ISO: RecycleMan




Funny but true. Our bins are begging for a quality control person ... "Recycle Man". Are you willing to fill the position? What could you do to police your bins without hovering over them?

1. Start with correct and complete labeling. Clearly label what the bin is intended for. Next, clearly explain what should NOT be placed in the bin, make it guess free.

2. Be sure that you have both garbage and recycling bins in all locations. Often people try to do the right thing by limiting where they place garbage bins (or recycling bins), ultimately forcing people to recycle or avoid contamination in the recycling.  The issue with this is that it causes a lot of contamination or failure to recycle. People who care about recycling will do the right thing but those people would also be likely to seek out a recycling bin. People who wouldn't have made the effort to find the recycling bin will throw contaminants in the wrong bin unphased. Although we feel the placement of both bins are best it is essential that you've already addressed #1 - correct and complete bin labeling.

3. Provide Feedback. Many assume that no news is good news. If you are finding that people are placing the wrong things in the wrong bins let them know. Providing positive and negative feedback keeps everyone on track and increases your recycling impact.

Any to add? Have you found other tips that are helpful in keeping recycling clean and encourages participation?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Confusion

Image
The recycling markets have been in the spotlight lately for being in a tough spot and that's good because they are. Fuel & oil prices as well as the state of foreign markets play a large role in the current state of recycling and material recovery facilities but the single largest obstacle that MRF's battle every day is contamination. The best part about this is that unlike fuel prices and foreign markets the people recycling have a direct hand in this and can change it. I think for the most part, we are all pretty bright people who have come to understand that recycling is important for the future of our planet yet the results are still so ugly, why?? Recycling is confusing! It's not so much that the process itself is all that complex but there are just so many variables. 1. The numbers on the bottom of the bottles aren't always a true indicator of what the bottle is made of (at least completely). There is no real "ruling body" that sets regula...
Read more

True Green

It's a fad. I mean, it's so very helpful for my job but really green has become a fad. Celebrities are driving Prius's and talking about their carbon footprint. It's a good fad because no one is hurt and only our planet gains.. or not? I've said so many times that education is the first step to getting recycling to catch on and become second nature. Miseducation on the other hand makes us take giant leaps back. So many companies are cashing in on the eco fad and are green washing us to death. Now it is so much more difficult to determine what's really "green" and what is a company trying to persuade us to buy the same old product wrapped in a green package. It takes a very detail oriented person with extra time to be sure that the product you specifically bought because it was a bit healthier for the planet and your family is in fact just that. Unfortunately for most of us, time is not something we have a lot extra of.  A friend recently informed m...
Read more

No mixed feelings here.

Image
https://wasteadvantagemag.com/mixed-feelings-on-mixed-waste-still/ This article in Waste Advantage Magazine discusses the idea of single bin collection (not to be confused with single stream collection). Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably they are vastly different (pay attention to context) and ask for clarification. Single bins collection means that all materials that are leaving your home or business (garbage & recycling) will go in the same single bin. These mixed up, highly contaminated materials will go to what is known as a dirty MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) and the staff will be tasked with first sorting out food waste, dirty diapers, feminine products, coffee grinds, and lots of other highly unappealing items from the "recycling". After they've raked out whatever garbage they can they will attempt to salvage  "clean" recyclable items. Sorters will try to sort the paper, bottles, cans, & glass that remain so it might...
Read more