The Impact of Office Recycling: Actual Numbers
ByProbably the most basic (and often easiest to achieve) LEED prerequisite is Storage & Collection of Recyclables under the MR division. It’s exactly this simplistic nature that can cause it to be overlooked as a major contributor towards reducing the environmental impact of a building.
It being Earth Day, I would like to offer some evidence that is often the little things that make a big difference. In our relatively small 4,500 square foot office in Chicago, our paper recycling program has had the following effect in the past 12 months:
- Paper Recycled:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 7,406 pounds
- Trees Saved:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 63 trees
- Water Conserved:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 25,919 gallons
- Pollutants Unreleased:Â Â Â Â Â Â 222 pounds
- Landfill Preserved:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 19 cubic yards
Consider what these numbers would be in a larger office or an entire office building - these numbers can grow to a staggering level.
If you have any statistics for your office or workplace, please share them with us.
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2 Comments
June 18th, 2009 at 10:04 am
Those are great numbers to keep track of. How did you figure out the water conservation and pollutants unreleased?
A lot of offices have recycling available but don’t really enforce the effort, and sadly often the recycling bins just get thrown in with the other trash. Having clearly labeled containers and checking into the actual recycling program to ensure what you place in the container doesn’t get mixed in with other garbage. Otherwise the intent goes past the action of recycling, it starts to implement repetition and education as to why recycling exists. So when you keep numbers like that for other to see then that helps understand the principal of the efforts.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Many people do not realize that making a small change at the office can make a big impact on the environment. With the requirement of LEED storage & collection we should recycle and reuse products or goods. There are simple ways such as using your own coffee mug or using both sides of paper when copying could be a smart start. Let’s start today!!!!!