Allowing the use of personal office bins under your desks could be costing your business more than you realise. Even businesses who have introduced recycling bins and confidential waste bins aren’t always seeing the full benefits of them, because office workers will succumb to the convenience of a bin right next to them.
Over the years, office staff have become accustomed to having a personal bin tucked under their desk. Here are 4 good reasons for doing away with individual office bins, in favour of central general waste and recycling bins in your office.
Cut Costs
By reducing the number of bins, you can save money on bin liners and the time paid to your office cleaner to empty them. In many offices a commercial cleaner could spend 20 to 40 minutes emptying bins, before they are able to do any actual cleaning. Making this change to your office bins could save your business thousands of pounds off your office cleaning budget or allow your commercial cleaning company to reallocate the time.
Recycling & Good Habits
Much of what we throw away can be reduced or recycled, but when faced with the choice to walk to the recycling bin, the average office worker would throw everything into the quickest, closest and most convenient option. Offices who therefore promote recycling whilst having desk bins are unlikely to be hitting their recycling targets. If office staff have to walk to the central bins every time, it is more likely they will throw their cardboard sandwich packet, sensitive document, coffee dregs or apple core in the right bin. Environmental campaigners are raising awareness because unnecessary office waste costs the UK industry billions of pounds per year.
Productivity & Strain
By getting up from their desk to throw something away, your office staff will be giving their eyes a break from the screen, changing their posture and sending more blood to their brain. For more information on productivity from getting up, read “To Work Better, Just Get Up From Your Desk” by Forbes.
GDPR
From 25th May 2018 every UK business should be able to demonstrate that they have proper handling of confidential data, ensuring that it is both stored and destroyed correctly. The majority of offices have locked confidential waste bins, however not all employees will yet be used to putting documents with confidential data in these bins 100% of the time. Removing the temptation of popping scraps of paper or hand torn paper into their personal bins is a step in the right direction. Have you noticed this happening in your office?
Implementation of Communal Office Bins
How Staff React
It is likely that when introducing a new waste scheme within your office, staff will complain and comment on having to get up from their desk more regularly. Humans are creatures of habit though, and once used to the new waste scheme, it is likely that they won’t remember it being any other way.
How to Introduce Slowly
Explain the idea behind introducing central waste and recycling bins. Introduce them prior to removing any personal office bins and see the uptake of them. Gradually remove individual bins from the office until everyone has got used to seeing the bins whilst walking past them, realising they aren’t as much of an inconvenience as they thought.
Feedback
Ensure that feedback from your office cleaning company is obtained with regards to time saving and appropriate use of your bins. It is important to monitor to ensure unsuitable waste is not thrown into recycling bin, or your cleaner will have to throw this contaminated bag into the external waste bin. Should you have saved your cleaner time, it would also enable you to discuss what could be achieved with the extra time or give you the chance to cut your cleaning costs.
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