Green Tomorrow

The need to set up and implement a recycling program in the office is huge. If you work in an office environment then you are aware of the amount of paper generated in one small office. You can just barely imagine how much paper a larger office uses on a daily basis. The numbers are astronomical. When a business office wants to recycle the paper they would normally throw away. There are several steps, which must be implemented in order to make the transition of throwing in the recycle bin rather than the trash can.

The business will want to make the recycle as easy on their employees as possible, so in order to accomplish this they will strategically place recycle bins in locations to prevent their employees in making any extra steps to find a bin. They may wish to use desktop recycle boxes for standard sized paper in order to keep it simple. At a cost of only $1 to $2 each, every employee would be able to have one at their work station or a separate mini waste basket, which can be suspended from the normal wastebasket or sitting beside the wastebasket. Usually these boxes will resemble a tray or you can use a folder to place paper in meant for the recycle bin.

If the paper to be recycled at each desk is not just the standard size paper, but includes forms, computer paper, note pads along with standard sized letterhead, copier paper, etc. At a cost $4 to $9 you can have a container at each desk or workstation. The cost of the container will be made up for the savings in time, and increase recycling. In many large offices the copy machine and the printer is in a central location in order for several people share the printer rather than each employee have one of each at his or her desk. So a large recycle bin will place at the location of these machines. This will also give your employees a central location to empty their own personal desktop recycle bins or wastebaskets.

As a business start a recycle program in your company you will need to contact the site manager or the contractor of the cleaning crew. You want them to be aware of the recycle bins on the desktops and other locations, so everything doesn’t end up in the trash bin. They will know to empty them into a separate container specified for recyclables. Remember instructions in languages other than English may be required. Your office may or may not equip your desk with a desktop recycle bin. If it doesn’t you can create your own.

If you have an empty paper tray at your desk you can convert it into your own recycle bin and empty it into the larger containers as needed. Another way would be to take an empty box before it gets broken down and place beside or underneath your desk and empty it as you need. The only problem you might encounter with the box is the cleaning crew. They may remove it and place it with the other boxes to be recycled. Many employees will place a note on the box, asking the cleaning crew to not remove.