How To Improve Your Office Recycling System

With any recycling system, there are a usually a few tweaks that can be done to improve its ROI. This can be very important to businesses, especially ones that are looking to reduce their environmental impact and find savings in their business overall. To encourage a better rate of return on your office’s recycling efforts, here are a few suggestions on how to improve your recycling system.

Place recycling bins together in high-traffic areas and improve visibility. You can see a great improvement in your recycling efforts by simply placing recycling bins in key locations, besides the printing office or the cafeteria. For example, having a centralized recycling center at the entrance of each floor where people have their offices or cubicles will encourage people to recycle their trash without traveling far. In addition, a color-coded center will draw everyone’s attention and increase the likelihood of recycling.

Consider single-stream bins for single-room offices. If your workplace is structured in a way where one person uses a room as an office, it might be easier to encourage recycling when everything is placed in one bin, versus multiple bins for sorting. Your workers will appreciate a system that takes up less room in their office and less time. Granted, depending on your recycling provider, you might have to sort materials from these bins afterward, but it can pay off in improved recycling rates overall.

Promote your efforts and provide transparency of your goals. Don’t keep the results of your recycling secret: instead, practice transparency and broadcast (via posters or emails) how well (or not) your office is doing on reducing its carbon footprint. To encourage more recycling, you can appeal to workers by translating recycling gains into savings or incentives. For example, let your colleagues know that $1000 a month saved from reducing waste could mean a better (eco-friendly) office printer, or could translate into a bigger end-of-year bonus. If employees know how beneficial it is to recycle and reduce waste, they will find the endeavor worthwhile to commit to. 

Overall, a successful recycling system comes down to promotions, ease, and positive encouragement. By implementing any or all of these suggestions, you could see better results in your office. For more tips on business recycling, contact us.