In 2019, recycling at home is the norm. We all have a recycling bin, and even a compost bin. However, not all cities make recycling easy in businesses. So I decided to look into the problem and see what's already in place.
First, raise awareness
First and foremost, it will take effort to implement the system. However, it will be in place for a very long time. One of the efforts will be to disseminate information within the company. People will have to be educated to respect the way things are done. I'll give you a real-life example with a cleaning team at a large middle school. The employees couldn't recycle properly despite the fact that the middle school had installed recycling bins in every classroom and hallway. However, the recycling bins were always full of garbage, discarded coffees, or unemptied or unrinsed juice bottles. As you can imagine, the janitors didn't have time to sort the bins in each classroom.
They had brought this problem to the attention of the college administration. Instead of taking action, the administration responded that it could do nothing if the students didn't participate. And since the students paid to study at this college, the administration found it inappropriate to intervene to raise awareness among the students. The caretakers were very frustrated by this state of affairs.
Despite everything, many companies recycle very effectively within their walls. One of the companies that surprised me the most was a Hydro Québec center. All the offices were equipped with recycling bins that were much larger than the garbage bins. Recycling stations were installed in all the corridors. And outside, there were several recycling bins for metal and other recycling bins for other materials, cardboard recycling, and other things. Information about the company's recycling system was very present. Do you see where I'm going with this? The system worked because we had made efforts to raise awareness.
Which cities offer organic collection service?
First, I must say that Recyc-Québec is a great source of information for me. Whenever I do research on the environment, they come up among the first reference articles. Once again, I came across an article that gave access to a Interactive map of cities that offer organic collection service.
Recycling by multi-station
As you saw in my two examples of corporate recycling above, the success of such a program requires that you provide facilities to facilitate this activity by the company's employees. The commercial product offering is now very large when it comes to recycling containers. One of the examples currently available from most companies selling recycling items is this offer of Rubbermaid. Of course, there are many other kits available and in other formats.
Other services or products offered to businesses wishing to recycle
By the way, a very nice service has been set up for the recycling your company's electronic devices: The Serpuarians.
The Offer of metal recycling is offered by several companies now. You may have to carry your metal yourself. As a thank you for your effort, you will receive a cash prize!
You can offer a second life for wood by bringing your old wood to the sorting centers. Here is a list of centers that offer this service. And besides, you can also count on sorting centers to provide a second life for plastic, wood, glass, metal, cardboard and paper. The sorting centers are doing an excellent job and I therefore end this article on a video of what is done in the sorting centers.
We hope this article will inspire you to implement a large-scale recycling system in your business.
Another article: Reuse to recycle
