Office paper recycling

[MikeH]

Why is it that at home my waste paper is collected but there is no incentive for businesses to recycle? I stand to be corrected but... as far as i am aware we would have to pay for any collection of paper to be recycled. As our waste collection is included in a 'service fee' at our premises it is not beneficial of brake even to recycle.

Mike

[Rusty]

My ex employers (Flybe), are on a real Eco mission at the moment, I don't know how they set it up but having done an Eco friendly audit of all departments they now have in place all recycling of waste paper and also all the disposable drinking cups from the vending machines etc.

All their aircraft have Eco labelling, their aircraft have some of the lowest emissions going, they are investing in a Carbon Offset and Emission trading schemes.

Now I don't believe for a minute they have done this because of a conscience so they must be benefiting financial.

[Cornish Steve]

Why is it that at home my waste paper is collected but there is no incentive for businesses to recycle? I stand to be corrected but... as far as i am aware we would have to pay for any collection of paper to be recycled. As our waste collection is included in a 'service fee' at our premises it is not beneficial of brake even to recycle.
I'm very surprised to hear this. It's been many years since I've visited an office that didn't recycle all its paper, its drink cans, and so on. It's very much the norm around here. There's no financial incentive; it's usually set up and run by the employees.

[KM-Tiger]

There is no incentive and also no facilities if you are a business.

I've talked to our waste contractor about recycling paper and cardboard, and the response was "there is no market in it".

[Rhyl Lightworks]

I'm probably preaching to the converted, but I have been in a number of offices where this does not happen. The first point of recycling is in the office itself. All sheets of paper with one side blank can have the blank side used. e.g. fax sheets only require one side and the recipient never sees whats on the reverse. Shredded paper makes good packing or insulation material.
When all this has been exhausted, what's wrong with taken it all down to the nearest supermarket car park and putting it in the recycle bins?
Barrie

[RayB]

There is no incentive and also no facilities if you are a business.

I've talked to our waste contractor about recycling paper and cardboard, and the response was "there is no market in it".

We get paid for our waste paper - about £8000 per annum :)

Mind, as a printer we have a fair bit of it. We sort it into "best white" (with no ink on it), inked, and packaging waste (cardboard) - and get different prices for each grade. It is collected twice per week.

There should be mechanisms and incentives for small businesses to be able to recycle such stuff

[Cred-X]

We don't have any incentives in the office but I make a point of recycling what we can any way.
Shredded paper gets taken to the composters, cardboard and normal paper goes straight in to the recycling containers close to where I live. I just add it in with the domestic recycling.
I don't think I need a financial incentive to make an effort.

[mick@kitchen-gallery.uk.c]

Who buys your waste paper?

:|

[dia]

Does anyone knows a recycle centre in London where our company would get paid for recycling????

[Mr G]

just lately I've seen a lorry going round town shredding paper. Don't know what they do with it. I guess its a service the offices have to pay for. Good idea though.

[deniser]

We take ours weekly to the recycling centre on the industrial estate.

Beware putting it into the domestic recycling bins in the car parks. These are for domestic use only. A pet shop owner in our town got fined for putting her cardboard in the bins because she is a business user and supposed to pay someone to take it away. So if you do use the domestic facilities, make sure you remove any labels etc. which can identify you!

(Ridiculous isn't it when the Councils earn money from 10 year fixed term contracts from recycling companies)

[heidi]

We do not have any bins in our office at all, other than recycling ones.
Basically, there are recycling points around the office (500 person office) for paper, glass, plastic, mobile phones, printer cartridges and then one tiny bin for general waste. We also have composters at our tea-points. I will try and find out what is done with it all and pass the info on but I know they are emptied every day.

[bloked]

just lately I've seen a lorry going round town shredding paper. Don't know what they do with it. I guess its a service the offices have to pay for. Good idea though. Shredding is for security.

[agentyumi]

Yeah shredder is really a big help in securing company's sensitive documents. I remember when I first got employed, our general service department forgot to shred the paper that our supervisor told to do so, the following day some of them got suspended because the private documents were read by some employees and that's not allowed.

[gingerdad]

We get all our waste cardboard, paper and plastic collected free of charge by a local contractor.

Mike

[paulhalsey]

It sometimes appears that they do enough to be able to say "we're taking action" but not enough to say "we're doing all we can".

Whilst my council (Bolton) are extremely efficient in domestic collection, it would appear that businesses are left in the cold somewhat. No separated waste systems at the office, unlike the 4 wheelie bins at home. Why not? Is there some secret reason why office paper is different to domestic paper?

Oh yes...there is. Money. They can get away with charging for "commercial" waste such as office collections, but the populace would never stand for paying for waste collection at home. Ridiculous. Even if your office has made the effort of separating paper waste, cans, plastic etc internally, what happens to it when it leaves? Can you be 100% sure?

I for one have yet to find a typical, normal office that doesn't have to pay for paper waste collection/recycling. I can hear the replies already that "my office gets paid for it" etc but then you are the excpetion, not the rule. You probably amass enough to make it worth someones time to collect and then sell it on again. But not all offices do.

Picture the scenario...a typical business park with 10 companies. One big company produces 2 tonnes of waste paper per month, the other 9 only produce half a tonne. The break point for the paper recycling collector is a minimum of 1 tonne, so he will only collect from the one big firm. That means that 2 tonnes is recycled properly but 4.5 tonnes is not.

Multiply these sort of stats nationally and it's a huge problem...and a huge revenue opportunity for the councils to charge for business waste. Let's make a noise to our councils. Demand a separate paper waste collection stream, like we (hopefully) all have at home. If we all ask, then surely someone somewhere will have to listen.

After all, isn't this supposed to be a democratic country? Governments in a democracy are supposed to administer the wishes of the people, where right and appropriate to do so. OOOhhh...seem to be going all political. Apologies.

[ready2mix]

I have seen many large London company's with trays collecting all the waste paper on the employees desks, it goes to show you that the importance that a company like UBS puts on its commitment to the environment. Thing is all their lights run through out the night along with every single computer on all the desks, not only the computers but the 3 to 4 computer screens attached to each computer, thats commitment for you and there all like it....!

Its all a game....!

[Jheath]

We save up a transit van full and take it to our local recycling centre who accept it on a no fee / no payment basis. We bale up cardboard, polythene and office paper and it all goes every few weeks when we get a decent van load. http://www.urban-recycling.com/index.html

Really helpful people who do a great job - highly recommended if you're in the Lincoln area. They also offer a collection service but they charge for this.

[Minuteman Press]

We recycle our clean paper waste into promotional pads and do the same for Save the Children and Clic Sargent (for internal use and fund raising).

[envirogreenrecycling]

Envirogreen Recycling buys all baled cardboard, paper and plastic. They also pay for cardboard and paper delivered in to them