repurposing as a part of your recycling efforts

3 Steps to an Effective Office Paper Recycling Program

Offices use a lot of paper every day. Most of the paper is used only once in a meeting or as a flier to convey information and is never looked at again. In order to reduce the amount of waste that a office produces, it's important to recycle this nonessential paper. However, creating a recycling program and making sure that it's effective can be difficult. Follow these three steps to make sure that your recycling program is a success.

1. Advertise It

In order for a recycling program to be effective, people actually need to use it. People won't use a program that they don't actually know about. To advertise your recycling program, consider putting up decorative fliers, having an office-wide meeting in which the program is announced, and creating contests between departments to see which can recycle the most paper. Some ideas include measuring the amount of paper that each department recycles and then buying the winner of each month lunch, creating a special trophy that can be passed around from department to department, and giving the winning department special favors, such as better office supplies or an opportunity to wear jeans to work.

2. Make It Convenient

You also need to make sure that your recycling program is as convenient as possible. Give every employee or every set of desks a recycling basket. This means that employees can simply toss their paper that needs to be recycled without even leaving their desks. When the bin is full, you either need to make sure that there is a protocol in place for employees to empty the bin in a central location that's only a minute walk from any desk in the office, or you need to make sure that the janitorial staff empties all of the bins every night. Finally, you need to make sure that any paper is picked up by an office paper recycling company. You don't want to have to put someone in the office in charge of driving the paper to a recycling facility once a week because that will take away from productive time.

3. Be Specific

Finally, you need to make sure that you're as specific as possible when you're outlining the details of what kinds of paper can and cannot be recycled. If you're employees aren't recycling the right items, your program will not be successful. Have an education session at the start of the program and follow up once or twice during the course of a six month period with reminders. Post a reminder sign above every central recycling bin.

For more information, talk to a company that provides office copier services.


Share