3 ways to help your business go zero waste
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Minimising your business’s environmental impact doesn’t need to be difficult. There’s been substantial improvements in technology and a rise in dedicated recycling partners that can help businesses achieve their sustainability goals.
Printer cartridge recycling.
Printer cartridges are a necessity in business life. The problem is when they reach the end of their life-cycle, they are typically disposed as waste or misplaced in recycling bins and end up as landfill.
Printer cartridges can take up to 1000 years to degrade and contain chemicals that are toxic and carcinogenic If they aren’t disposed of properly. These can impact the environment in ways that will affect the health of wildlife and flora. Ewaste cities like Guiyu in China have already been affected by toxins from electronic waste like ink cartridges.
Cartridges Direct wants to make a difference by offering organisations and businesses a free option to return their used printer cartridges to OEMs, who can recycle the plastics and metals ethically. You can read more about their cartridge-recycling scheme here.
LED lights.
Carbon emissions are one of the world’s biggest problems. The primary source of all carbon-emissions comes from the need to provide energy, which is generated primarily through the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil.
Although there is global pressure to reduce carbon-emissions through energy production, the most effective solution has come from technology improvements that has minimized demand by up to 50%. LED lighting and light designers are helping businesses implement this energy-saving technology, which is reducing electricity bills by up to 60% while lowering the actual business’s contribution to carbon-emissions.
Here are Zero Waste towers, all our lighting is LED, powered by a few small solar panels.
Paper recycling.
The amount of paper that goes to landfill is staggering. The average business employee uses around 2000 sheets of paper per year; in which most of it goes to landfill. But it’s such a simple step to be part of the solution, rather than the problem.
First, buy recycled paper. This helps close the loop and sends out the message to manufacturers that there is demand. Second, replace desk bins with paper recycling bins – by making it much easier to recycle than throw away, it’s easy to reduce paper waste.
Sometimes businesses create confidential waste, this can be shredded and put to good use. There’s no need to waste this valuable resource any more with our 7 ways to recycle shredded paper!
By taking these three simple steps you won’t just minimise your business impact on the environment, but you’ll minimise costs too. This is great for your CSR and bottom line.
How about you – how do you work towards a zero waste business?
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I do most of this anyway. I have loads of sheets of paper to reuse, we don’t have LED lights anymore at home, and I send my printer cartridges to my printer recycling scheme.