Monitoring recycling services in Retail and Wholesale organisations
Making improvements to recycling services
As you start to recycle more, the amount of general waste you produce should also reduce. This means you should be able to reduce your number of general waste bins, or have them emptied less often. This could save you money!
If your organisation has seasonal fluctuations, you may need to make changes to your service to suit your needs at these times. Talk to your waste or recycling provider as soon as you can to find out whether they can make the changes you need.
You can use the feedback you’ve received from both your waste provider and employees to help hone your internal communications on recycling. For example, explaining to staff how to avoid recycling might mean improving signage on internal bins, offering refresher training or explaining the ‘Dos and Don’ts’ in an email, team meeting or newsletter to all staff.
Always keep communication positive, sharing successes and achievements via employee newsletters, at team meetings or via posters. Remember to let your senior management, external partners and customers know, too – this will motivate your employees to continue recycling and encourage them to look for further opportunities for improvement!
Use customer noticeboards to share successes and achievements you’ve gained by customers using the recycling points you’ve provided.
What next?
Your review waste audit may identify other types of waste your organisation produces that you don’t currently recycle. Can you spot any opportunities to switch to less wasteful products, or refillable ones, so that you can stop the waste being created in the first place? You could also look into options to recycle a wider range of materials that you’re currently throwing away.