How to Reduce Office Waste

Whether it’s due to stricter legislation or just a collective desire to do better, deciding to reduce waste and recycle more is a great thing for a company to do. If done properly, it could even save your business money too, so everybody wins!

Branded water bottles and coffee cups

This might involve an upfront cost, but the benefits are clear. Firstly, all of those takeaway coffee cups and plastic water bottles that are being used in the office will become a thing of the past, reducing your waste considerably. Secondly, this sustainability effort will also double as a unique brand awareness opportunity! Not only will visitors and clients be able to admire these products, but so too will the general public when your staff take them out and about.

Think more, print less

In this day and age, there’s not much we should really need to print out. With programs like Google Docs and Dropbox that allow us to easily share documents and promote collaboration, printing should really be a last resort. Even asking your employees to print double-sided is a surefire way to reduce waste.

Ditch the water machine

All of those tiny plastic cups that you see used every day by the reception desk, the chances are they can’t be recycled, so if you haven’t already started thinking about getting rid of the water machine, now’s the time to do so. 

Instead, we would recommend having a filtered water tap installed. This allows employees or visitors to fill up their own water bottles and discourages people from going out and getting a disposable one from the shop.

Make sure your bins are properly labelled

If you are trying to find ways to help reduce your office waste, we can only assume you’ve already implemented an internal bin system for recycling and general waste. The question is: are they properly labelled? In a busy office environment, making sure that certain items are dropped in the right bin might not be at the forefront of your employees’ minds, so make it easy for them by ensuring that all of your internal bins are labelled clearly.

It’s all well and good ensuring that your waste is segregated properly and put in the correct bins, but you’re only as good as the company that handles your waste once it’s been collected. 

Here at Brown Recycling, we operate on a zero waste to landfill policy, meaning that, as far as possible, we will ensure that your collected waste is diverted away from landfill and instead reused or recycled, or failing that, sent to an EFW (energy-from-waste) plant.

Here at Brown Recycling, we help businesses throughout Stoke-on-Trent and beyond create a recycling strategy that works for them. Whether you need regular waste collection or confidential shredding, we can come to an arrangement that works for you and helps you meet your recycling targets. For more information, please get in touch.