Guerilla Recycling at the Office

Every Monday in our Eco Memo series, we offer you practical tips on how to green your work life. This week, we offer tips for enforcing recycling in the workplace, even when your coworkers do not comply.

We all have that guy in the office, the one who's actually pretty cool, in a band, kinda scruffy-looking, but he just keeps tossing his soda bottles in his trash can. You're pretty sure it's less an ideological thing, more of a matter of laziness. Why recycle when you have your own trash bin right beneath you're desk? What do you do? He knows there's a recycling bin somewhere in the office, and you've dropped subtle hints he's just not taking. Hell, you've even snuck into his cubicle a few times to pick out the recyclables. You don't know what to do, and honestly, I feel your pain.

The best offense is like a media blitz. Bombard him with the suggestion of proper recycling. First, find an eco-ally in the office. Plan together to have a conversation when your careless co-worker is around, possibly during lunch, about how many recyclables still manage to get into garbage dumps each year. Marvel over the fact that scientists believe 90% of the trash in the world?s oceans to be plastics (because it's not biodegradable). Procure a bin for the area near your co-worker's desk and place it in plain view. Ask your office manager to send out regular e-mails reminding employees that recycling is an office policy and not to toss bottles, cans, paper, plastics, and so on into personal waste bins.

If nothing sticks, borrow your clueless colleague's trashcan and lose it somewhere it can't be found again. If he can't throw anything away at his desk, he'll have to go to the kitchen or where the bins are separated, and he'll be more likely to toss his refuse into their appropriate containers.

Love green gadgets, fashion, and news? Get the latest from Planet Green's dynamic duo Suchin Pak and Daniel Sieberg on the G Word.