At Alert Communications, we’re revising the recycling tune we’ve been playing here for years. The old version simply redeemed beverage containers for cash to purchase break room magazines. This year the original melody is developing several new variations as we further “green” our business with expanded recycling efforts.
In January we orchestrated a new process for destroying sensitive documents and routing waste paper from our Dumpster. This material is now deposited in locked, sixty gallon containers provided by a mobile shredding service. Once per month its truck will service these containers. The contents will be shredded onsite and carried to a recycling facility.
Last month we also learned the score on the Dumpster service we retain with our local rubbish company. We discovered our Dumpster is part of a “unicycling” program that permits both recyclables and “messy” trash in it. The “messy” trash must be bagged and tied shut. Recyclables, such as hard plastics, containers numbered 1 through 7, and cardboard may be put loose inside the Dumpster.
The dynamics of recycling at Alert are improving. Most of us now have desk caddies for collecting paper during our shifts that is easily transferred to the sixty gallon containers at the end of the day. Break rooms now have four bins for sorting various types of trash: aluminum cans, plastic beverage bottles, all “other” recyclables, and one for “messy” trash. We’ll continue to redeem aluminum and plastic beverage containers for cash while depositing the other types of trash in our “unicycling” Dumpster. Our answering services representatives and others in the company are eagerly participating in the recycling efforts.
Over the next few months we’ll be rehearsing this new version to an old song when sorting our trash plus developing a process for recycling hazardous items that cannot safely be put in our Dumpster such as electronic equipment, batteries, and computer hardware. It may take time to perfect our performance, but the melody we’re playing now will take us to the top of the chart as we pursue our “green” goals at Alert Communications.
