.png)
Here at Eco Drift, workplace recycling is very dear to us and we believe it should be for you too. Here is our guide to the biggest benefits for your business and how you can get started easily.
5 benefits of regular workplace recycling
1. Reduces organisation landfill contributions
The biggest material waste in landfills is paper, cardboard, plastic and glass. 19% of that comes from commercial waste collections, according to the UK government. That was around 5.14 million tonnes in 2018 (where total commercial waste was 30.8 million tonnes over six material categories).
Paper, cardboard and glass can be recycled, if not reused within the business. Recycling bins placed around the premises is an easy solution for staff to make this happen.
Plastic on the other hand can be a little more tricky. Checking with your local authority will give you an indication of which plastics they will collect for recycling each week. To reduce your plastic waste further you could go back to your suppliers to work on alternative options in packaging or brand.
2. Helps to reduce your carbon footprint
It is incredibly important that we each do our bit to reduce carbon emissions, in fact, if we are to work within Government targets we should be aiming for a 78% reduction by 2035 and to be carbon zero by 2050.
Landfills produced 14.2 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2019 here in the UK.
Workplace recycling is an easy starting point in your battle against climate change and it doesn’t have to be complicated. You can start with setting up a recycling bin system both inside and outside of your offices and work with your facilities management company to make sure this is followed through.
There are different thoughts on how effective recycling is in reducing carbon emissions, given the energy recycling takes, but as Channel 4 reported it does have an impact and so it is worth it.
3. Socially responsible companies become people magnets
Internal and external business reputation matters. More than ever people are looking to buy from and work with businesses who avoid greenwashing and actually work to make a difference. Workplace recycling is a great way to start your sustainability programme.
A study by Lightspeed found that 1 in 10 millennials would be willing to quit if they didn’t think their employer took sustainability seriously. Gen X are even more conscious of climate change than their predecessors and this has a huge impact not only on who they work for but who they buy from and invest in. This means that as a company you need to be both open and clear about your environmental efforts to win not only customers but attract the best talent.
4. Saves your business money
UK businesses spend on average between £40-100 on bin hire and £780-2600 (£15-50 per week) on collection costs each year, with landfill taxes at around £98 per tonne. That’s a lot of money for rubbish!
It is thought that 60% of what we put in the bin can be recycled. How much of a difference would it make to your bottom line if you recycled more?
It is likely that introducing workplace recycling schemes could directly impact rising waste disposal costs.
5. Encourages staff to reduce, recycle and reuse
Commercial recycling isn’t just about adding recycling bins to kitchen areas and urging staff to adopt them, it can go much further than that. It’s about mindset and culture change.
Introducing a recycling strategy to your organisation encourages staff to question how they can reduce waste, by seeing exactly how much they produce each day, week, or month. When staff begin to think like this they can be quite creative in researching and implementing strategies that help you take this project further.
A great way to reduce waste is to think about reuse and that starts at the source - “what are we buying, what do we need and what can we buy in the future that we can reuse to cut out waste altogether?”
Recycling then becomes a broader question. It is no longer looking at the waste you already have and sending it to recycling plants, but thinking about things like closed-loop manufacturing - “how can we work with suppliers to recycle waste into new materials, parts, or products?” There are many benefits to this approach, some of which can be financial. For example, some suppliers will offer a free returns policy for recyclable parts they can reuse and reward customers for doing this.
How we can help you get started on your workplace recycling journey
At Eco Drift, we are used to working with commercial enterprises and managing contract cleaning throughout a number of varied premises. We use environmentally friendly cleaning products and always make sure to recycle all of our recyclable waste. We can help you do this too, by helping you set up recycling points (internally and externally) and managing waste in these areas.
We also offer environmental consultancy which will help you and your team take a simple plan for workplace recycling through a culture of “reduce, recycle and reuse”.
Need some help to get started? Contact us today on 023 9228 7112 or via email at office@ecodrift.co.uk