Recession-Proof Your Waste-Management!

The Recession and Recycling

Don’t let your recycling scheme be the next victim of the recession! When business is slow, it may be tempting to cut down on spending in all areas, including recycling. However, with landfill tax set to increase by £8/tonne eac h year until 2013, recycling your waste should actually be saving you money – typically 4-5% of your turnover (NetRegs).

Here we give you a few tips on how to easily recession-proof your waste management by getting a little creative, saving your business money and retaining those green credentials…

Manage Your Waste

1. Firstly reduce the amount of waste you produce

• Stop junk mail and faxes – the Royal Mail, Direct Marketing Association and Mailing Preference Service all offer an opt-out service
• Encourage multiple-use cups rather than paper cups
• Buy products eg. stationery / cartridges with as little packaging as possible
• Set up printers and copier s to print double-sided

2. Reuse as much of your waste as possible

• Use waste paper as notepaper
• Reuse nearly-new envelopes by sticking a label on the front
• Refill old ink cartridges – in just 12 months, cartridge recycling could save 15 million litres of oil in the UK (Cartridge World)
• Cover old storage boxes with paper or fabric instead of throwing them away
• Cover recycled tins with the same paper or fabric for matching pen holders

3. Repair damaged items rather than scrapping them – a few minutes spent repairing a broken office chair can save you pounds in the long-term!

4. You can also Freecycle old office furniture – your trash may be another office’s treasure. Find your local group online at http://www.uk.free cycle.org/.

5. Turn your team-building activities green! You don’t need to cut down on corporate days, instead design your own to meet your Corporate Social Responsibility aims…

• Start a community garden, encouraging members of staff to contribute
• Recycle old tyres and wellies into planters – plastic bottles also make ideal seed starters
• Collect tea bags, fruit waste and shredded office paper to turn into compost

Make Money from Recycling

Recycling doesn’t need to cost your business money – in fact there are more and more opportunities to make money from good waste-management…

• Many companies now offer cash for old mobiles and electrical goods, which can add up to a substantial amount of money across a business
• Some companies also offer money for old software CDs – if you’ve updated your programmes, sell the old ones!
• Recycling ink cartridges can also be a source of revenue – search online for your nearest service provider

Don’t Forget To Tell Your Clients!

1.   By sharing your waste management goals and achievements, you can keep current clients aware of your green credentials, ensuring that they come back to use your service again and again

2.   You can also attract new customers and contracts by demonstrating yourself to be environmentally responsible

3.   This is turn encourages your clients to use and promote green practises