The office sector is diverse and may include individual or shared office workspace environments. This guidance may also be useful to managers responsible for similar operations, for example, libraries and museums, public administration, telecommunications and computing services, financial and insurance services, legal and real estate services, travel agencies and betting shops.
In this guide, we’ll take you through five steps to implementing recycling in your business – below is an outline of what we’ll be explaining. Whether you’re a financial services provider, a publisher, a library or any other type of organisation classed as an office, if your business is new to recycling, work your way through from Step 1. If you’re after advice on a particular stage, click the links below to jump to the relevant section.
This guide only deals with non-hazardous municipal waste – the sorts of waste materials also produced in the home. We won’t be covering how to manage or other specialist waste your setting may produce. Hazardous wastes such as used batteries or chemicals must be collected and disposed of responsibly whilst other wastes such as furniture, storage cupboards or stationery can be reused by donating them to charities.
Good to know:
There are a number of sources of information and guidance available to the office sector to assist in the management of these other waste streams:
- WRAP’s Business Resource Efficiency Guide Business Resource Efficiency Guide: Resource Efficiency for Managers | WRAP
- How to recycle your office waste | nibusinessinfo.co.uk – Northern Ireland Business Information has lots of useful information on office resource efficiency and how to cut your office waste, along with links to useful sites and waste management companies.
- The Better Buildings Partnership is a collaboration of leading property owners working to improve the sustainability of commercial buildings. BPP’s work includes reducing carbon emissions through action on energy, water, and waste: Better Buildings Partnership The Managing Agents Partnership is a collaboration of UK property managers working to improve sustainable management of commercial real estate: Managing Agents Partnership
- The Children’s Scrapstore started in Bristol but there are now Children’s Scrapstores across the UK. NI’s Scrapstore is Play Resource. They provide scrap and craft materials for children’s play and creativity they also accept donations of clean scrap materials such as paper.
- The WARPIT reuse and sharing platform can be used to trade items for reuse within your business’s departments and across a wider WARPIT network of public sector organisations who are also WARPIT users.
- The National Cup Recycling Scheme is the UK’s largest paper cup recycling scheme. The Scheme brings together major retailers, waste management companies and UK paper mills all with the shared aim of growing the infrastructure needed to increase the number of paper cups being collected and recycled in the UK.
- The Resource matching service | Invest Northern Ireland, provides an opportunity to transfer business waste, unwanted materials and bi-products from one business or organisation to be reused, recycled, reprocessed and repackaged by another.
- Climate Action Hub - bitcni.org.uk/climate-action-resources/.