My hospital has blue recycle waste baskets and regular waste baskets. Everybody throws everything in all baskets without discriminating. We watch as the housekeepers gather all the trash from both types of receptacles into the same large plastic bags. The staff says “why bother when the housekeepers mix it all together”. The housekeepers say “we have a recycling program but no one follows it”. Neither side will budge.
My office has recycling, compost and landfill bins. No pictures. Probably 50% of the people know the rules. The rest just toss stuff in whichever bin even though all three are side by side. We have real cups for people to use and a dishwasher that gets run every night. I personally use my own cup that was given to me when we had a different name and is now "collectable". If I was really cool I'd have a cup with our current name but the original logo we had for 90 years. Only one person in the office has a cup like that though.
Our recycle dumpster was delivered shortly after I opened my facility. I stocked the lounge/kitchen with coffee mugs, drinking glasses, plates and bowls. The dishwasher is full nearly everyday. I do have paper cups/lids for patients and guests. A few are used by staff who apparently don't believe in the dishwasher? I bought metal containers for instruments rather than wrap with #5 paper each time.
We receive a LOT of freight and all cardboard goes in the recycle bin.
We won a community 'green business' award back in 2006 for our practices.
Sadly, with the change in recycle rules much of what we used to recycle is now garbage
Something of an update:
The must use styrofoam people are no longer with the company (left for other jobs). We’re doing less paper stuff and more electronic stuff. I save any paper from the printer that doesn’t need to be saved to be used for scrap paper. I’ll cut pages in quarters and staple those to the front of files instead of using post it notes.
All the cardboard boxes that from stuff unpacked in the warehouse are recycled.
The Keurigs are still in extensive use in the office. No one wants to deal with cleaning the coffee pot. I use tea bags and there is an electric kettle for our use.
We have a group that recycles big styrofoam boxes that a local drug company received regularly for feral outdoor cat houses. However, they outsourced and the boxes are now going to Chicago. We need to find more companies that get such boxes and help them recycle. No one here wants styrofoam. I think this recycle is a win win.
Our friend was on one of those meal plan diets where the company sent him weekly food in a styrofoam container. He didnt know what else to do with them except stack them in his basement. When someone from our local feral cat rescue organization put out a call for styro boxes, I hooked these two guys up. So, that was a win.Originally Posted by sweetana3
I have an update of sorts. I think our worldwide executives in China have been bored during the extended CNY holiday due to coronavirus. I recently read that China is banning single use plastics. That has to play into the directive that has come down from on high.
All worldwide offices are to stop using single use plastics immediately. All employees have to bring their own reusable cups and glasses for use in the office. None of this will be provided by the company. But here’s where it gets funky. Employees are not to bring any single use plastic into the office. No plastic bags of any kind are to be brought in. Even if you reused ziplocks, not permitted. No straws. No plastic cups from soft drinks, no plastic single use drinks bottles of any kind. No 2 liters. Metal cans OK.
They might be able to enforce this in China, but in the US? Makes me laugh. My boss refuses to give up the Keurig. No way to reinforce this on all the temp workers in the warehouse.
I want to go paperless, but we need additional software to be able to combine multiple PDFs into one file. Needed for billing packets to customers and document packets for Customs. Everything has to be in a certain order. Also, we can’t keep our customs clearance back files in digital form because the server is not in the US. Customs will only approve it if server is in the US.
It will be interesting to see how much traction this gets.
We have a shipping warehouse. There is no way to eliminate plastic shrink wrap for the pallets.
Iris Lilies, our local feral cat group does the same thing. They create more than 1,000 feral shelters every year. Used to get the Styrofoam boxes from Eli Lilly who get chemicals shipped in them. Lilly now reroutes to another warehouse in IL I think. So now they found an aquarium company of some kind that gets fish sent in these cooler boxes. Pick up a huge truck load regularly and schedule a shelter build day.
I see indicators that the world is slowly coming around--lots of cities and subsequently states around here have banned single-use plastic bags, Oregon, IIRC, has banned plastic straws, gas and diesel cars are slowly being replaced or being made much more fuel-efficient. Stainless steel or glass straws can be bought now.
The growth of TNR and feral cat protection is gratifying to me. Feral cat support (Tiny Kittens, Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon), along with Fences for Fido and Wings of Rescue, top my charity list.
My question about the new directive is how do the China executives expect to enforce this in US offices? Are people going to be fired if they don’t comply? Is this even legal? Much easier in conformist China.
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