One month ago Edelman’s London office (in which I sit) banned bins. The idea was that personal bins by our desks make us lazy and encourage us not to sort our waste for re-cycling. The new system means more trips to the communal collection areas (and can be messier until you make those trips) but it forces you to decide whether every item is recyclable or for landfill, and the effect has been that in just one month we have gone from under 10% of waste recycled to over 65% recycled. More than that, the numerous trips make us very aware of just how much rubbish we create. Having my bin removed was MASSIVELY irritating for the first few days, but now it makes sense, as does the presence of the occasional rodent.
[tags] Waste Recycling [/tags]
sixtysecondview.blog 
It is very easy to talk the talk on green – saying you believe in carbon neutrality and recycling – but often harder to walk the walk.
The decision to ‘ban bins’, or introduce recycling as I prefer to call it, is not an easy one to take precisely because of the irritation it was always going to cause colleagues. I’m of the belief that after a short period of annoyance, largely awareness that you cannot drop that bit of paper or apple core in the bin next to your desk, subsides you will carry about 80% of people with you in this green venture. It is important to carry this group with you – and indeed the decision to introduce recycling (and ban bins) was agreed to by about this proportion of Edelman London staff at a company meeting where this was mentioned.
There will always be 20% of people who react against any decision and recognising that you will never be able to carry everyone is just as important as carrying the majority sometimes. The target is to recycle 80% of our waste in London so we still have a bit of a way to go (some 15%). It’s the chop for disposable plastic cups next to the water coolers next!
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