In recent years there has been a significant emphasis on the need to recycle. Over the years we have seen the destructive effects that waste has had and is continuing to have on the environment and wildlife.
Recycling enables old products to be turned into new items, ensuring that neither raw material nor energy is used to make the products go to waste. Using recycled material reduces the need to consume natural resources, therefore, helps conserve important raw materials and protects natural habitats for the future.
By using recycled material, a lot less energy is used in the manufacturing process compared to using raw materials. Saving energy reduces greenhouse gases, which helps tackle climate change
Not only this but it can prevent ground and air pollution as recycling reduces the need for extracting, refining, and processing the raw material.
Landfill has been used for hundreds of years however waste products such as recycling takes an extremely long time to degrade therefore recycling can make a major difference to waste disposal issues. Reducing landfill is important as sites produce a quarter of the UK’s emissions of methane.
Recycling has a lot more benefits than the ones mentioned above, and we need everyone to start playing their part. You might think that the job of splitting your rubbish into plastic, aluminium, etc into the recycling won’t make a difference but it certainly will both at home and in the workplace!
Top tips for recycling at home
- Don’t recycle plastic bags. Rather than purchasing a 10p bag at the supermarket, a reusable canvas bag could be bought instead.
- Make sure your recycling is washed, emptied, and dried. Food containers that haven’t been cleaned head straight to landfill if they haven’t been cleaned.
- Items that are combined with more than one material can’t be recycled such as bubble-wrapped envelopes, laminated paper, etc.
- Keep plastic bottle lips on when recycling. Bottle lids can be recycled but not when they aren’t screwed on the bottle.
- Have a recycling system – try keeping a box next to your kitchen bins as a reminder to recycle.
- If you are unsure what to recycle and where to check your local council’s website for advice
Click here for more recycling tips!
Recycling in the workplace
Not only is it important to recycle at home it is important to continue your recycling habits in the workplace.
As an employer, you must encourage staff to dispose of their rubbish correctly with clear guidance on where to recycle what. At Get it Done Cleaning we can provide your workplace with all necessary recycling bins – hazardous waste bins, sanitary bins, nappy bins, and coloured coded bins for different materials. We follow waste disposal regulations by disposing of your waste correctly and can provide a duty of care certification.
Ensuring that your workplace is following the correct recycling procedures enables you to be compliant with the ISO 15270:2008 standard. This standard provides guidance for the specifications and standards that cover plastic waste recovery including recycling. Within this standard, it provides different options that can be used to recover plastics correctly. There are also several different ISO standards for recycling – click here for more information on how you and your business can comply.
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