You can embed sustainable practices into any workplace, whether you’re in the office each day or practising a hybrid work model. Here are a few ways to reduce waste, and increase recycling in your work environment.
Kick off with an office waste audit
Whether you’re working from home or in the office, take a minute to take stock, noting what kinds of rubbish you are producing and where it is ending up. A waste audit will help you break down all the different types of rubbish in your work day and workplace, so you can find ways to reduce your impact and see the costs associated with disposing of materials.
By identifying issues in your waste disposal practices, you can streamline business processes, increase rates of recycling and reuse and ultimately reduce the amount of waste you’re sending straight to landfills. It’s a great way to feel more comfortable in your home office, and a great way to attract and retain employees who value corporate commitment to sustainability in the workplace, and chances are it will also save money!
Try this 4-step workplace waste audit:
- Separate the rubbish you produce in the workplace (or work-associated rubbish in your home office) by waste stream. This could include paper, plastic, soft plastics, food organics, shipping materials, glass, e-waste and other technical equipment.
- Weigh or measure how much of each waste stream you’re producing in a given timeframe and consider how the waste is currently being disposed of, noting that recycling of various materials differs between local councils and across the states and territories. Don’t forget to record any issues that come up in the disposal process. For example, certain materials may not be going into the correct bins for recycling, composting and general waste.
- Assess the results, looking at areas where your workplace is producing high amounts of rubbish that has the potential to be reduced, as well as the time and cost-effectiveness of your waste disposal methods.
- Investigate recycling, reuse and composting opportunities for rubbish that currently goes in bins headed for landfills. Read on for a few easy suggestions below!
How do you dispose of waste in the workplace?
Chances are there will be a lot of miscellaneous items that are still functional, but no longer needed; desk caddies, pigeonholes, folders and shelving for example. Bigger items like these can be sold through an online marketplace, or donated to a charity. Kerbside recycling will take cardboard, paper, as well as most glass and aluminium, and for just about everything else you’ll find a TerraCycle recycling solution.
Visit our website and sign up to the free TerraCycle recycling programs in Australia and New Zealand that best suit your business needs. Place collection boxes for each program alongside your bins for kerbside recycling and general waste, or anywhere you and your colleagues are likely to see and remember them.
You could set up a collection hub in your workplace kitchen to collect dishwashing and air care products and packaging through the Dish & Air Care Free Recycling Program. Or make it easy for the team to recycle coffee capsules though one of our free recycling programs.
You can build enthusiasm by encouraging coworkers to bring rubbish that’s accepted by these programs into the office. When you have filled a box, simply log into your TerraCycle account and download a free postage label for the specific program, affix it to a cardboard box and post it to TerraCycle for recycling.
If our free recycling programs don’t cover a particular type of workplace rubbish you are keen to recycle, check out our range of pre-paid Zero Waste Box office solutions. Whether it’s disposable face masks, gloves, shipping materials, ink and toner cartridges or any other hard-to-recycle rubbish that builds up in office cupboards, Zero Waste Boxes provide a convenient catch-all solution.
How can recycling help the wider community?
Once you have everything organised to accept hard-to-recycle waste in the office, you can take your workplace recycling efforts one step further by setting up your business as a TerraCycle public drop-off point.
When you sign up as a drop-off point, you offer the opportunity for customers, suppliers and the general public to access your TerraCycle recycling hub. This can help reduce the environmental footprint of the programs, as larger volumes make the shipping process more efficient. It’s also great for community-building because it puts your business at the centre of local recycling efforts, generates goodwill and even foot traffic.
Participants in our free recycling programs can accrue TerraCycle charity points which are redeemable as cash donations to the non-profit or school of your choice. Your workplace can build up even more charity points by operating as a public drop-off point and collecting more rubbish for recycling, all while helping reduce waste in your community.
In fact businesses all over Australia setting up recycling collection points, and some are even using upcycled furniture to complete the look, check out the public drop-off point at Sydney coworking space, Seed for a little inspo. And there’s plenty more resources on the TerraCycle resources hub.
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