ENVIRONMENTAL CODE OF PRACTICE
Waste Efficiency
Consider what your company is throwing away. Is the ‘rubbish’ in
bins really ‘waste’ or is it a resource which your company should
be trying to conserve rather than discard? It is also important to
remember that waste disposal is an expensive business and a
reduction in the quantities of waste produced by your business may
bring significant cost savings. When your company decides to begin
an office recycling system, it may be necessary to segregate the
waste at source and this means providing receptacles for each of
the materials to be recycled. You will also need to educate staff
to use the receptacles provided so that it will become automatic
for them to put waste paper in the office ‘green bin’ rather than
straight into the dustbin.
For companies producing large volumes of paper and using
commercial recycling companies you may also need to consider the
additional aspect of storage, as most commercial companies will
specify a minimum quantity for collection. You could also encourage
your staff to recycle their ‘domestic waste’ and plastic packaging,
bottles or cans that are discarded at lunchtime by placing
information about local community recycling centres and the
facilities which they offer on central notice boards. You can
obtain such information from your local authority recycling
officer.
Other waste such as batteries, toner cartridges, and fluorescent tubes may need to be
disposed of in a more environmentally sensitive manner. There are
many companies which will recycle or refill empty toner cartridges
for you (visit Waste Directory), which
also works out to be significantly cheaper than purchasing new
cartridges. There are also specialist companies which will collect
and recycle fluorescent tubes. Details, particularly about the Duty
of Care, which applies to all companies, can be found in the
section on Waste Management