Have you ever asked yourself any of these questions before? What are the differences between these numbers on plastic products, can I recycle them all together? Does it matter if I mix paper waste from the office with newspapers and magazines? Should I sort out each different type of scrap metal and color of glass before disposing of them?

Ultimately, Waste Wise Products helps to solve the problems with innovative bins for recycling designed to make multi-stream waste management programs easier to handle and participate in.

Stop Recycling The Old Way

The old way of recycling is to let garbage pile up in bins and then sort everything out for the collectors; this usually happens the night before collection. This is why many residential programs had trouble getting off the ground.

The old method for sorting waste into recycling containers effectively meant you were disposing of your garbage twice and wasting a lot of time in the process. A company of any appreciable size would quickly get buried underneath their recyclables if they tried to sort by hand. So as recycling technology advanced, so must recycling methods in the home and office.

Waste Wise Products Offers The Right Recycling Containers For The Job

It turns out the best way to make multi-stream recycling easy again was to have the right bins for recycling. Our recycling containers have been designed with ease of use in mind. Homeowners and businesses alike find it much easy to participate in their local programs with the right bins for recycling on site.

Waste Wise recycling containers are designed in a number of ways to make them easy to use. Custom opening are shaped like the materials that are supposed to be recycled, like aluminum cans and plastic bottles. Many of our products come with multiple, integrated compartments within a single unit that are all clearly labeled for sorting on the spot. Clip on compartments and riders for recycling containers can turn any bin into multi-stream bins for recycling.

Every size and shape imaginable is produced in order to fit any floor plan or available space, whether it takes a tall and skinny or short and squat solution.

Getting Everyone On Board With Customized Recycling Containers

Waste Wise customizes and personalizes bins for recycling with slogans, lettering, and logos. What does this have to do with effective recycling programs? Individualized recycling containers are a great way for businesses to encourage participation at the office or even sponsor a program in the community. It builds pride to see personalized recycling containers that help make a positive impact on the local environment and community.

Waste Wise provides the latest in today’s trends in functional and customized bins for recycling in order to get the most out of multi-stream waste programs.

Reducing the cost of collecting, storing, transporting and disposing of garbage can save your company, school, or event a substantial amount of money. An estimated 60% to 80% of what was once considered ‘trash’ is actually recyclable. Imagine cutting your trash expense by 80% and then selling the recycled materials at a profit. The University of Washington medical Center was able to reduce its landfill costs by over $78,000 and then sold recycled paper and cardboard for over $32,000. That’s a net positive result of over $110,000 in a single year!

Educating The Masses About Messes

There have already been plenty of educational efforts with regards to recyclable materials and protecting the environment. Instead of having to reinvent the wheel, your company or organization can take advantage of the efforts of others by simply reminding potential participants of what they have already been taught about what can be placed in your recycling containers and what cannot.

Clearly labeled recycling bins encourage participation by making the decision-making process that much easier. Cans and bottles are easily placed in recycling containers that feature round openings in the top, whereas paper and cardboard is inserted into slot-shaped openings. This convenience encourages usage and minimizes misuse, cuts your costs and eliminates mess.

Select Shapes And Colors Best Suited For Your Locations

Light years beyond the battered metal trashcans of the 1970’s, today’s receptacles are attractively built from recycled plastic. These units do not crack, peel, or rust, and they provide years of attractive and functional service. Color selection can be made based on a company color scheme, an event logo, or a community crest, providing a visually appealing container that simply begs to be used for its intended purpose. Unlike the traditional greens of the 1980’s, today’s recycling containers come in every color, shape, size, and style imaginable, allowing you to select the best product for your application.

Proper Placement Promotes Participation

Placing bins where they are highly visible and convenient to approach greatly improves participation. Since today’s receptacles are so well designed and labeled, they are far more likely to be used for their intended purpose, instead of as a trash can. Small bins can be used to increase convenience under desks, close to printers and copiers, in lunchrooms and conference rooms. Factories can generate a substantial increase in raw material sales when recycling containers are placed within the factory along the manufacturing route to collect misprinted labels, improperly cut boxes, and faulty cans or bottles.

Using color, placement, style, and location to your advantage can turn a moderately successful program into a financial boon to your company, school, community or event. Significant reductions in garbage costs and increased income from the sale of these useful materials work together to raise your bottom line. The improved public image and goodwill are sure to result in an increase in sales, adding yet another good reason to institute a recycling program at your school, business, and community today.

Focus On Capacity

The right recycling containers have to be properly sized; if they are too large they will waste space and not reach capacity before pickup. Recycling bins that are too small won’t work as waste spills over onto the ground. In order to determine the proper capacity, keep these factors in mind. First, determine the pickup schedule. Second, choose whether to have a large number of small units that can be emptied into one larger piece or have recycling bins that can stand on their own. Keep in mind that these units can be heavy when they are full, try using smaller pieces or recycling bins with wheels, especially in high traffic areas.

Ease Of Use And Collection

Recycling bins are much more than just receptacles that are meant to sit around taking up space. In order to have an effective program in place, each unit has to be matched to its function and be easy to handle. For residential setups, the overall weight of recyclables has to be kept reasonable for a single person to handle. Office and school implementations should also keep an eye towards efficiency with wheeled utility units instead of having significant manpower required to move a set of recycling bins for collection.

Materials Of Construction

Like any purchase, high quality recycling bins will have a long service life and are worth the investment. For the ultimate in green solutions, Waste Wise offers recycled plastic recycling bins. Mold injected plastic units also exhibit good durability for long lasting service in the home, office, or school setting.

Sorting Multi Stream Programs

A common complaint from people is the perceived complexity of multi stream systems. One of the best ways to address this problem is with recycling containers that have multiple slots and compartments for each different stream with intuitive visual cues. People will participate more and feel a sense of involvement when they are easily able to sort their waste.

Recycling Containers That Look Good While Doing The Job

Especially for office and school programs, having attractive recycling containers plays an important role for high participation and pride in a program. Waste Wise offers custom fiberglass units that can be adorned with company logos and slogans as well as school colors and mascots. A sense of ownership goes a long way to creating highly effective programs.

These five points cover a lot of ground when implementing a waste disposal program for residential, commercial, and school use. In the end, the right recycling containers are important for the success of any recycling initiative.

Here, we’ll take a look at how recycling containers and community programs help people and the environment at all levels, and how we can utilize recycling bins from Waste Wise Products to maximize the impact of these programs.

Benefits of Recycling Programs To Our Economy And Environment

It is a common myth that recycling programs cost more money than regular trash disposal services. Overall, recycling programs save taxpayer money, reduce energy usage, and create jobs and business opportunities. As time goes by and more cities implement green initiatives, the cost of recycling goes down across the board.

Recycling programs create a multitude of job opportunities. There are an estimated 1.1 million jobs created every year. For each one of these jobs created, another 26 people are hired to process recycled materials into new products. On the whole, recycling creates four new jobs in the place of every one job created in the standard waste disposal industry.

These programs also save money; recycling costs less than land filling and incineration. With lowered costs and pay-as-you-throw options, a family can see lowered local taxes. By repurposing waste into new products, we can reduce our dependence on oil while lowering our energy usage.

These energy savings are significant — it takes 95% less energy to recycle aluminum than it does to make it from raw materials, while recycled steel saves 60%, recycled newspaper 40%, recycled plastics 70%, and recycled glass 40%.

How Good Recycling Bins Makes A Difference

The type of recycling containers used in homes, offices, and in public spaces really determines how cost effective a recycling program will be.

Using recycling bins with multiple compartments is an excellent way to help pre-sort different materials and aid in collection and processing. All-in-one recycling containers come in many sizes to be used within a home, office, or placed in public areas. Waste Wise carries recycling containers that can also be snapped together or attached to one another for multi-stream usage without having one large container. For businesses, fiberglass recycling containers can be customized with a business logo or corporate slogan.

For industrial work, roll out cart and utility recycling bins are the best bet due to their rugged construction. They are designed for both heavy duty work and for garbage hauling. Steel recycling containers can offer both a sturdy solution with a modern look, perfect for the office setting. Attractive ashtray containers can be placed in any lobby, break room, or designated smoking area.

Having the right recycling bins for the right job help people to be comfortable when new programs are initiated. They also help keep costs low and make material separation easier. Does your home, office, and community have a recycling program? Is it working as well as it could? Contact us to learn about how you can implement recycling bins in your home, work place, or neighborhood and create a positive impact on the environment and the community.

With these needs in minds, recycling bins are being constructed from many materials, including fiberglass, plastic, recycled plastic lumber, and steel and are in use for single stream, multi-stream, and utility programs. Let’s take a look at how the right pairing between container and program makes waste management easier and more effective.

Individual Offices And Homes

There are many available recycling bins to fit small scale programs or many small capacity locations, such as individual offices. There are a number of both plastic and fiberglass solutions that offer light weight and durable recycling containers to fit in under desks or behind doors.

Desksiders are the single stream, blue plastic containers that are common in many offices. A smaller easy sorter bin can be attached to the lip of the larger basket to separate two different recyclables. Duo recyclers are two compartment, low profile bins perfect for under the desk placement. Larger fiberglass multi compartment containers with custom lids can be used in conference rooms or shared offices.

Large Scale, Multi-Stream Applications

On the other end of the spectrum, large collection points and city-wide programs require larger and more durable containers that can be used both indoors and outdoors. Typically, all-in-one collection units are preferred to convenience.

These units come in fiberglass, plastic, and steel. All three types offer rugged designs for high traffic and high volume use. The largest fiberglass bins for recycling come in at 92 gallons with up to 4 internal compartments to handle a high degree of separation and volume. Plastic bins are also manufactured in all-in-one units as well as sets of single stream containers. Steel designs usually focus on multiple single stream containers that come together in a set. There are also larger multipurpose units that are best suited for large municipal projects.

Industrial Programs

Bins for recycling utilized in industrial and large commercial or hospitality waste management programs, many of the above designs can work. However, there are specially made solutions for heavy duty work.

Roll out carts are a good choice for such a project. The carts are made from high strength injection molded plastics and come built with attached dollies and grips. They are ideal for collection and storage along with transportation. All-in-one units constructed from steel will also meet the requirements of large scale programs where their size, weight, and capacity are beneficial.

Waste Wise Products offers a wide variety in recycling bins in order to make implementing waste management programs easier. Participants will be more invested in a recycling program that is convenient and purpose built.

Time For A Trash Audit

A trash audit is a simple act that you can do at home. Basically, it consists of sorting through your trash to see how much recyclable materials you are currently throwing into your neighborhood landfill. Most people are stunned when they realize the extent of their past wastefulness. As garbage rates continue to rise, it becomes even more cost effective to recycle whatever you can. Simply placing recycling containers next to trash cans and educating family members may be all the effort that is required to create a successful recycling program in your home.

Businesses can use their local recycling service to conduct a trash audit. Offices, manufacturers and service companies produce volumes of recyclable materials that have been historically thrown into landfills, resulting in toxic air, soil, and water supplies. A trash audit provides business owners and managers with the financial numbers they need to make effective decisions about how many bins for recycling they will need for their facility.

Special Tips For Reducing Waste

At home, you can reduce much of your paper waste by cancelling unwanted subscriptions and reusing the backs of documents for things like shopping lists and to-do notes. When shopping, opt for minimal packaging and bigger quantities of frequently purchased items. Placing recycling bins where they are most needed, such as next to a desk and in the kitchen can increase their likelihood of being used.

Businesses can use the same basic rational by placing bins for recycling where they are most needed: in employee break rooms, near printers, under desks, near vending machines and near any manufacturing processes that generate recyclable materials. These simple steps can turn into a landslide of savings, both financial and environmental.

Back In The Black

In today’s troubled economy, homes and businesses are operating on the brink of financial disaster. Every area where money can be saved is worth consideration. Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle installed recycling bins and was then delighted to discover that they were able to reduce their contribution to the landfill by 80% and that they saved themselves over $170,000 in the first year of the program. Those are some substantial numbers.

Today’s recycling bins are clearly labeled with which recyclables go where, or if it is a single stream service, all types of recyclable materials can be deposited into the same container. Recycling today makes sense, and best of all saves a lot of money.

Fiberglass Recycling Bins

Fiberglass bins for recycling have been around for generations, but have only recently caught on as a popular choice for recycling bins. Their popularity can be at least partially attributed to their pleasing looks and their non-bulky construction. Typically, these bins range in size from about 55 gallons to 73 gallons, which makes them a little smaller than many other recycling bins. While some may see smaller size as a drawback, many businesses and schools find the size makes the bins more versatile and much easier to integrate into a business.

Recycled Plastic Bins For Recycling

It seems like a novel idea: recycle your used goods in a recycled recycling bin. That is the beauty of a plastic recycling bin. As a product of what it promotes, plastic bins lead by example. They are also a versatile bin and a fitting container for many different types of refuse. From plastics to glass and paper to lumber, plastic bins are very versatile and can be designed to fit many different styles, shapes, budgets, and uses.

At Waste Wise, we sell recycled plastic recycling bins for use on city streets, inside lunchrooms at schools and offices, and for private use. Please contact us for more information on these versatile and customizable bins for recycling.

Steel Constructed Recycling Bins

Of course, nothing is more synonymous with strength than steel. At Waste Wise, we offer steel constructed recycling bins that can be tailored to almost any space. Steel bins for recycling can be constructed in almost any way, from very large and high capacity to smaller and lower capacity. They can also be made to fit the nooks and crannies of an office, lunchroom, or anywhere in need of recycling.

As opposed to the molding of both plastic and fiberglass, steel construction allows these recycling bins to be more versatile and more attractive to many consumers. The construction also allows these bins to be great for both outdoor and indoor applications. The consumer or businesses making the purchase can many times dictate the bin’s design and number of openings. This makes them the perfect bins for schools, businesses, and activity centers.

However, current recycling programs still ask that people sort their recyclables into various containers. Though this may not seem ‘difficult,’ studies have shown that single stream recycling containers increases household recycling significantly.

How Single Stream Recycling Containers and Programs Work

With single stream recycling containers, all recycled materials are collected in a single bin and then sorted at the recycling facility. The city of Boston recently conducted a 4-month study with single stream recycling and the results were surprising. During the study period, single stream recycling bins resulted in 40% less trash in the landfills and increased recycling by 20%.

There are numerous reasons why single stream bins lead to increased recycling volumes among homeowners. Multiple recycling bins consume more space and many people, particularly those in smaller city homes, don’t have the extra space for multiple recycling containers. It may be easier to throw away garbage than to keep 4 recycling containers below the sink. Also, many areas offer recycling of some materials, but not all. One neighborhood may offer glass and paper recycling, but not plastic recycling. With single stream recycling, homeowners have the option to recycle more types of materials.

Less work sorting on the part of homeowners means increased work at the recycling facility. The process isn’t all manual. Recycling depots use a variety of techniques, such as magnets or electronic sorters to compartmentalize the materials. Many recycling facilities already engaged in sorting in order to weed out non-recyclable materials — and have these processes in place already.

Municipal Cost Savings of Single Stream Recycling

The program not only resulted in significant environmental impact, but cost savings as well. The city of Boston estimates an annual $750,000 savings based on the savings incurred during the 4-month trial period. Fewer household recycling bins mean that cities incur fewer materials costs. Fewer trucks to pick up different types of recyclables also drastically reduce the overhead costs of recycling. Fewer recycling depots mean fewer costs as well. The man-hours and processing cost-per-ton are significantly reduced with single stream recycling depots.

However, implementation of any new program always comes with an initial investment. While single stream recycling may be less expensive in the long run, cities may need to make various investments to start the process including larger trucks, automation machines, and training are just a few of those start up costs.

Environmental Impact

Beyond financial costs, there are environmental costs to consider. A 40% decrease in garbage hitting landfills is a significantly reduced impact on the environment, so long as processing those recycled material does not cause more environmental harm than a landfill. Fewer recycling depots mean less energy consumption and a greener footprint. As a provider of recycling bins in Toronto, our ultimate goal is to encourage the most efficient and effective method of recycling so that we may all enjoy a greener planet.

The popularity of Earth Day has grown enormously in recent years and is essentially the birthday for the environmental movement. To celebrate, people join forces around the globe in an attempt to change the collective consciousness of the world’s population about how we perceive and treat Mother Earth. Shifting a global perception may seem like an overwhelming task, but even very small action can set a chain reaction of global change into motion. Simple changes such as implementing recycling bins at home or work, becoming educated on planetary health, volunteering, and spreading the word can make a big difference.

Earth Day — How It Started

People once enjoyed their Sunday drives and basking in the resources pillaged from various ends of the earth. Until the 1970s, there was very little focus on the environment. That is until Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, finally had enough with wasting resources. He decided to stand up and suggest that the government and its people stop having a good time and start realizing what was really happening to the environment.

In response, 20 million people came together on April 22, 1970 all over the United States to demonstrate to the world they are tired of seeing their planet being destroyed. They demanded that officials start standing up and making the changes needed. While this had a positive effect, it wasn’t repeated again until 1990. That year, 141 countries participated in the event, increasing the use of bins for recycling and many other important steps.

Earth Day — Activities In 2009

The celebrations this year are helping people gear up for the event’s 40th Anniversary in 2010. The theme in 2009 is ‘The Green Generation Campaign, which will include a focus on three main concepts. The first Earth Day concept is how the world can move away from the use of fossil fuels. The second concept is getting individuals to live an environmentally neutral lifestyle. Lastly, it is transforming the economy and educational system into one that is green and environmentally responsible, which includes ensuring every household has access to bins for recycling.

Many of the major U.S. cities organized numerous events including concerts from some of the biggest names in the music industry. Other cities around the world including Tokyo and Manila also participated. Together, activities planned during the entire month of April presented people with a large variety of fun, awareness, and education. You don’t have to attend one of these events to be a part of Earth Day; you can hold your own event and use provided materials to educate others.

Getting Involved In Earth Day

Recycling bins are an excellent example of the many ways to get involved in Earth Day. Considering collecting a few bins for recycling to gather materials such as bottles and cans, or selling bins for recycling as a fundraiser. Helping others learn how to use recycling bins efficiently will also have many long-term environmental benefits. Additionally, get children involved by letting them decorate their own personalized ‘blue box’ recycling bins.

Earth Day is a great opportunity to make your daily lifestyle greener. Make a list of all the typical things you do in a day and include the resources and waste accumulated for each item. Once the list is completed, look at each line item and determine how to make each one ‘greener.’ This might include using natural light more often, using energy efficient appliances, using bins for recycling on a daily basis, or alternative transportation methods.

As one of the leading providers of recycling bins in Toronto, Earth Day is everyday for us at Waste Wise Products. Earth Day may only last for 24 hours, but the education and awareness should last all year around. Only then can we make a real difference.

Photo by Anna Duncan Art

Have you ever bought a bottle of water, juice or some other beverage? What did you do with the container? Many of us would say we dropped it in one of the nearby recycling bins, some would even say the garbage, a few of us will admit to throwing it on the ground. It doesn’t hurt anything, right?

The Problem With Plastic Bottles

The plastic bottles that make it to recycling bins are processed into new products, and that’s a different story altogether, but it’s the ones lying on the ground that are of concern. These make their way to our waterways where they are carried off by the current. They collect on beaches where children play and where animals live or come for a drink.

Lids float, and as birds, such as albatross, fly above, it sees them as food. The birds pick them up and take them home to their young to eat, which they do. As you see in the movie, thousands and thousands of these baby birds are dying with bellies full of bottle caps. What about the retainer rings? Those aren’t any better. Animals get them caught him their tails, necks, and bodies. These animals will die, become seriously ill, or lose limbs.

Bet You’ve Eaten Plastic!

What about those bottles that not only don’t make it to recycling bins, but also don’t even make it to the shore? Instead, they break into tiny pieces along the way. The small little pieces float in the water, creating a toxic soup. Fish ingest these little pieces where the chemical leaches into their body. We catch and we eat the fish digesting the chemicals along with it.

Why are these chemicals a concern? One chemical found in plastic is known as BPA, which studies have linked to prostate and breast cancer, uterine fibroids, and infertility. Children are not immune to these chemicals either; many cause learning and developmental problems.

Antimony is another plastic chemical that is known for causing nausea and dizziness, depression and even death if you get enough of it. Health and environmental experts believe that these toxins are a big contributor to a lot of the common illnesses and conditions. Recent studies have even suggested some of these chemicals attack Y chromosomes in the earliest stages of animal and human fetuses, causing a severe decline in the number of male children and animals being born. If this trend continues, we could essentially be looking at the end of humankind.

Putting An End To Plastic Problems

Stop buying plastic bottles. Stop throwing garbage on the ground. Stop ignoring bags and other pieces of plastic lying on the ground. Pick them up and get them into recycling bins so they can be reprocessed. Every piece that we save from reaching our waterways may save an animal or even us. Recycling bins are around, so be sure to use them.

No doubt about it, this is a serious problem. Our biggest problem is fixing it. The only way we can repair this is to stop promoting the use of plastics. If you do buy plastic, make sure you get something you can reuse. When it’s time to be thrown away, make certain it goes into recycling bins. Now that you know that the cost of a bottled beverage is far more than a couple of bucks, maybe that next one won’t be as tempting.