| Workplace Recycling and Reinforcement | | | | other workers. Fortunately, more and more offices |
| The march of technological progress has contributed | | | | are taking charge of their environmental responsibility, |
| to workplaces becoming increasingly paperless in their | | | | and taking it upon themselves to promote a greener |
| daily operations. Manuals are now transmitted online | | | | work space. |
| through the office networks, memos and other | | | | Awareness is the first obstacle for any employee |
| correspondence are sent through e-mail instead of on | | | | recycling effort. A series of e-mails, a light but |
| little notes, and even drafts of documents are now | | | | informative online presentation, or even a brief |
| more often edited on the computer in lieu of the | | | | midday meeting scheduled for the purpose are all |
| traditional proofread hard copy drafts that are | | | | ways of getting the knowledge out there for |
| spattered with red ink. Nonetheless, an office without | | | | workers to absorb. Seeing that the office cares |
| garbage is still a faraway dream, if all the papers | | | | about a recycling policy enough to disseminate info is |
| scattered about in files and on desks in the average | | | | a good way to get the ball rolling, especially for those |
| office in any indication. | | | | who are more considerate than others. |
| Breakrooms tend to likewise be littered with various | | | | Once recycling has been established, the office should |
| forms of waste material, from aluminum cans to | | | | take steps to make it easy for the employees to |
| disposable plastic bottles and packaging, to the paper | | | | comply. Recycling bins ought to be purchased and |
| periodicals that can sit around for months before | | | | located in places that are accessible to everyone, and |
| being tossed out. Practically all of this trash, however, | | | | in plain view. Not only will the relative ease of the |
| doesn't have to remain that way, as it is composed | | | | recycling effort be more welcoming to the average |
| of recyclable material, which can be sent to | | | | lazy employee, but the sight of other workers taking |
| processing centers for transformation back into | | | | part may compel the skeptical or the careless to be |
| usable goods instead of piling up in a landfill or | | | | more conscientious. |
| garbage dumpsite. Recycling is one of the | | | | Lastly, to reinforce the importance of the recycling |
| watchwords of the new millennium, and even a few | | | | effort and act as a gentle reminder to everyone, |
| decades before we entered it, but it is taking the | | | | recycling bin signs should be placed around the |
| average office worker a little longer to get with the | | | | workplace, near the recycling bins, in corridors or in |
| program. | | | | the breakroom. The recycling bin signs don't have to |
| The relative indifference of employees to recycling | | | | be complicated, and many signs are available in bright |
| stems from a combination of ignorance, lack of | | | | colors and clear wording. Some recycling bin signs are |
| motivation, and the unavailability of the facilities for | | | | even themselves recycled, to make things more |
| recycling purposes. There may be employees out | | | | interesting. Workers who see these signs every day |
| there ready and willing to recycle, but if the office | | | | should eventually come around to supporting the |
| does not support the policy actively, then it may be | | | | policy, even unconsciously, no matter how stubborn |
| difficult for them to carry it out, let alone influence | | | | they may be. |