The celebration of Earth Day is recognized as the world's largest environmental event. The theme of Earth Day 2023 is to invest in our planet, and making that investment means we should do what we can every day, not just one day in the year. Recycling is one of the best commitments we can make as individuals and businesses, and it's a fact.
No business is too small to recycle. Did you know that nine out of ten people say they would recycle if it were easier? If you don't have a recycling plan for your business, you can use these suggestions to create an easy one for you and your employees.
1. Conduct a waste audit. Where can you make the most impact with your recycling program? For a small business, paper or soda cans are often easy to start with when implementing a recycling program. Take a simple visual inventory of the materials your business throws away. Remember that steel, aluminum, glass, cardboard, paper, plastics, and colored plastic containers are recyclable.
2. Remember to do a paper audit as well. The average employee uses 10,000 sheets of paper annually. That's an entire tree's worth of paper per person each year. Your company can do better. Find out how much paper you recycle and how much is thrown away in the trash.
3. Create a paper policy. If you want to reduce the use and recycle paper correctly, draw up a paper policy. Your policy should outline important recycling rules like, "if you don't need to print, don't print." That's a simple lesson, but it can have a real impact. Not everything needs to be printed, but if you have to print, do it sparingly. This is a great way to cut your paper waste and cost in half immediately.
4. Don't print emails. Email does not belong in the trash; it belongs in the cloud. You can take it one step further by adding a note to your email signature that says, "Please consider the environment before printing this email."
5. Encourage your employees to rinse items before tossing them in your recycling bins. Waste contamination is a real problem, and it defeats the purpose of recycling. Encourage your employees to wash out their recyclables before they recycle them. Make sure you have enough bins for all your recyclable materials.
6. Add more recycling bins, label them clearly, and put them where it counts. Be sure to place containers in areas where waste paper is generated, such as in the break room or near copying machines and printers.
7. Discourage single-use cups, plates, and cutlery. Why pay for these items only to throw them away?
8. Train your employees and get their buy-in. You can do that by creating posters and emails and holding team meetings. Continue to audit your program as you roll it out and change it where it makes sense. It's important to recognize and communicate the results and successes that your small business recycling program achieves.
9. Designate one person as your "recycling guru." That person will be responsible for keeping track of what goes in the bins and ensuring they are emptied and cleaned regularly.
10. Promote your recycling program to your customers. There are lots of ways you can do this. Do you have an email list of your customers? What about promoting your recycling program on your social media accounts so your customers know it's important to you to protect the environment and encourage them to do the same?
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