Make your office trash-free through these tried and tested tips!

Do you keep a check on the amount of trash that your business produces? Do you want to reduce the waste coming out of your office? It not only benefits the environment but is a great step towards corporate social responsibility.

So how to reduce business waste? Let us get started with it!

• Go paperless – Office places consist of a lot of paper for important documentation. But over the years, technology gradually became an inherent part of the company. Still, businesses cannot go completely paperless, but using technology is the least you can do to become paperless. Do you print the documents on one side? When the document is no longer needed, you can also use the backside to print something you need. Unless it is a final document, it is always advised to use the printing on both sides. Moreover, set your printer for double-sided printing. Where do you take the important notes? On the notepad or new sheets? Wait! You can collect the scrap or printouts to take the notes.

• Reduce packaging – What is the ratio of trash from packaging in developed countries? It is one-third. So try to look out for the ways where you can reduce packaging. Use minimal packaging. This will help you in reducing the cost. Use reusable or recyclable materials. For instance – Using cardboard boxes to store other office equipment can be done. Also, train your staff to dispose of the trash correctly. Because the trash is not disposed of correctly, it can harm the environment.

• Collect E-waste – Electronic waste can create hazards for you. Believe it or not, we can’t work without electronics these days. And these electronics should be disposed of through proper channels. Do you know China and the USA are the largest producers of e-waste? So what is the solution here? According to CJD, properly recycling electronic waste helps protect the environment. Hence, the answer lies in e-waste recycling.

But what is the benefit of recycling your e-waste?

1. Valuable materials – You can find valuable materials in the e-waste. These materials can be reused to make new items.
2. Healthy for humans – Recycling e-waste reduces mining activities. This will lead to the reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases which directly affects human beings. Reusing and recycling items helps the earth to replenish itself. And this creates a healthy environment.
3. Economy growth – It is a lesser-known fact that e-waste recycling helps in the growth of the economy. How? E-waste management includes several processes which require more jobs. Therefore more jobs mean the economy will rise. This will improve the nation as a whole. Besides, as the popularity of these recycled items increases, the government and other corporations will have to spend less on the processes of mining and deforestation. This will lead to an increase in natural resources, which will be fruitful for the country. 
4. Reuse the cups and bottles – Do you know that the average North American office employee uses nearly 450 glasses per year? To add more, they throw away 2 million plastic bottles every hour. To resolve this issue, give them reusable cups or bottles. This step will largely contribute to reducing the amount of business waste.

Final Words

Following the above steps will not only reduce the waste, but it can also save a lot of business overheads. And every organization wants optimum utilization of resources. As per Ian Somerhalder, let us reuse and recycle the things we have and stop making more of them – whether it is car parts, electronic components, or anything else.