Starting a Recycling Programme at Work

Starting a Recycling Programme at Work

If you are hoping to reduce waste management within your workplace, now might be the time to put a plan in place to turn all of your employees green!  If you are a keen recycler at home, it may aggravate you when recycling is not even thought of at work, where so much waste is created and there is nothing you can physically do about it. Now is the time to speak up and do your bit for the environment by following our simple steps to setting up a simple recycling programme within your workplace:


Analyse Your Workplace 

Before you start putting a plan together, it may be best to analyse the current waste situation and how it is managed to understand how to fix the issues.  Try and work out how rubbish is being disposed of and any methods that could change this. It may sound a little gross, but having a hunt through your workplace litter bins may give you an insight into what is being thrown out daily so that your recycling programme can be much more effective. Then, you will be able to evaluate your findings with your employees and put a good plan together.

Call a Meeting 

If you have a certain authority within your workplace, it may be worth calling everyone together to discuss your concerns about waste management and how each of you can take charge of a recycling role. Give a little talk on what materials are recyclable and what is not and how each employee will participate in the recycling programme. Don’t frighten your employees by giving them too many jobs or too many items to recycle at one time. Starting off small is key to guarantee that the plan is followed through rather than stirring too much confusion. Up to 90% of items within the office can be recycled, however it is best to start slowly to get better results and build up to much more advanced techniques later on. It may be a good idea to give rewards for those who recycle the most items at the end of the month so employees have something to work towards and get competitive at recycling!  

If you think the recycling programme would be a good idea for your workplace, here are a few ways to get it off the ground:

• Build Awareness: Discuss the reasons behind wanting to start the programme and how the teamwork of all employees will be a huge benefit to the programme.
• Follow up the Programme: Revaluate how the programme is going by calling further meetings so that changes can be made if necessary, as well as creating a weekly or monthly newsletter to discuss progress.

Your Recycling Programme

• Designate a recycling co-coordinator: If you think that there is someone within your workforce who could be a great co-ordinator for the programme, perhaps suggest whether they would like to take on the role if you haven’t got the time to do so. There may be someone who is just as passionate as you about recycling who would love to take on the role. If they are willing to do so, make sure that they are fully understanding of the programme and would be able to teach these methods to new employees.

• Strategies of placing these bins where they cannot be missed is a crucial element of your programme. For instance, where is rubbish often produced? Well, perhaps in staff rooms, kitchens, copy rooms, cafeterias and next to entrances and exits where staff members are either eating or are needing to get rid of rubbish. Bins also need to be identifiable so that people are aware that they are for recycling purposes rather than just litter bins. Most our bins feature logos which explain this very clearly.

• Identify products to recycle: These products may include paper, plastics, glass and metal. Designated bins can make this process much easier than sorting out afterwards. Work is busy enough without the hassle of having to sort out rubbish at the end of the day! The easiest and most reliable way to track what you are disposing of is to have a trash flow evaluation carried out by a recycling service or consultant who will review what you are throwing away and give feedback on what can be done to improve. If you or one of your colleagues would like to take on this role themselves, a spreadsheet could be set up to monitor how the recycling programme is going and checking on any trash habits. This will certainly allow your workforce to understand whether the programme is working effectively or if there are any elements to be changed.

Reduce the amount of waste in the office: If you work in an office, try and monitor how much waste you are creating and try and cut down as much as possible. Reuse old notepads and envelopes again and again and then once you have got your full use out of them, dispose into the designated recycling bins. Try not to use throw away plates, cups and cutlery of possible as this just creates unnecessary waste. There are plenty of ways to cut down within the office, however it is essentially up to yourself and your employees to understand how your workplace needs to change your unique habits.

If you would like any further information on recycling, recycling bins or litter bins, please visit our website at www.recyclingbins.co.uk or call us on 01684 292727.