Commercial Recycling
Wed, 11/18/2009 - 12:01
I work at a place that must throw thousands of cardboard boxes away in a commercial dumpster. Worse yet, the neighboring business is a very popular pizza franchise that must dump hundreds of huge tomato sauce cans in the same dumpster every month. I'm not sure if I am in a position to change the recycling culture at my part-time job. This issue has sort of taken the wind out of my recycling efforts on a personal scale. For example, when I first started working at this job, I took it upon myself to collect the boxes when I work and take them to the recycling center. Well, after witnessing everybody else on the job day in day out just throw the boxes away, I fell in line and simply started doing the same. But what really took the wind out of my recycling sails was when I looked in the dumpster and saw literally 15 large tomato sauce cans. Put that in perspective compared to my 1 or 2 soup or tuna cans that I recycle at home. On a macro scale, our personal recycling efforts are merely a drop in the bucket compared to non-recycling on a commercial scale.
How do we get businesses to recycle as a practice?
How can my one soup can getting recycled compete with 15 large tomato cans in a dumpster?
It is easy to feel discouraged when faced with the reality of a single person taking on the enormous task of easing our environmental woes. The size and scope of the problems seem to be beyond what any one person can manage. But take heart, and remember this little parable:
"Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.
The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.
As he came up to the person he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"
It is important to remember that most environmental problems are caused not by a single person or event, but by innumerable small actions by many people. Non-point source pollution is as big, if not a bigger, factor in environmental degradation. One person, with a small singular action, can make a difference, good or bad.
Because the problem is caused incrementally, it must often be solved incrementally as well. Add to that the understanding that most people do what they do simply because they aren't aware they should be doing something different. Just as you followed what the others were doing by not recycling, others may fall in line behind you if you start doing the right thing. You can make this more likely by doing the heavy lifting and figure out the best way for the business, building or block to make the most of their recycling efforts, then talk to the people there that can make it happen.
So to the specifics of you question, you should continue to lower the waste stream as much as possible, even if you are the only one participating at first. Resume proper recycling of boxes while you work, and your one or two cans at home. Lead by example and don't be too discouraged, because remember, every little bit helps- even if you are just raising awareness.
Here is a starting point, the Recycling center for our area's resource page:
http://www.citycarton.com/