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FACILITY PERSPECTIVESV O L U M E 4 N U M B E R 1

CLIENT FEATURE

One of the biggest challenges forfacility managers today is thecollection and disposal of waste.

Regardless of the size of the facility, thecollection and handling of waste is a criticalfunction. It is also an expensive one. InAustralia, we currently dump around 700 kgof waste per person to landfill each year. Howmuch that costs is difficult to measure butthere have been studies indicating that it is inthe tens of billions of dollars a year. That ismoney that could be better spent on roads,education and healthcare.

Reduce, Reuse, RecycleAfter so many years of successful campaignsby organisations such as Planet Ark, Clean UpAustralia and Keep Australia Beautiful, thecatch phrase Reduce, Reuse, Recycle hasalmost become a mantra for responsibleenvironmental practice in the workplace andat home.

Recyclable material makes up almost 80%of total household waste in Australia.Therefore, it should be easy to make a bigimpact upon the mountains of landfill that wegenerate each year. Unfortunately thatdoesn’t seem to be happening.Contamination threatens the viability ofrecycling at home and the workplace byincreasing the costs to collectors, recyclersand the community. An effective system ofcollecting each waste stream can reduce crosscontamination by as much as 90%.

How often have you seen or heard of arecycling scheme not working and thematerial being dumped to landfill. This canencourage staff and patrons to think cynicallyabout the viability of recycling schemes. Thismay be the case in some situations, butgenerally, recyclers can’t get enough materialto meet their capacity.

What can we do?The 3 most important things any business can do to make a bigimprovement in reducing their environmental impact are nothing new… Reduce, Reuse & Recycle. Finding innovative ways to implementthis basic strategy can be a challenge; particularly for a “time poor”facility manager who has enough to think about on a daily basis.

At work, most of our waste is hidden away where we don’t noticeit; in habits and procedures we do without thinking. A Victorian studyshowed that the hidden costs of waste for most businesses were 5 to10 times higher than the actual waste disposal costs. So it makesgood financial sense to get started on a recycling programme as soonas possible.

Here are 6 easy steps to get you started:1. Find out where the waste occurs and estimate the percentage of

each waste stream – paper, plastic, glass etc. This is oftenreferred to as a waste audit;

2. Establish your priorities – be realistic about the extent and timeframe; small steps are better;

3. Plan your strategy- consult with your waste collection contractorfor advice and find a “Champion” who can drive the programmeforward;

4. Get everyone involved; launch your recycling programme &communicate with staff and patrons; explain the why and how;

5. Celebrate success – it doesn’t have to be expensive; justsomething to let everyone know that they are contributing to asuccessful and worthwhile scheme;

6. Monitor and tweak the programme; keep open to new ideas.

6 EASY STEPS TO RECYCLINGIN THE WORKPLACE

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8 West Link Place, Richlands, Brisbane Queensland 4077 Phone: +61 7 3712 8000 Fax: +61 7 3712 8001 Email: sales@rud.com.au www.bins4recycling.com.au

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