November 15th is America Recycles Day!
As our team expands, our overall amount of disposable waste grows with us. Think about the amount a typical 9-5 office worker consumes each day: plastic iced coffee cups, straws, plastic lids, post-it notes, cardboard boxes and dozens of handfuls of scrapped paper. The majority of what goes in our trash cans can be recycled, so we decided to make a change.
Within the last month, we realized that there was more we could be doing as a company to lessen our carbon footprint with a few simple transitions. Below are three ways that we’re reducing, reusing and recycling as a company:
- Carpooling to work: Most of us live within 10 minutes of the office (and each other). Lately we’ve gotten better at carpooling to work each day. It saves a couple spots in our parking lot, a few cents on gas, and most importantly, shortens the amount of pollution our cars produce.
- Reuisng Plastic Bags: There are 8 little trash bins in our office that were previously lined with the small, store-bought plastic bags that fit neatly inside of them. Why should we spend money on these plastic bags when we can just reuse the plastic bags we get while shopping? Everyone in the office agreed that they have stockpiles of these plastic bags waiting to be reused at home. We brought them in and loved that they fit perfectly over our small trash bins. We’re saving money (and plastic) by making this simple switch!
- Recycling Bins: We bought 3 large plastic storage bins to use as recycling bins in the office. Two are for paper/ cardboard and one is for plastic/ glass. As company of seven employees, we completely fill up these 3 bins with recyclable waste each week. We no longer throw away our paper cups and frozen dinner boxes; almost everything we use goes in our recycling bins.
These simple changes can really make a significant impact when we look at what we’re saving in a month’s time (or over the course of a year). This is just the beginning for IMC; we’re looking into K-cup recycling programs and ways to recycle ink cartridges. What does your company do to recycle? We’d love to hear more ideas!