 Take
the Delaware Valley Recycling Challenge
Jump-Start
Your Recycling Program
Twelve
Simple Planning Steps to Make Recycling Work
Collection
Basics
Electronics
and Other Orphaned Waste
Take
the Delaware Valley Workplace Recycling Challenge!
Incentive-based
recycling
is a
proven method for creating sustainable, positive, and smart recycling
programs by giving participants
“Recycling Credits” that they can use for discounts on goods and
services at more than one hundred different local
and national businesses. RecycleBank,
LLC, one of the hottest young companies in the region, has pioneered
this idea for residential applications throughout the eastern half
of the United States. Now, in a unique partnership
with the Commercial Recycling Council, incentive-based recycling
is ready to come to office buildings, schools,
hospitals, hotels, cultural facilities, business districts, universities,
corporate centers, apartment buildings, shopping malls, and even
government buildings . Along with RecycleBank's innovative
high-tech capabilities, the Commercial Recycling Council provides
design, implementation, and management support services capped off
with quarterly Environmental Business Reports that document your
company's contributions to energy, resource and greenhouse gas savings.
We call this the Delaware
Valley Workplace Recycling Challenge.
What
we do: First, we need to help you design a program that
will optimize recycling. We perform a walk-thru waste survey, audit
a year's worth of recycling and trash invoices to establish the
economics of your waste management system, and then make recommendations
for implementation. Second, we help you write a request for proposals
(RFP) to send out to recycling service companies and trash haulers
telling them what kind of services are required in order to make
recycling work. Finally, we offer monthly management support and
program monitoring, tracking how much you recycle, what the environmental
benefits are, and help stay on top of the economics of your waste
management system. We provide a host of management services, including
a flat-rate monthly service, performance contracting, and guaranteed
savings.
What
you get: Our goal is to help you reach a threshold where
incentive-based recycling makes sense —economically
and environmentally. Usually, that is once a given facility is recycling
25% or more of its waste stream. Once that threshold is reached,
we can provide you with an incentive-based program that rewards
all employees and staff for recycling—in some cases even customers.
The economics of waste management also begins to turn around. All
of this is cost-justifiable through the avoided cost savings from
reduced trash disposal needs. And we document this for you monthly
so that you always know how much you're saving and how much your
contributing to the future of the region.
For more
information, call the Commercial Recycling Council at (215) 247-3090
or email David Biddle at: Dbiddle@gpcrc.com
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Jump-Start
Your Recycling Program
Many facilities throughout the region began the process of setting
up recycling programs back in the early and mid-1990s. For numerous
reasons, the majority of these programs seem to have fallen by the
wayside. Recent developments by the local recycling industry now
make recycling at work a relatively easy proposition that can save
money and achieve goals of management efficiency simultaneously.
The Greater Philadelphia Commercial Recycling Council offers the
following tips for re-examining and re-inventing recycling where
you work. 
1. Know your costs and establish
a solid waste disposal baseline (how much does your facility spend
a year on waste disposal and how many tons of waste per employee
do you generate?);
2. Get support from top-level
management! Once you know how much you can save through recycling,
this shouldn't be hard. A memo to all employees from your CEO or
company owner outlining who is in charge of program management and
what is expected of them is vital to program success;
3. Invest in blue paper recycling
containers for every desk in a facility (see Collection Basics,
below);
4. Work with your waste hauler
or a recycling service company to set up the most effective program
you can (mixed office paper and cardboard recovery is now the norm
in most buildings, along with the segregation of food and beverage
containers and, finally, separation of food waste and other wet
garbage into the trash stream);
5. Train custodial staff in
dual, one-pass collections (many successful programs use a wheeled
collection bin for recycled paper with a separate bag hung on the
side for non-recyclable items);
6. Establish a method for keeping
food-related waste out of work areas, ideally in kitchen areas,
break rooms, and cafeterias (food-related waste is the biggest problem
for paper recyclers);
7. Identify special wastes that
may be a costly problem like demolition debris, batteries, shipping
pallets, electronic equipment, and furniture (there's a home for
everything that you throw out if it can be segregated);
8. Start your program off with
a bang. A company-wide recycling event can work wonders for employee
morale and provides you with the opportunity to show everyone how
easy the recycling program is (contact the Council at 215-247-3090
and we'll send our executive director as a guest speaker);
9. Provide employees with quarterly
reports on how much your facility is recycling (a goal of 25%
recycling is a good first step);
 http://www.zerowaste.org/
10.
The Commercial Recycling Council can help you develop your recycling
program properly. We provide planning and design services and waste
audits to determine the economics and environmental benefits of
programs. Corporate members receive discounts for these services.
Give us a call. Why reinvent the wheel...
Also,
corporate members are eligible for our Environmental Business Reporting
Tool.
Required data for waste audits
and recycling support services: Click
here for data we need to perform an audit that will save you
money! This is an Adobe pdf file.
 11.
Join the Commercial Recycling Council to stay abreast of the ever-changing
world of recycling and waste management. We offer services like
walk-thru recycling surveys, invoice and waste bill audits, along
with program design, planning, management, and evaluation. In addition,
we also help promote the positive nature of your environmental programming.
We can also assist you in establishing an economic baseline for
growing your program, using your savings to invest in more positive
and smart environmental projects. Call (215) 247-3090 or e-mail
Dbiddle@gpcrc.com for more
information.
 Click
on Membership to Sign Up as a Member Now!
Go to the Advice
to Office Complex Property Managers in the Resource section
for more information and advice on jump-starting your recycling
program.
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Twelve
Simple Planning Steps to Make Recycling Work
Standard planning of recycling programs includes the following steps.
Each of these steps is detailed in Philadelphia's commercial recycling
handbook.
 Get top-level
support within your organization.
Designate one individual as a recycling
coordinator.
Form a recycling program planning
group.
Before getting started, survey your
waste.
Establish and publicize recycling and waste diversion goals.
Create a recycling program budget (for start up and annual management)
Identify waste-reduction opportunities.
Identify markets for your recyclables.
Design a collections program.
Educate employees and/or tenants about
the program.
Keep people informed and updated as
the program continues.
Establish a "Buy Recycled" policy
for purchase of supplies and materials.
The Philadelphia Street Department's Recycling:
We Mean Business
- A Guide to Turning Philadelphia's Commercial Recycling Regulations
Into an Opportunity,
is an excellent source of supplemental information for planning
and running a commercial recycling program. This
is an Adobe pdf file.
Call Commercial Recycling
at the Philadelphia Recycling Office, 215-686-5586 if you would
like a hard copy.
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Collection
Basics
A standard recycling program for the workplace does not need to
be complicated. You should plan to collect mixed paper, cardboard,
and food and beverage containers. To do this, the typical workplace
environment needs the following:
1. Desk-side paper recyclers
(4-6 gallon capacity): one for each workstation, to be used specifically
for paper (check with your recycling service company for specifics
on what is not acceptable in these receptacles);
2. Food and beverage container
receptacles (20-30 gallon capacity): these should be located in
strategic areas that make it relatively simple for employees to
use;
3. Cardboard should be handled
as it normally is and taken to the appropriate recycling container
for the facility;
Click
here for a list of receptacle vendors. This
is an Adobe pdf file.
Optional:
You may want to purchase several large paper recycling receptacles
(20-30 gallon capacity) for high-generation paper sites near copiers,
group printers, and in the mail room.
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