Busi­nesses play an impor­tant role in the suc­cess of any community’s recy­cling pro­grams and ini­tia­tives. Every type of busi­ness, from offices to restau­rants to car washes and sport com­plexes, cre­ate mate­ri­als that can be recy­cled. The fol­low­ing infor­ma­tion will help your busi­ness imple­ment a suc­cess­ful recy­cling program.

Get­ting Started

Con­tact Per­son or Team: Make sure you have an indi­vid­ual or team to coor­di­nate the recy­cling pro­gram. They will be the point of con­tact for ques­tions about the program.

Types of Waste: Iden­tify the types of recy­clable items your busi­ness pro­duces — is it mostly card­board? Paper? Bot­tles? Cans? How much trash does your work­place dis­pose of each week & how much of that is recy­clable? Con­sider fac­tors such as con­tainer size & col­lec­tion fre­quency that will best meet your needs. Don’t for­get that there are many items that can be recy­cled, but may not be col­lected curbside.

Con­tain­ers: Select new con­tain­ers (or retro­fit exist­ing con­tain­ers) to sep­a­rate trash and recy­cling items for indoor col­lec­tion. Many dif­fer­ent shapes and styles are avail­able through var­i­ous retail and online sources. For the great­est suc­cess, place a recy­cling bin next to each trash can, mak­ing sure to clearly label each con­tainer. Com­mon col­lec­tion points include kitchens, copy rooms and con­fer­ence rooms.

Plan for Col­lec­tion: Con­tact local recy­cling col­lec­tion con­trac­tors (see below) and estab­lish which one has the best pro­gram for your needs & bud­get. Make sure you clearly under­stand what the con­trac­tor can and can­not accept. Pro­grams may have slight variations.

Loca­tion, Loca­tion, Loca­tion: Select the loca­tion for your out­door recy­cling pickup con­tainer. Make sure it is clearly marked for recy­clable mate­ri­als only; you want to make sure that trash is kept in a sep­a­rate container.

Inform: Edu­cate employ­ees, patrons and con­trac­tors about your recy­cling pro­gram; make sure recy­cling con­tain­ers are prop­erly and boldly labeled. Don’t for­get — any­one that will be han­dling the recy­clable mate­ri­als, includ­ing the clean­ing staff, should be edu­cated about your new pro­gram. Edu­cated employ­ees are the key to pro­gram success!

Mea­sure: Con­duct a waste audit to deter­mine areas of improve­ment. Take a look in the recy­cling con­tain­ers and trash cans; Do you see recy­clables in the trash? Trash in the recy­cling con­tain­ers? If so, make sure recy­cling con­tain­ers are paired with trash­cans, are clearly labeled and are cen­trally located. Con­tact the County recy­cling divi­sion for addi­tional tech­ni­cal sup­port or to set-up a brief recy­cling pre­sen­ta­tion for employees.

Indi­vid­ual Waste Reduc­tion Model (iWARM): EPA cre­ated iWARM to help orga­ni­za­tions esti­mate the energy and green­house gas emis­sion reduc­tions from sev­eral dif­fer­ent waste man­age­ment prac­tices. Click here for an inter­ac­tive worksheet.

Main­tain: Mon­i­tor your pro­gram for par­tic­i­pa­tion and qual­ity, cre­ate con­tests or incen­tives to recy­cle and pub­li­cize suc­cesses to main­tain enthu­si­asm for the pro­gram. Remem­ber: more recy­cling means less trash and lower trash dis­posal costs for your business.

Col­lec­tion Options

The Howard County Cham­ber of Com­merce has formed a recy­cling col­lec­tion co-op. For infor­ma­tion, visit www.howardchamber.org and look for the Recy­cling Co-op link. This afford­able option does not require Cham­ber of Com­merce mem­ber­ship and is avail­able to any busi­ness located in Howard County.

Busi­nesses may find it cost effec­tive and effi­cient to con­tract with a waste dis­posal com­pany that han­dles trash and recy­cling. In many cases, recy­cling can be a way to save money on trash dis­posal costs. Infor­ma­tion about addi­tional trash and recy­cling col­lec­tion com­pa­nies can be found online and in the yel­low pages. Howard County does not endorse spe­cific vendors.

Abitibi-Bowater Paper Retriever Pro­gram:
6401 Quad Avenue, Bal­ti­more, MD 21205
(410) 558‑1704
www.paperretriever.com

Allied Waste Ser­vices of Bal­ti­more
260 W. Dick­man Street, Bal­ti­more, MD 21230
(410) 727‑6161
www.disposal.com

George­town Paper Stock
(301) 399‑9095

Goode Trash Removal, Inc
9894 Brew­ers Ct, Lau­rel, MD 20723
(410) 313‑9800
http://www.goodecompanies.com/

Waste Management/Recycle Amer­ica
6994 Colum­bia Gate­way Drive, Suite 200, Colum­bia, MD 21046
(410) 796‑7010
www.wm.com

Easy Tips For Any Business

Prac­tice Waste Prevention

• Buy only what the busi­ness needs
• Shop for items with min­i­mal packaging
• Buy qual­ity items that will last
• Reduce con­sump­tion
• Think before you print. If you must print, print double-sided
• Donate unwanted items
• Explore Freecy­cle and CraigsList
• Opt out of junk mail

Close The Loop
One vital, yet often over­looked, aspect of recy­cling is to pur­chase items con­tain­ing recy­cled con­tent — all of those recy­clables you put in the recy­cling con­tainer need a mar­ket. Encour­age your pur­chas­ing depart­ment to buy sup­plies that are made from recy­cled mate­ri­als. Prices for items made from recy­cled mate­r­ial are usu­ally very close, if not cheaper, than items made from vir­gin materials.

Only Shred When Needed
Shred­ding paper cuts the paper fibers so that the paper can­not be recy­cled as many times. Only shred those doc­u­ments that con­tain personal/confidential infor­ma­tion and truly require shred­ding. This saves the paper fibers and saves you time at the shredder.

Busi­ness eCycling

Busi­nesses are encour­aged to con­sider retail take-back pro­grams and char­i­ta­ble pro­grams such as the Lazarus Foun­da­tion for reuse and recy­cling of elec­tron­ics. Or, con­tact E-Structors at (410) 379‑3098 for fee infor­ma­tion and to sched­ule a drop-off or pick-up. Busi­nesses may also visit MDrecycles.org for addi­tional options. Res­i­dents that are look­ing to donate com­put­ers should also visit this site.