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Where have all the recycling bins gone?

By Steven Miyao

...they're certainly not in the conference rooms.

At least once a week, when I am at a client's office, I am baffled by the waste that is created by a single meeting. Only a few of the offices I visit recycle the paper that is left in their conference rooms.

People claim that they are more concerned about their carbon emissions, but 40% of the total U.S. emission and more than 70% of total electricity usage is contributed by heating, cooling and powering of office space . One office worker can use a quarter ton of materials in a year, which includes 10,000 pieces of copier paper.

The rationale for saving energy and recycling is not only cost savings and environmental concern, but also the competition for talent. Several recent surveys show that employees, especially those from my generation, who grew up separating paper from plastic, don't want to work for environmentally oblivious companies. Adecco USA, a staffing firm, says that one-third of employees would be more inclined to work for a green company, and more than half wish their employers would be more environmentally friendly.

As companies, we have the opportunity to make a big impact on the environment through green policies that change the behavior and attitudes of our workers.

You can start with three simple steps:

1. Recycle: Ensure that your conference rooms have at least 2 more containers.

• Paper - Presentations, handouts, newspapers, magazines, photocopies, envelopes


• Plastic - Plastics #1-#2 -- recyclable in most areas. Usually found on water bottles and food containers

2. Computer Power Management:

• Use laptops they use as much as 90% less energy than desktops


• Set up sleep mode on computers


• Turn off computers overnight or have them automatically hibernate

3. Carbon offsets:

• Purchase carbon offsets for employee business travel and commutes (business travel accounts for as much as 40% of a company's carbon output).


• Carbonfund, DrivingGreen, MyClimate, NativeEnergy, and TerraPass - those are just a few of the many organizations offering carbon-offset services.

I am going to be in a conference room meeting at a client Monday morning. If they aren't going to recycle I might be forced to collect everyones bottles and drop them off at our recycling bin.