According to the United Nations, over 2.12 billion tons of waste is disposed of annually, while industrial and commercial businesses contribute to the majority of this waste.
We all know that reducing waste is an important part of conserving our planet’s resources and protecting them for many years to come. Therefore, why not stop dumping and start recycling.
For companies, recycling is a time, money, and energy-consuming process that may not generate revenue in the traditional sense, but what they miss is that recycling organizational waste will ultimately save them money in the long run and will reflect their corporate social responsibility.
In this short article, we will be showing you 5 ways on how to lessen your organizational wastes and be part of the solution for a better and cleaner Kuwait rather than being part of the problem.
- Start A Green Team
Set up a “Green Team” of employees across the organization to set clear goals for your office recycling program along with encouraging other employees to join the waste reduction initiatives. It is more effective to include staff from different departments as well as the management team.
- Measure it
You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
Make sure to get your wastes measures by calculating the amount your company disposes per day, or per person per day.
Making the results tangible will make it easier for you to challenge everyone to reduce their wastes. Running waste recycling competitions between departments/branches is a clever way of motivation.
- Go Paperless
The biggest amount of wastes that companies generate comes from using paper.
Think smarter and use technology instead!
Programs like Google Docs allow you to write, edit, and collaborate for free online, and Dropbox, a free service that makes it easy to sync and share files, it’s easier than ever to eliminate the amount of paper you use in the workplace.
Also, consider adding a “think before you print” message to the bottom of your emails as a friendly reminder to coworkers.
Sometimes printing is necessary, so educate your staff to set their defaults to print double-sided, and ask them to use the “Print Selection” function, which encourages them to only print what they need and reduces wasted sheets of paper.
- Offer Reusable in Break Rooms or Cafeterias
The use of disposable tableware is a common source of waste in most organizations.
So, as part of your strategy to reduce waste, don’t purchase or provide disposable tableware. Instead, encourage your staff to always come with their reusable mugs, plates, flatware, etc.
- Find a Recycling Partner
Reducing wastes is part of the solution whereas recycling is the second part.
For work reasons, you might not be able to reduce the use of specific appliances or materials, similar to purchasing new computers, printers, scanners, coffee machines…etc.
Well, here the responsible decision to make is partnering with a recycling company that offers recycling centers at your office, waste collection, and disposal in an eco-friendly manner.
Enviroserve Kuwait will be proud to be your recycling partner and help you in making your wastes disappear like magic with zero negative footprints on the environment
In the end, keep in mind that per the WARM calculator (EPA’s Waste Reduction Model) a business with 100 tons/year of waste that reduces by 15 percent saves 44 metric tons of carbon equivalent emissions. This equals a reduction in the amount emitted from over 18,000 gallons of gasoline