Start recycling in three easy steps:
1. What you are going to recycle?
You can separate your office rubbish into five categories: glass, plastic, paper, metal and biodegradable food waste.
Even if you begin with just one material, like paper, or food waste, less of your stuff will be going to landfill and you’ll be headed in the right direction.
Do the one-week challenge
Get everyone involved at your office. Separate rubbish for a week by putting glass, plastic, paper and metal into separate bin bags. The amount of material you collect in a week will probably surprise you – and, hopefully, give your conscience a jolt.
After a week you should get a fairly good idea of how much of each recyclable
material you are likely to collect and therefore how large a container you will need for each material you’re going to recycle and how often you will need to get it collected.
2. How you are going to recycle?
In South Africa what you recycle is generally determined by what you are able to recycle in your area. Some municipalities have started to collect recyclables with other rubbish, but those are few and far between.
To help you find out what recycling services operate in your area, go to www.treevolution.co.za for a list of service providers and their contact information.
3. Where are you going to store your recyclables?
Now you need to think about how and where you will store your recyclables until they’re
collected. You need to be fairly organised about storage because if you’re not you may find that your office starts looking like a dump site.
SOURCE: Treevolution.
National Recycling Forum
recycling.co.za +27 (0)11 675 3462
Global Carbon Exchange Waste Directory