Office Recycling Programs

Hi Manny,

A great to encourage staff to participate in our recycle program was an organized field trip to the local waste management facility. Employees were guided by an evironmental educator over the landfill, past the e-waste collection centre, through the reycling separation building and the City's co-composter facility. Even the company's CEO came along! By showing our staff the reason for an office recycling program, we were able to create more awareness, understanding and of course, participation in our recycle program.

Another idea is an office challenge. This could come in many forms, but all of them promote social activity as well as environmental awareness:

- designing an office mini golf course using only recycled materials (my favorite event!). Break your office into teams, give them one week to think of ideas, half hour to set up and a lunch hour to play. If each hole has an environmental them like ours did, it can be a creative, evironmentally friendly, and educational team building experience!

- Earth day challenge. Break office into teams. Team leaders are given a list of challenges for the day and they must collect the most "points" to win. Examples: One point for correctly answering each "enviro trivia" question, one point for matching the waste items to their correct recycle bin, points for bringing a litterless lunch,picking up litter in the park at lunch time, finding an article on the aenvironment in the media, etc.

Award winning teams with travel mugs, cloth shopping bags or a living trophy (a potted office plant with a plaque attached). Even the most "anti-green" worker will join in the fun for this event.

I hope these ideas help!
Vanessa Higgins,

C. Tech, CEPIT
Watershed Specialist
Strathcona County, Utilities
2001 Sherwood Drive
Sherwood Park, AB T8A 3W7
Phone: (780) 416-7296
Fax: (780) 464-0557
www.strathcona.ab.ca

My first success, in 1990, was with putting up a sign on soda-pop machines telling everyone how much energy was saved when the can was recycled. I put signs in the supply area showing how many trees were used to make a ton of paper. I also put up signs showing how much energy, water and trees were saved each month based on the building's recycling! When we got paid for the paper, I threw the employees a lunch time pizza party. We planted trees on the business property with earnings from the recycling program and gave the municipality a tree when they considered an ordinance requiring all businesses to recycle. Lately, I've taken to issuing e-mails to all employees - once a week in April for Earth Month and occasionally other times of the year. Two fo the four e-mails contain waste reduction tips covering many environmental areas, one is summary of the items accepted in the company's recycling program and the first e-mail of the month announces annual award winners. I award a department that recycles the most and a department that has improved their recycling the most and an employee that has been encouraging other employees to recycle while leading by example. Each quarter, I send managers graphic displays on their department's waste and recycling generation and encourage them to encourage their staff to recycle more. I also show managers how their departments can save money by reducing waste and recycling. Other steps - Ask the HR department to include a flyer summarizing your recycling program in all new employee packets. Put signs on recycling bins explaining what can be recycled, what can't and what the items get made into. Create a Recycling Committee Work with the Facilities Manager, Cafteria Vendor, Cleaning Staff - they may have great suggestions!

Good Luck!
Marta Keane,

Recycling Program Specialist
Will County Land Use 
Waste Services
58 E. Clinton Street, Suite 500
Joliet, IL 60432
815-774-4343
[email protected]

Hi Manny

Where abouts in Australia are you? Go to www.greenyourbusiness.org.au and you'll find some useful resources to assist businesses to operate more sustainably. It's more than just recycling, but a holistic approach is often more effective, rather than focussing on one aspect. The 15 Day Challenge that you'll find on the website is a great and fun way to start making a difference. (Although the focus of the website is Central Victorian, the resources are applicable anywhere.) Also go to Sustainability Victoria's website: www.sustainability.vic.gov.au - they have some great office strategies as well.

Best wishes
Lisa Mariah

Clarity Point
PO Box 2888 Bendigo VIC 3554

At Ford Australia we introduced the office commingled waste system. We effectively removed all personal waste bins and replaced them with a communal general waste bin strategically placed on each floor. Each person was provided with a personal commingled recycling box. The vast majority of waste in an office environment was recycled: paper, drink containers, bottles, plastic. The main streams which could not be recycled in this environment were food contaminated material. Visy was the company that provided the service. Of course education, communication, awareness and management commitment were key to the success of the program which is still running after 5 years.

Henry Marszalek

60 Box Forest Road
Broadford
3658 0357841164 0419501484

Hi,

those are great ideas. We did a garbage audit - pulled two random bags, grouped it into various streams and assessed how we were doing, then we had a base line for measuring any improvements. We photographed it all and documented our progress.

Paul Young,

health promoter
South Riverdale
Community HEalth Centre, Toronto.
(416) 461-1925 ext. 241