Rant about work - what can i do?

dagrowler

So i work for a huge multi national blue chip company who i believe should be "doing their bit" for the environment - certainly a lot of recent updates have led us to believe that's the case.

anyway there's a coffee shop at work and i noticed that noone in my dept of around 50 people was recycling the cups or plastic lids. i offered to take them back to the coffee shop on a daily basis for people and put them in the recycling bin.

Once I'd sent out the mail i received a reply telling me that the bins in the coffee shop (despite the fact that they have "we recycle" written all over them) are just normal bins!

I've organised with one of the site managers for the cleaners to take all our stuff to be recycled but I'm not sure if i trust its being done now... and i know no other dept onsite are doing this...

I'm just really shocked that such a big company are being so slack about something so easy!

cazrobinson

buy yourself a mug instead!
much more enviromentally friendly...
: )

dagrowler

cazrobinson wrote: »

buy yourself a mug instead!
much more enviromentally friendly...
: )

LOL, i have a mug for myself, i made it myself, its got little stick men painted on it. Its other people who buy tea etc from the coffee shop (starbucks styley). EG my manager has at least 4 teas a day, that's 4 cups, 4 card holder thingies and 4 lids a day... all of which go in the bin.

squashy

So is it true about the coffee shop not recycling then?

dagrowler

squashy wrote: »

So is it true about the coffee shop not recycling then?

apparently yes, they said that the reason they don't do it is that employees don't separate paper from plastic and they don't have the time to do it. Well i've managed to get all ours separated just by sending one email out! people are more than willing to do it if its going to be recycled.

Savvy_Sue

One option is to just keep banging on ... we all switch our computers and monitors off every night just from one of our colleagues banging on about saving the planet for her as-yet-unborn children.

Another is to point out the savings which can be made: if everyone separates their waste in the coffee shop so it CAN be recycled, then the costs of waste going to landfill should reduce (gradually ...) Surely if there were three bins next to each other: plastic, card and 'the rest' people could cope with that?

dagrowler

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

One option is to just keep banging on ... we all switch our computers and monitors off every night just from one of our colleagues banging on about saving the planet for her as-yet-unborn children.

Another is to point out the savings which can be made: if everyone separates their waste in the coffee shop so it CAN be recycled, then the costs of waste going to landfill should reduce (gradually ...) Surely if there were three bins next to each other: plastic, card and 'the rest' people could cope with that?

I think banging on may be my only option... luckily i'm good at it! they currently do have the separate bins which is why i assumed it was being done, but instead of recycling it they just chuck it! shocking...

Idiophreak

It's amazing the amount of businesses that show no interest in recylcing whatsoever.

I work for a company that likes to think of itself as "ethical", "responsible" etc, but the only stuff we're allowed to recycle are some very confidential documents, which we've got special shredding machines for.

It's just stupid. I don't understand how the government can start forcing fortnightly bin collections on individuals whilst doing absolutely nothing to encourage it in businesses (where there, surely, are *far* larger gains to be made).

I think that all waste should be managed in the same way packaging is...Employers should be made responsible for recycling, say, 70% of their waste...this they could do either directly or through notices (similar to the PRNs that can be bought by businesses to make up their packaging recylcing quota).

Alternatively, all employers should face regular audits to make sure they're acting responsibly (ie recycling what they can). If the government's not prepared to enforce this, more "buyer" companies should start using supply chain management firms to carry this out for them. If people stop buying from companies who don't recycle, companies will start recycling. It's that simple.

liz545

Is the coffee shop a chain, or is it run by the company you work for? It might be worth speaking to the manager of the coffee shop and seeing if it's possible to offer a discount for people using a re-useable mug. When I worked at *bucks we offered a 10p discount for customers using a reuseable mug. Heck, it might even be worth getting some promotional mugs made with your company's logo on - nice branding opportunity!

dagrowler

liz545 wrote: »

Is the coffee shop a chain, or is it run by the company you work for? It might be worth speaking to the manager of the coffee shop and seeing if it's possible to offer a discount for people using a re-useable mug. When I worked at *bucks we offered a 10p discount for customers using a reuseable mug. Heck, it might even be worth getting some promotional mugs made with your company's logo on - nice branding opportunity!

thats a good idea actually. i think its a franchise and not owned by our company.

i used to use my own cup and jsut go to the coffee shop and get hotwater for my own teabags and be sociable with other tea drinkers but now they refuse to gve jsut water. i might broach this issue, it sounds like a good idea!

greyteam1959

You might be suprised at how much stuff sorted into special bins etc for 'recycling' actually all ends up in the same bin wagon.