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From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

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Green Your Workplace

Getting big corporations to recycle is possible — but not always easy

The hospital I work at doesn’t recycle at all, not even plastic bottles and cans or food service trays. I was wondering how to get them to start up some kind of recycling system?

–Adrianna Schultz, via e-mail

Getting a large institution or corporation on board with recycling is no easy job, especially when you are starting from scratch. A good place to begin is to get permission from higher-ups to solicit bids from waste haulers and recyclers interested in new business. Such service providers can provide you with both the supplies to gather recyclables as well as regular weekly or daily pick-ups, depending on needs.

If convincing your employer to look into recycling in the first place is a stumbling block, there are many resources to help turn that tide. The Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation — a state agency dedicated to helping Ocean State businesses manage solid waste in environmentally sound ways — publishes In the Workplace, a print and online pamphlet that outlines the steps for setting up a workplace recycling and reduction program. According to Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, wannabe workplace recyclers need to start by securing organizational support and commitment and educating fellow employees about the importance of recycling. The pamphlet also includes useful tips about reducing waste altogether.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Recycling Works program offers a similar set of guidelines specifically for recycling at hospitals and health care institutions. Also, New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation publishes a free guide showing health care facilities how to evaluate their performance in preventing waste and pollution and identify opportunities for recycling and for cutting back resource use.

Another good resource for information on hospital recycling is the website of the nonprofit Waste Reduction Resource Center, which offers case studies detailing how several small and large health care facilities coast to coast have launched successful and money-saving recycling and waste reduction programs. Examples include a Vermont hospital with no budget for recycling that set up a self-sustaining, money-saving system for organics collection and composting, and a Pennsylvania hospital that now saves $150,000 a year through its recycling program.

Those looking to reduce waste in hospitals should be sure to consult the Plan-Do-Check-Act section of the Sustainable Hospitals website. The summary provides useful tools for getting management approvals and enlisting the support of employees in both recycling and lowering disposable product consumption. It also has a section on how to reduce energy usage.

Implementing recycling and waste-reduction programs at hospitals makes sense not only for local ecology and for institutional bottom line but also for the examples that can be set for the millions of patients and workers that pass through the health care system every day.

For more information:

• Waste Reduction Resource Center: http://wrrc.p2pays.org.

• Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, In the Workplace: www.rirrc.org/documents/10221%20Workplace%20Brochure3.pdf.

• Recycling Works: www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/RECYCLE/Recywrks/recywrks1.htm.

• Sustainable Hospitals: www.sustainablehospitals.org/HTMLSrc/PlanDoCheckAct.html.

Got an environmental question? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek: or e-mail [email protected]. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.