Synthetic plastic was a revolutionizing material discovered in the 1900s that was seen as a great advancement to our world.  However, today, it has become a long-lasting ecological problem.  Plastic is everywhere! Numbers show that to date, we have produced approximately 8.3 billion tons of plastic, and this number is only going up.  When faced with such a problem, we must ask ourselves, what we can do to continue to promote sustainability.

A Plastic-Free Month

While office recycling is a great option to reuse those plastic recyclables, not all materials are recyclable.  In fact, some materials certain recycling companies don’t allow in recycling pickup.  So what more can your office do to promote not just office recycling but also sustainability?  In 2011, an idea caught on for having a plastic-free month.  You can decide to participate in different capacities, but the general idea is to go plastic-free as much as possible for an entire month.  In doing this, it is reported that over 2 billion pounds of plastic is saved from being wasted.

How Can a Business Help?

The first step to implementing a plastic-free month is to recognize places where plastic isn’t necessary.  For instance, refillable water bottles are a great way to reduce plastic water bottle waste.  Reusable grocery bags are another great way to reduce plastic grocery bag waste.  Although these sound more like a personal choice, from a business perspective you could have a discussion with your supply chain to see if it’s possible to forego plastic packaging.  When introducing a plastic-free month, the top 4 items that should be blacklisted include straws, water bottles, grocery bags, to-go cups as they accumulate quickly and can wreak havoc on our earth.  Another thing to consider is performing a waste audit.  Know what kind of waste your business is producing and think of ways to reduce or recycle that waste.  Then, pay it forward and share about your experiences with a plastic-free month with others so the idea can continue to grow. For more information about office or commercial recycling, contact Mission Recycle.