Recycling cardboard boxes
Offices, schools, hotels, and other commercial buildings create substantial amounts of waste.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American will generate 4.9 pounds of trash every day. Now multiply that by the number of employees you have at your business.
The trash generated by them is your responsibility to dispose of safely. If you want to manage the amount of waste your business generates sustainably, you need to think beyond recycling.
Here are our top tips for waste disposal:
Do A Waste Audit:
To find the best waste management solution for your business, you need first to understand what kinds of trash you create and how much of it.
A weekly estimate can help you choose the most suitable waste management practices and figure out which resources are binned the most.
A waste audit will help you create goals for short term and long term waste reduction.
paper waste at a landfill
Reduce Ink And Paper Use:
According to the EPA, old paper makes up 40% of the waste found in landfills. Businesses generate high amounts of ink and paper waste.
Create a paperless policy to eliminate paper as much as possible. Keep documents on an online or shared server for easy access, and discourage printing out unnecessary documents.
Printing in draft mode can help save ink, while color printing only adds to the amount of ink used. In the bathroom, hand dryers can help reduce the number of paper towels used.
Incorporate Reusable Options:
Your employees will use a wide range of items every day. Cutting down on single-use items and replacing them with reusable options can help your office be more sustainable.
Start with replacing disposable cups with reusable coffee mugs and water bottles and encouraging the use of company-provided utensils to reduce plastic ware waste.
Ask your employees to bring Tupperware for lunch, instead of Styrofoam or plastic containers.
Donate Items:
Instead of discarding extra items, donate them to charities that will be happy to accept them. You can give perishable items and prepare food to food banks, restaurants, and grocery stores.
Extra toiletries and soaps can be given to hotels, while old electronics like computers, printers, and more can be given to virtually any place.
Color-coded waste management bins
Recycle As Much As You Can:
Recycling helps conserve energy, reduces landfill size, and reduces the need for new raw materials for manufacturing. By recycling, you are extending the life of existing materials and conserving them.
Get recycling bins installed in your office and educate employees about which bins are suitable for paper, plastic, and glass for more effective waste management. There are many business-specific waste recycling options you can look into for your state.
Compost Lunches:
Composting is a great way to dispose of food and paper waste. Create a tightly sealed compost bin to keep odors and fruit flies away.
You can compost food scraps, including fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, rice, pasta, eggshells, tea bags, and bread. You can also compost food-soiled paper, including paper towels, paper bags, pizza boxes, and napkins.
Use compostable bags to transfer the compost to an outdoor compost site quickly.
Most importantly, promote green waste management solutions to your employees. Facilities USA is a full-service waste removal that provides waste removal, recycling, and disposal services for commercial buildings and offices. Get in touch with us at Inquiry@FacilitiesUSA.com for your free quote now.
