View Full Version : Employers & environmental issues
This will make you shake your head or laugh.
My company refuses to recycle paper. Too expensive they said. So I take home the pages I can as drawing paper for a large family I’m close to.
They stopped buying disposable coffee cups. Trying to save any $$. But a number of people in the office flat out REFUSE to bring their own reusable cup from home. They’re actually taking turns supplying disposable cups themselves. They hide them at one desk so no one who contributes to the cups can’t get one.
Any stories from your office?
catherine
12-11-18, 2:47pm
Wow. I'm shaking my head.
The company refusing to spend the money on recycling is bad enough, but I truly don't get the people who won't use their own mugs. Are they afraid someone might steal them, or are they too lazy to wash them?
Oh, and don't tell me the disposable cups they're buying for themselves are styrofoam. It would ruin my day.
Since I'm self-employed, I have no horror stories to tell about workplace recycling, except that I tend to wait too long to take the paper recycling out and the Trader Joe paper bag rips.
They’re too lazy. And yes, the cups are styrofoam. They’re going for the cheapest they can get. I actually asked.
My last company tried a pilot program based on some of Ray Anderson's work.
We offered customers the option to buy the capabilities of the expensive servers we made, instead of purchasing the equipment itself. We would own and service and upgrade the servers, and take them back to recycle and re-use. The customer merely received the utility of the product, and didn't have to be involved in owning them and whatnot.
It was even a bit cheaper.
It was Too Soon, or Too Late (IBM had a similar program in the 1950s/1960s) in that particular industry, and we couldn't get liftoff with the program, which was sort of sad. Too much customer education was needed.
catherine
12-11-18, 3:00pm
They’re too lazy. And yes, the cups are styrofoam. They’re going for the cheapest they can get. I actually asked.
Argghhh..
2621
iris lilies
12-11-18, 3:03pm
Not an office, but I could talk about the byzantine recycling rules of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Cant tell you how many times I have stood over their stupid containers, discussing wih someone where we are supposed to put our iris leaves or paper plates. Their choices are “recyclable” “Compost (with photos of paper plates, paper cups, etc.) and “Landfill.”
Why does the “compostable” bin have 0 nada none pictures of plant material?
Why does the “recycling” bin not include images of paper cups and plates? Because there is food on them? What if they are dry and clean?
While I am careful to recycle as best I can at my home, the impossible-to-understand rules of MoBot make me cranky.Fk ‘em.
We had recycling bins at Megacorp as far back as the seventies, and not a Styrofoam cup in sight. People mostly brought their own. I had no idea this wasn't the norm.
ToomuchStuff
12-11-18, 3:18pm
I am kind of shocked that they don't shred the papers since they have customer information on them.
IL "Why does the “recycling” bin not include images of paper cups and plates? Because there is food on them? What if they are dry and clean?", I would expect because most dry and clean paper goods, get left in packaging and donated to others for use. (proper recycling)
Bae, sounds like Microsoft with hardware.
I do wish we had a separate cardboard box recycling at work. However others in the apartments behind, still think those dumpsters are provided to us by their landlord who sold our center years ago. I also wish we had a good fence/lock around them to prevent illegal dumping.
Teacher Terry
12-11-18, 4:34pm
We all had our own stuff when I was working.
Miss Cellaneous
12-11-18, 5:21pm
Most people here use their own mugs, travel mugs mostly, so that spills can't ruin papers/keyboards/etc. There are disposable cups available because we have a lot of client visits. Although that's something we could work on--there are dishwashers in every kitchen and a kitchen on every floor, so having a small supply of "real" mugs for guests wouldn't be a struggle.
All paper and cardboard get recycled, although the vast quantities of paper that we used to produce have been greatly lessened by doing more and more work online. There's a young man with Down's syndrome who handles getting the recycling bins emptied and he will gladly tell you what goes in which bin and what needs to go in the trash. He's got his job down pat.
We even have recyclable pens to hand out--the ink cartridge is plastic and so is the top of the pen, where you push the little button to make the writing tip appear, and there's a metal spring, but the rest of the pen is cardboard or wood.
In general, the company tries to be as environmentally friendly as possible. They even help organize car pools for employees.
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.
iris lilies
8-23-19, 9:36pm
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Much easier in a country where they can jail you for speaking out. I hope we aren't heading there.
There are rabid environmentalists who would love to force their directives on everyone.
There are also those on the far left who already attempt to punish people who hold opinions the left doesn’t agree with.
messengerhot
3-1-20, 11:02pm
Lol!
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