Busy warehouses can be hazardous places, thanks to heavy machinery, falling objects, dangerous chemicals – and
recycling problems. If you’ve walked through a warehouse where cardboard mountains have started to form, you know the last one is true. Without efficient recycling systems in place, recyclable materials build up and cause all kinds of issues. From creating trip-and-fall risks to costing your business money, there are a lot of ways that unaddressed recycling problems can come back to bite you. Make sure none of these recycling problems are happening in your warehouse.
Problem: Recyclable waste piles up everywhere.
Solution: Improved recycling equipment and/or increased pickups by your recycling services vendor.
There are a lot of obvious reasons why it’s not a good idea to let heaps of cardboard and other recyclables accumulate in a warehouse. Those piles can impede pathways and block sight lines, creating conditions for accidents to happen. Stacks of cardboard in particular may add to the fire risk in a warehouse. Recycling piles can also be unhygienic, creating conditions where insects and vermin thrive. When any necessary audits or inspections are done in the warehouse, accumulated recyclables are bound to be a problem. And a warehouse simply doesn’t look well managed when there’s junk piling up in places where it obviously doesn’t belong.
Depending on what kind of commercial recycling equipment a warehouse already has onsite, the solution might be to bring in additional and/or larger balers and compactors for managing recyclables. The warehouse’s recycling service may also need to do pickups more frequently.
Problem: Recycling is contaminated.
Solution: More training and enforcement around recycling best practices.
Contamination is one of the major recycling problems that recycling services deal with today. To be clear, contamination refers to any materials that are mixed into a load of recyclables where they don’t belong. For example, say warehouse workers throw their empty plastic water bottles into the baler along with recyclable cardboard. They’re contaminating the cardboard even if the plastic bottles are themselves technically recyclable. Those contaminants will have to be sorted out before the cardboard can be processed, requiring extra labor for your recycling service. Or the cardboard might be too contaminated to be worth processing, especially if things like food and grease have been mixed in with it.
In any case, allowing the wrong materials to get mixed into your recyclables can make them much less valuable than they should be. Maximize the price you earn for warehouse recyclables by refreshing employee training around how to dispose of trash and why it matters. Increase signage around trash bins, recycling bins and recycling equipment with reminders about what kinds of materials belong in each container.
Problem: Recyclable waste isn’t getting recycled.
Solution: Get employee insight into what’s happening.
Just as employees may toss trash into recycling containers, they may also throw recyclables in with trash that’s bound for the landfill. The business loses out on any money it could have earned for those recyclables. (Throwing away things that could be recycled is also not a good look if the company has made any public commitments to sustainability.) It’s hard to address this problem without understanding how and why it’s happening, so ask employees what’s happening.
Problem: Space for recycling equipment is limited.
Solution: Rethink your current recycling equipment setup.
Maybe you’re on the verge of outgrowing your warehouse and have had to condense your trash and recycling area. Or the design of your warehouse doesn’t allow adequate room for collecting and managing waste. Whatever the reason, all the bins and other recycling equipment is awkwardly crammed into a too-small space.
This is one of those recycling problems that calls for a site visit by your recycling service. We can assess the space and the customer’s specific needs to design a new recycling plan. Changing out your existing recycling equipment for more compact equipment might be one option. Or we might recommend more frequent pickups to keep the recycling area clear. Getting a fresh perspective from someone who specializes in recycling can help you maximize your limited space.
Problem: You’re not entirely sure what you’re supposed to be recycling.
Solution: Ask your recycler!
You know that cardboard/paper and metal can be recycled, but what about that new type of plastic packaging that one of your vendors has started using in its shipments to you? A huge range of materials passes through your warehouse, and workers might be stumped about whether to trash or recycle some of them.
Customers can always call Miller Recycling with questions as they arise, including “what do we do with this?” The goal of working with a recycling service you trust is to make recycling so easy that it’s second nature for everyone in the warehouse. Don’t waste time trying to rearrange towering cardboard mountains so they don’t fall, or debating whether a particular material can be recycled. Just call us for help, then get back to work.
Miller Recycling is your resource for solutions to all your recycling problems. We can provide you with the commercial recycling equipment your warehouse needs to manage waste efficiently and get top dollar for valuable recyclables. Contact us today!