In today’s world being environmentally conscious is a necessity and considering we spend a large portion of our time at work or in the office. Therefore, t is important to encourage sustainable habits amongst your team. Encouraging employees to recycle is a challenge. However, implementing an effective and eco- friendly waste management system has benefits for your business and for the environment. Here are some ways you can encourage your team members to recycle and be a part of your green initiatives.
1. Educate Your Employees
One of the most significant steps in motivating your employees to recycle and be more conscious of waste is to make them aware of the impact their actions can have the environment and how even small changes make a difference to the environment. If they have the information about why recycling is important they will feel more personally involved in the process and inspired to participate. To ensure that your team are invested in your recycling programme, organise an event or a meeting with everyone where you provide useful facts and figures about the difference they could make and the ways that waste negatively impacts the planet. Look for ways to make the meeting fun and interesting so that they pay attention and retain the information.
2. Do A Waste Audit
A great way to begin you and your team’s recycling journey is to a perform a waste audit in the workplace in order to determine how much and what kind of waste the office is generating. Depending on the industry your work in, your may produce different types of waste. Often in an office environment there is a lot of paper waste that can be recycled but you may also have to think about the way you dispose of printer cartridges, old software, plastic bottles, kitchen supplies and cans. While an audit requires a certain amount of time and effort, it will help you implement waste management strategies that are specifically suited to your work environment. It will also make it easier for you to set recycling goals for your team.
3. Make It Easy
To ensure that your team recycle and try and reduce waste, you need to ensure that whatever initiatives you come up are simple and easy to follow. Often people can be reluctant to recycle only because it seems complex, difficult or confusing. By simplifying the process you can encourage your employees to develop everyday eco-friendly habits. Make the recycling system clear and straightforward by using different colours or labels so that employees can easily recognise what waste goes in what bin. Locate these bins strategically so that staff do not have to go looking for them. Encourage your employees to use less paper by using online platforms in the workplace.
4. Have A Reward System
It always helps if you have an incentive to encourage your employees to care about the environment and recycle. Offering rewards or office perks is one approach. Some examples are wine, food or vouchers. That can help to promote participation amongst employees. Choose rewards that are relevant to your team members and that they will like and enjoy. Therefore, feeling recognised and praised for their commitment to the recycling program will inspire them to keep doing it. As well, it also can help you as a leader to keep track. Meaning tracking who is putting a concerted effort into recycling and who is not. Monitoring this can help you to reconsider how effective is your initiative. More noteworthy, you can make changes.
5. Make It Competitive
Most important, humans thrive off healthy competition. It can be an effective way to encourage changes in behaviour. By setting recycling goals and challenges for your employees to achieve and putting some friendly competitions in place. It will motivate team members to be invested in recycling and waste management. Launch a competition attached to an awareness campaign and make the competition easy to participate in. You can make individuals compete against each other or simultaneously promote team-building by making the competitions between different divisions and departments.
In conclusion, with a few simple steps you can make recycling an integrated part of your office environment and teach employees the benefits of reducing waste so they are encouraged to do it themselves.
About the Author:
Rachel is a mother of 2 beautiful boys. She loves to hike and write about travelling, education and business. She is a Senior Content Manager at Bizset.com – an online resource of relevant business information.
