St. Patrick’s Day is the right time to ‘green up’ recycling practices at home and at work!
With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, “green” is on our minds!
Spring holidays — and the season in general — provide a fresh opportunity to take a look at recycling habits at home and at work. If you’ve wanted to amp up your efforts to recycle, here are our top tips:
1. Recycle right. When people recycle the wrong things, it threatens the health of local recycling programs and potentially creates dangerous situations for sorting facility workers. What you put into your recycling cart matters! Now’s a great time to make sure you know what goes where. Check to see if your cart lid has an explanatory decal, visit your recycling provider’s website for a list of recyclable materials, and download their app, if one is available.
Many forward-thinking municipalities and recycling haulers provide helpful apps with collection schedules, a searchable database for what goes where, and important information to help people handle even the most confusing items for disposal. If they don’t offer one, ask them to!
2. Request a second cart. While not all recycling programs will be able to accommodate this request, it never hurts to ask. If your household generates more recycling than your cart or receptacle can hold, don’t just throw it away! It’s worth asking your service provider — whether your municipality or a private recycling company — if they can provide a second recycling cart at no additional cost. Many of them will.
3. Lead the charge. If you don’t have access to recycling at home — and you live in a multifamily dwelling, such as a condo or apartment — it’s up to you to approach your homeowners’ association (HOA) or landlord about making it happen. Recycling in multifamily settings provides unique challenges. You can demonstrate your understanding of the topic by providing your landlord with our Guide to Starting a Multifamily Recycling Program. You can also take this information to your HOA.
4. Recycle everywhere. If you recycle at home, that’s just the beginning! Recycling at school, work, and on the go are important, too. To help get things started, check out the free recycling at work toolkit from non-profit Keep America Beautiful. Recycling at school? Your university or high school green team can make it easier with the digital tools for recycling on campus from Recollect, a software provider of digital communication tools for the waste industry.
5. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Recycling conserves energy and natural resources, but it’s the third “R” of the iconic three Rs for a reason. “Reduce” and “Reuse” come first. Research how you can reduce the amount of waste you generate — and reuse more of the rest. The US EPA provides some great ideas on its recycling page.
If you want guides, ideas and more best practices, take a look at the resources offered from ReCollect, a Routeware Company.
ReCollect, a Routeware Company, provides digital recycling education and outreach tools that make it easier for governments, haulers, and universities to connect and engage with the people they serve. Our solutions save time and resources, and help foster better recyclers. For more information, visit www.recollect1dev.wpengine.com.
Routeware has been digitally transforming the waste and recycling industry for over 20 years. Our mission is to help waste and recycling operators use technology to delight customers, improve operations, and protect our planet. Routeware solutions are used by smart cities and haulers in every US state, across Canada, and in the United Kingdom, benefiting over 50M people. Find out more at www.routeware.com.
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