The Importance of Employee Education in your Workplace

Why Employee Education is Key to a Successful Workplace Recycling Program

When it comes to implementing anything into your workplace, not just a successful workplace recycling program, it is very important that you focus on educating your employees on their recycling responsibility & how to complete the new task correctly. 

Let's be honest...some employees don't like change most of us don't like change, and not just in the workplace...so when looking to educate your employees, you have to ensure that it is firstly fun & secondly, clear enough that they take it all in. 

In this blog, we will be showing you the importance of...1...a Recycling Program & 2....educating your employees the right way. The benefits, How to Implement It & The common challenges you are going to face when recycling in the workplace, you can find it all here! 

Let's jump in. 

Benefits of Educating Employees on Recycling Best Practices

There are plenty of benefits of educating your employees on the best recycling practices out there. It isn't just beneficial for your business, but your employees can gain valuable experience and knowledge that they can (hopefully) carry into their everyday lives. 

Here are the main benefits:

Improved Recycling Rates: Once your employees truly understand what needs to be recycled, where to recycle and how to dispose of them, then your recycling rates will improve. This helps your business to reduce the amount of waste that gets sent to those dreaded landfills & has a significant impact on the environment around you! 

Waste Reduction: One of the key reasons to get a workplace recycling program set up and in place! If you and your employees are clued up on on the best disposal and recycling methods, then you will start to significantly reduce the waste you produce. 

Cost Savings: Initially, your business may have to outlay money in setting up the recycling scheme, but, once this is up and running it can lead to significant cost savings for businesses. By recycling more and shipping off less waste to landfill, your company won't have to spend as much on waste disposal fees. Also, if you are a company that deal with a lot of sell-able recyclable materials, such as copper etc... then you could even sell this on to create some extra cash, money, dosh in your pocket. 

Improved Efficiency: Once your employees are educated on your recycling system & recycling bins, then it can slowly become a well-oiled machine. As your efficiency improves so does the smoothness of your operations, which saves times and keeps everyone's recycling efforts happy!

Fostering an Eco-Friendly Culture: Move over happy work-life culture, what about a green, eco-friendly culture? When you engage employees in your recycling scheme, they are more likely to take on those sustainable behaviours.

Regulatory Compliance: Nobody wants to be dragged into courts or receive nasty fines. By educating them on how to properly dispose of waste, you can all stay compliant with the regulations and laws! 

How to Implement Employee Training for Your Workplace Recycling Program

1. Start with Clear Goals and Guidelines

Before you even think about dropping a bit of rubbish into new recycling bins, first you need to set clear goals on what you want to achieve:

• Set clear objectives for your recycling program. Is it reducing waste? Is it increasing your recycling? Do you deal with a lot of e-waste? Figure out what you want to achieve.
• Communicate guidelines clearly to employees, detailing what can and cannot be recycled, and where the recycling stations are located.

2. Organise Informative Workshops or Training Sessions

Now you have your goals in place, you can start to put together workshops & training sessions around those goals. Here are some great ideas to use for your sessions:

• Workshops: Host in-person or virtual workshops that educate employees on the specifics of your recycling kick. Cover topics that they will need to learn such as: Sorting Waste, Disposal Methods etc.
• Expert speakers: Invite environmental experts to lead discussions on sustainable practices, offering real-world examples of the impact of recycling.
• Interactive sessions: Encourage participation through Q&A sessions or activities where employees can practice sorting waste correctly.

3. Use Engaging Visual Aids and Signage

Employees aren't just going to learn from one quick one hour training session, so, make sure you place up friendly reminders around your workplace, you can do this by:

• Signage: Place clear and easy-to-understand signs near waste and recycling bins. Use visual aids that show exactly what items go in each bin (e.g., plastics, paper, glass, and compostable items).
• Infographics: Create visual guides that can be displayed in your workplace or shared via emails. These should outline the key points of your recycling program.
• Colour-coded bins: Implement colour-coded bins to help employees quickly identify where to dispose of items, reducing errors in waste sorting.

4. Offer Digital Resources and Continuous Learning

Some people learn quicker than others & we all have different ways of learning. By offering a continuous path for people to keep learning and growing, it helps to keep them engaged for longer:

• Online training modules: Develop short,  recycling training videos or e-learning courses that employees can complete on their own time. There are plenty of online resource platforms out there that provide these training courses, if you haven't got the time to put them together yourself. 
• Email updates: Send regular updates with tips and tricks on how to keep up the recycling efforts. 

5. Appoint Green Champions

Within any workplace, there will always be members who really get on-board with new schemes...make these your waste Green Champions!

• Designate Green Champions: Choose your team members who will oversee the recycling drive and recycling practices in your business. These champions can answer questions, motivate employees, and track progress.

6. Regularly Update and Engage Employees

Once the scheme is up and running & everyone is on board, start rewarding the top recyclers and workers! You can do this by:

• Recognition: Real recognise real as they say, or, in this case, real recognise real good recycling! (We don't think it will catch on) Reward employees or teams who consistently follow your recycling best practices. This can be done through shout outs, certificates, or even half a day off. 
• Competitions: Create friendly competitions between departments to see who can recycle the most, reduce contamination, or meet specific recycling targets.
• Regular audits: Conduct waste audits and share the results with employees to show the impact of their recycling efforts and identify areas for improvement or celebrate!

Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Lack of Motivation

Employees may not feel as motivated as they should if they feel like it could be a lot more work then they are accustomed too or if they don't see the immediate benefits of recycling.

The Solution:

1. Introduce incentives that reward your employees for recycling properly. This could be team lunches, employee meeting shout outs, or gift cards if you are feeling extra generous. 
2. Share any results that you already have of your teams recycling efforts. You could show the amount of waste that you have reduced together. To help emphasise your point, show them your environmental statistics. For instance We have recycled X amount of waste this week...this is the same weight as a football field, car etc. This gives your employees a chance to really imagine the amount of waste reduced. 

Confusion Over Recycling Rules

Just like households across the UK, it can be confusing for businesses on exactly what items can and cannot be recycled, leading to the incorrect items in the wrong bins. 

The Solution:

1. Place easy to read labels on all your recycling bins. In your staff area, stick up signs to show each category of waste that you produce & the correct bins for it. 
2. Offer recycling workshops, or have private chats with anyone that feels they are struggling to pick up the initiative as quick as others. 
3. Set up email newsletters, that keep your employees updated with what is needed from them. 

Lack of Convenience

You may have purchased the recycling bins are dotted them around your business, but if they are not in a convenient location, or too far away from where the main waste is produced, employees will just end up throwing it in the general waste bin.

What a waste of your hard work!

The Solution:

1. Place recycling bins where your employees normally eat, work or play. Near printers are good spots, or entrances. Bins need to always be visible to you and your co workers. 
2. Make sure the recycling bins are placed next to the general waste bins to stop anyone getting tempted to just chuck it in there. 
3. For any of your staff who have desks, make sure that there are recycling bins in close proximity. 

Conclusion 

By following all our top tips & tricks above, you should be able to really see the benefits of introducing a workplace recycling program & more importantly, the best way to get this set up. We aren't going to sugar-coat it, it may take a while for the recycling program to be fully up and running in your office, but once it is running smoothly, it will save you a lot of time and money. 

If you are ever searching around for a waste company that aligns with your recycling efforts and goals, why not use us at Busy Bins? 

Here are some reasons to use us for your commercial recycling collections: 

• Fully Accredited & Licensed
• 12 months contracts / No Auto-Renewal
• Dispose of waste correctly! No Landfill! All your rubbish is sent to an Waste to Energy facility to be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.
• Clear waste disposal costs. No Hidden Fees!
• Junk Removal & Skip Hire Service - Ideal for any big clear outs you are thinking about having. 
• If you wish to see any of our legal documentation then please email binfo@busybins.co.uk and we will be happy to provide copies of this. Our waste carriers licence number is CB/DU222271 for any online checks you wish to carry out.

Don't just take our word for it though, throughout our 7 years of being in business, we have received over 1000 verified customers reviews who have rated us 4.9 out of 5 on our service & we have never been put on report!

To have a peek out our reviews, click here: https://busybins.co.uk/reviews

So come and take part in the service with a smile.

Ready to revolutionise your care home's waste management? Contact us today at: www.busybins.co.uk