Does Your Workplace NOT recycle?

I work in a public high school that does not recycle paper.  Think about it, we're a school---how many hundreds of pounds of paper are wasted every day in the copy room?  How about in the classroom?   

I see my coworkers take piles of paper and chuck them right into the garbage can.  I often times pick through the garbage and salvage some paper that has only been copied on one side.  I recently saved a stack of midterm exams that a coworker was going to throw away because she mistakenly copied some pages upside down on the back side.  Folks, these midterms were at least 10 pages long each, and when I brought it home, my wife went through and salvaged a whole pile of paper that we could still use to print on one side!   What a waste! 

Students in my school revel in the chance to ball up their papers and shoot "baskets" at the garbage can.  When I hand back papers, they summarily glance at the grade, peel off the sticker (if they received over 80% on that assignment) and throw the paper into the garbage.  I constantly admonish the kids to recycle their papers in the recycling box that I have in my room.

Oh, yes---I have a box that I put papers into in my classroom.   Then when full, I take this box home with me and I recycle it at my curbside.  It doesn't take too much effort and I get some exercise by lugging the 30 plus pounds of paper out to my car.   

Now, I and two other teachers at separate times have tried in earnest to get a recycling company to help us with our dilemma, but for some odd reason, recycling companies won't touch our Orleans County school with a ten-foot pole!  Our own Orleans County recycling companies won't recycle papers for schools!  Some Orleans County schools recycle paper with the aid of companies based in Buffalo, NY (Erie County), which is quite the trek---they won't come out as far as us.  Monroe County, which is the neighboring county, won't service our school, even though we are literally right on the cusp of Monroe County, because we are not in their service area.  But you know what we really need at our school?  A supportive administration that is willing to allot some funds for us to make it economically feasible for recycling companies to help us recycle our paper.  Until that happens, we're still going to be "wasting away"!

There is a culture of waste in many workplaces.  This mentality spreads to other facets of the employees' lives.  The workplace should be a model for responsible behavior and recycling paper is one way to teach employees that we can be mindful of our environment in all areas of our life. 

If you have any workplace horror stories or success stories or suggestions, PLEASE pass them my way!  If you comment on this post, you'll be in the running for this cute desk mini recycling bin that reads: "Don't Trash Our Future.  Recycle" with some surprise goodies inside! Don't you just love surprises?!  I will draw names out of a hat on February 29th, 2008.  Good luck and happy writing!

Comments

[amber]

I can't belive no one commented on this. i live in orleans county, and it just seems not a lot of people are taking recycling seriously. School's should be the ones setting the example, and that's just not happening.