Reducing waste in office work place

Health centre cuts almost all garbage
Strict recycling program a model for all businesses
By Kris Scheuer
(Originally written March 15/07 for Town Crier.)

Janitor Nihal Munaweera looks over the community centre’s garbage room, which was filled with waste but is now dominated by recycling.

The amount of garbage being thrown out at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre has plummeted from 50 bags a week to five.
This considerable shift did not happen on its own, but at the same time is a feat that any other business could achieve with some planning, says the centre’s health promoter, Paul Young.

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Green bins roll out for apartments delayed

All apartments were to receive organic waste collection by end of 2010
Could now be phased in by 2011 to reduce budget costs
By Kris Scheuer
(Originally written Nov.13.08 with update Oct. 20/09 for Town Crier.)

A plan to roll out green bin service in apartments is key to decreasing how much waste ends up in landfill.
When I first reported on this almost a year ago, the city planned to roll out organic waste collection in 300 buildings each month until all 4,500 multi-unit residential complexes were on board.
This was expected to divert an additional 30,000 tonnes of organic waste from landfill, according to city stats.
And it was meant to double the waste diversion rate in multi residential apartments from 13 percent to 26 percent. In other words, more organic collection means less food ending up in landfill.
This Monday Oct. 19, I was at the city’s budget committee and I will be back there tomorrow listening to the solid waste management’s capital and operating plan for 2010.

Trash audit shows too much waste

Results of a waste audit show I need help
By Kris Scheuer
(Originally published Sept. 4 in Town Crier)
Column

I want to reduce my waste output.
It’s not currently realistic for me to produce zero garbage, but I wanted to examine what I’m throwing out to determine how I can lessen my contribution to landfill.
After the 39-day garbage strike, I promised to do my own waste audit and here’s what I found.
At home
I produced one-and-a-half grocery-size bags worth of trash between Aug. 3 to Sept. 3. This includes all trash in my bathroom, bedroom and kitchen garbage bins. But it doesn’t include anything tossed in the blue bin for recycling or organics placed in my green bin.
Bathroom waste
There was about a cantaloupe-sized amount of waste consisting of about 20 cotton swabs, dental floss, sanitary products and packaging, lots of tissues and a plastic foundation makeup tube.
How can I do better? If I had two garbage bins or a bin divided in two, I could use one side for non-organic waste like dental floss and the other for sanitary products (minus the packaging) and tissues that can go in the green bin.