Recycle!!

Make sure your office/school/church etc has a recycling bin and that it is collected.
How can you best do this?

Speak to the people in charge

Whether it is the priest/church wardens or the principal at school, get approval from the people in charge

Do a waste audit

Have a look at what is coming through and what you want to recycle – paper/plastic/tins ? You might want to start with one item and then grow it.

Have a green team

It might only be two people, but find some other people to work with you on this project. Otherwise you might lose heart.

Develop a plan

You will need well marked bins but also need to work out who will pick up the recycling. Will volunteers drop it off, will you get a company to pick it up , will there be cost implications? Are the staff in charge of cleaning on board? (otherwise the nicely separated waste will go into one bin at the end of the day as it is less work!)

Tell people about your successes!

Recycling doesnt generate much income, but if you do get some, then use it to buy something that you can celebrate with others (Eg Sunday school christmas party ) let people know how many bags (you can average guess the number of kg) keep them motivated!!

Common Challenges:

Recycling gets contaminated with food: you will need to constantly be reminding people not put items contaminated with food into the recycling. in the early stages it is worth hovering over the bins until they get the idea!

Smell, attracts flies: again it is important that people rinse the items well, and make sure you have storage and adequate bags to keep it moving away from the office/meeting space