America Recycles Day: Keep Calm & Recycle On

By: Briana Smith  |  November 13, 2019

America Recycles Day is coming up this Friday, November 15th and it’s a day to educate, to motivate & to make recycling bigger & better!

We are at a crossroads when it comes to the state of the recycling industry. As was mentioned in our The Future of Recycling article, China started banning “foreign garbage” in 2018 which encompassed recyclables from the United States that are often contaminated due to improper collection & disposal practices. This contamination in the recycling stream has caused processing problems at recycling centers here as well, as consumers are unaware of their local waste management rules & regulations resulting in “hopeful recycling.”

But that doesn’t mean that the future of recycling is bleak. There are a lot of little things that each one of us can adopt towards a more sustainable lifestyle which focus on reducing, reusing & recycling (in that order).

Small Changes Add Up

It all starts with rethinking our habits. Making slight adjustments to our routines can make a big impact over time.

• Keeping a thermos (they're cool again!) and a set of reusable dish ware & utensils at work or use ones that are biodegradable
• Composting food scraps
• Creating cleaning rags from old clothing or microfiber cloths which can be reused hundreds of times
• Donate unwanted items to charities, such as Goodwill, and electronics & other eWaste to the appropriate collection centers
• Upcycling unwanted items into new treasures
• Purchasing minimally packaged products (when possible)
• Sign-up for paperless billing & statements

Ideas for Businesses

Plus there are actions that businesses can take towards reducing waste, including:

• Increasing office recycling &/or implementing zero waste policies
• Promoting multi-stream waste diversion programs with a standardized labeling system to make it easier for people to dispose of paper, plastics, glass, food scraps, trash, etc. properly
• Setting up a sustainability program
• Purchasing consumables made from recycled materials
• Right-sizing can liners to reduce plastic use
• Utilizing a dilution control system or concentrated chemicals versus ready-to-use, which reduces overall waste

Working Towards a More Sustainable Future

WAXIE is committed to working with working with our vendor partners to provide resources to help our customers in their recycling & waste diversion efforts.

In honor of America Recycles Day, here's a round-up of past articles for more inspiration:

• 100 Tips to Help Property Professionals Go Green for Earth Day
• America Recycles Day: A Day to Think About Year-Round Waste Reduction Strategies
• America Recycles Day: Highlighting San Diego’s Path to Zero Waste
• America Recycles Day: A Day to Think About Recycling
• BOMA SD eNewsletter Article: America Recycles Day
• Did You Know That Today is America Recycles Day?

Briana Smith is WAXIE’s Social Media & Product Branding Specialist and spends quite a bit of time skimming the news for what’s new in cleaning, sustainability and technology while managing all of WAXIE’s social channels. She especially loves posting about #teamwaxie activities & conversing with customers on Instagram. Briana has a Bachelor's Degree in Communication Design from California State University, Chico.