better yet, make every day Earth Day
  • Check out web sites like www.gogreeninitiative.org to find out what kinds of green activities are occurring in your community

If your company is only a light shade of green at this point, there are small steps you and your co-workers can take darken that shade:

Get management’s support to ensure the success of your recycling program.  In the long term, support from upper management and your co-workers is key. After all, you can’t do it alone; you need the participation of all employees to make your program work.
  • Discuss the potential for recycling with the facility, office or building manager to get his or her support for organizing a program.
  • Talk with others in your organization or send out a support-building memo describing the new program.
  • Recruit volunteers from various departments for a “Green Team.”

Highlight the importance of recycling and show your management how a recycling program will benefit your company by:

  • Saving money by decreasing trash pickup service
  • Achieve corporate sustainability goals
  • Reduce your company’s carbon footprint
  • Improving employee morale – everyone wants to “do the right thing”– recycle
Discourage printing out copies  unless absolutely necessary and go electronic in billing, banking and more. Ask your company to explore telecommuting that can save employees on gas and other expenses. Conserve energy with appliances and equipment that don't guzzle power, including changing your lighting to energy efficient light bulbs. Fully participate in any recycling programs your company has in place, or start one. Recycle old computer equipment and peripherals., which keeps the computers and their toxins out of landfills, while saving the company money. Quit using Styrofoam coffee cups and encourage co-workers to do the same.

Paper is often a major problem in the office. The average office worker throws away four pounds of high-grade recyclable paper every week. Recycling one ton of paper saves the equivalent of 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil and 7,000 gallons of water. By reducing your paper, reusing half-used sheets, and buying recycled content, you'll make a big difference that hardly breaks a sweat! Put out some paper collection boxes; they can be as simple as the corrugated boxes that come with the reams you buy.

Make a few phone calls to your city/county and find out who collects scrap paper for local recycling. Do a little research and make a really green selection of a vendor. Some companies send your used paper to China for recycling! That's not very green. Our American paper companies also need good office papers to use in their recycling operations. Call a local printing paper distributor and see if they can connect you with paper mills who need recycled paper.

Pull together a few facts about recycling paper, make a creative, fun poster for your bulleting boards and for your company website, and you can then recruit more people to contribute to the boxes! Don't forget to monitor the collection vendor to .make sure the paper is emptied and shipped out regularly so that overflow doesn't annoy anyone!

 

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