You have paper and other materials to dispose of from your business activities.
The simplest way to dispose of them is to put them in a disposal bin and feel good about doing your part to help the environment.
Many businesses aim to operate in an environmentally responsible manner by buying energy-efficient light bulbs, setting their printers to print double-sided by default, and so on.
It is easy to assume that, as long as you are making an effort, the system will work as planned.
Behind the clean floor and sleek desk of modern business lies a complex reality.
The intention to create a sustainable business can precede an understanding of where its waste is going.
The disposal bin becomes a sort of black box, things go in, and then they magically disappear. But what happens in between?
The average worker, focused on meeting the next deadline and working long hours in a fluorescently lit space, is not aware of the document’s entire lifecycle.
The average worker is unaware of the complexities of corporate waste management systems and the bottlenecks in the recycling process.
What they do know is that they have been intent on doing good, but that good has been complicated.
The Complication of Modern Workplace Materials
Most companies still rely on paper to conduct business, to distribute and share information within the organization.
Whether it’s a contract, a financial forecast, a strategy document, employee information, or more, all this paper needs to be secured, destroyed when no longer needed, and recycled in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
Many companies use a shredder to destroy sensitive documents.
Still, in doing so, they often don’t realize that the method of destruction can significantly affect how the shredded material is processed afterward.
The problem is that once paper is shredded, it is no longer the same material, and it is processed differently.
Most facilities have large sorting machines that can sort through large piles of paper and stack them in separate bins for different types of paper.
However, once the paper has been shredded, it goes through the sorting facility on a conveyor belt and falls right through the sorting screens. It can then get mixed up with other types of waste and end up in landfills.
It can also get sucked up by ventilation systems in offices and other buildings and end up in landfills.
Also, due to the physical structure of shredded paper, it requires a different recycling approach than that for regular paper waste in a workplace.
Disposing of shredded paper is a whole different ball of wax.
Of course, all shredded paper can be recycled, but there are definite parameters for how it should be collected and processed to remain in the recycling stream.
Typically, a normal blue bin isn’t the appropriate place for the confetti-like remains of an office shredder.
Knowing how to properly recycle shredded paper is essential because other paper in the recycling stream can become contaminated by the liquid that typically oozes out of the small, confetti-like pieces of shredded paper.
These pieces of paper can become tangled around other items, such as plastic bottles, in the commingled recycling stream and thus would not be suitable for reuse by a paper mill. In reality, this material is typically sent to the landfill in large quantities, even though businesses would otherwise assume they are recycling the paper.
Shifting Focus From Bins to Systems
To create a workplace that takes responsibility for its impact on the environment, you need to look at the full lifecycle of the materials used in the office, including after they leave the supplier’s dock and are delivered to your office.
It takes considerable effort to really take a close look at the many routines we go through daily in our workplace.
But first, we must review the materials we use in the office to ensure we are not creating more waste than necessary.
Next, we must examine the lifecycle of the waste we do create and determine how it can be managed in the most sustainable way possible.
As a rule, the modern office relies on a variety of materials for daily use, most of which are not designed to be reused or recycled and are instead meant to be disposed of.
For this reason, it is common for companies to assume that having recycling bins in the office is enough to be environmentally responsible.
However, this is not the case. In reality, the waste management system is a complex web of recycling and disposal facilities that are not always equipped to handle the specific types of waste generated by a corporate office.
Then, at the other end of the cycle, is where we really need to take a hard look and say, can we print this out?
Is this going to be a lot of documents that will only be looked at for a short time and then thrown away?
This is where you really start to get into the efficiency of your business.
The amount of waste created in offices is huge, but much of it can be mitigated simply by running your business more efficiently.
Building a Culture of Genuine Responsibility
To transform a business to manage its physical materials most sustainably, more than just changing the way a company does business under the direction of human resources is needed.
An entire organization must be made aware of the effects of its daily actions on the environment.
The best way to create a culture of sustainable practices within a business is to have all employees explain the why behind the actions taken regarding the waste generated by the business.
The best way to get employees to comply with an organization’s policies and procedures is to get them to buy into the reasons behind them.
In this way, employees become part of the solution to eliminating the waste that an organization generates.
To build such a team, it is critical to inform them of the actual constraints at each stage of the recycling process.
For example, there is nothing more frustrating for a recycling center than to receive a large load of high-grade recyclable material, only to have it contaminated by a single coffee spill.
By being informed of these realities, employees become much more mindful of their actions and behaviors.
As a result, a culture of sustainability is born, one that is grounded in reality as opposed to blind compliance.
Sustainability and the attempt to create a sustainable workplace are long-term endeavors.
At its core, operationalizing sustainability means continually auditing the processes around you to identify inefficiencies and implement changes that reduce the workplace’s overall footprint.
When companies are committed to this process and take full responsibility for all waste created by the materials used in the workplace to complete tasks at hand, their corporate ideals can become a tangible reality.
