When it comes to trying to create a greener office or business, then you might be constantly looking for ways to improve. However, the one factor that will matter most is how you deal with your waste. If you’re finding yourself throwing more waste out than you think you should, then you might want to consider the following tips that can help you find more effective ways to deal with it.
Find ways to produce less of it
Before you start looking at what to do with the waste that you have, you should make sure that you’re looking at methods to reduce waste throughout the business in general. One of the most common tactics, nowadays, is to look at going paperless, which is becoming much more plausible thanks to digital technology. However, take the time to look at the kind of waste that you’re producing, in general, and see if there are any policies you can introduce, even informally, to make people throw it out or use it less.
Make recycling more accessible
If you’re like most businesses, then you are going to have some recycling trashcans that people can throw specific types of waste in, such as paper goods, aluminum cans, PET plastic bottles, and so on. However, you should try to make sure that these cans are placed in a way that’s convenient for the majority of workers. This might include putting them in a more common area or having more of them throughout the office. The simple truth is that people are more likely to make the trip if the can is much closer to them.
Use industry-specific waste services
If you want to make sure that the waste you throw away is being dealt with as conscientiously as possible, then you might want to look beyond your common recyclables. All industries have their own types of waste that are quite specific to them. For instance, if you’re in the medical or pharmaceutical industries, then you might want to look at non-hazardous waste containers for goods that aren’t a risk to your office’s health, but still, gather more frequently than should be put in a regular trashcan. Then you can look at industry-specific services to take this waste away, too, as they are more likely to find methods of recycling it.
Get an idea of where you can improve
If you’re not entirely sure where you could stand to reduce, reuse or recycle a little more effectively, then you might want to take the time to look more closely at the problem, to begin with. You can perform your own waste audit on your company, seeing where you could stand to improve and where you’re already doing plenty to combat the waste that is being produced by your business.
It’s unlikely for any business to ever reach levels of 100% waste reduction. However, there is a lot more than you can do to make sure that you’re producing less and to more effectively deal with what you do produce.