Getting good at recycling might be the easiest way to make your workplace a little greener. However, most workplaces in our community just aren’t cutting it. The solution? Make it lazy.
The key to good recycling is making it as easy as possible for everyone in the workplace. Eliminate the need for a decision or extra effort to put recyclables in the right place. Here are some simple, fool-proof ways to make your office recycling lazy (and effective).
- Always put them together. Never allow a garbage container to exist in your workplace without a recycling container right next to it. If your coworkers must decide which can to walk to, recycling will often lose the battle.
- Label for all. Be sure it’s very clear to everyone what items should go in which container. Use icons, lists or photos to make it easy to understand, and put the labels in an obvious spot on the containers.
- Get a bigger can. Making the recycling container physically bigger than the garbage can make a powerful impression when they sit side-by-side.
- Make it single stream. The days of needing to separate glass, paper, plastic and aluminum are over. Ask your waste hauler for details about what types of recyclables can be mixed at your workplace, and support single stream recycling.
- Talk about it. We train for just about everything these days. Don’t leave Recycling 101 out of the picture. Find an effective way to inform the whole workplace about the changes you make to recycling, and remind them often.
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This week’s tips made possible by our friends at Canfield Business Interiors.
Filed under: One Tip to Know, Recycling
