Category Archives: Recycling

Recycling At Home Hacks

Recycling at home can be just as hard or harder than recycling at work when you don’t have the option to do co-mingled recycling. When you’re at work, it can be more convenient when a company like Business Recycling Solutions can pick up your recycling all in one bin for you and take it back to their facility.

When you don’t have a curbside or co-mingled recycling option, it can seem like an inconvenience and it does takes a little more discipline and dedication BUT in the end it can be fairly simple.

What are some ways to make recycling at home easier?

Buy stackable bins to easily separate your recyclable items

Stackable bins will take up less space in your home and you can easily label each bin plastic, paper, aluminum and glass. This will keep your recyclable items organized, sorted and ready to drop off once they are full.

Rinse and crush as you go

Contamination rates are rising due to trash and non recyclable items being dumped in the recycling bins. Once items are contaminated, they are no longer considered recyclable and will more than likely end up in a landfill.

To prevent this, rinse items as you use them. If there is still food/liquid residue inside of soup cans, soda cans, water bottles, etc. once you’re done with them, quickly rinse away the liquid or food. This gives you less chance of contamination and will keep your recycling from smelling.

Crushing cans and water bottles will create more room in the recycling bin causing your bin to take longer to fill up.

Reuse items instead of recycling them

Remember the saying goes “reduce, reuse, recycle”. The first step is to reduce the amount of trash you produce and if you can’t do that then to reuse it.

Upcycling items can cut down on the amount of recycling you produce which also can cut down on the amount of times you have to drop off your recycling. This can create fun projects that kids to participate in.

Make it fun!

If you have kids, make recycling a game! Quiz them on what can and can’t be recycled. Having recycling bins accessible indoors makes it easier for kids to recycle as well. If they know how many resources they’re saving by sorting and recycling, it will be an interest to them that they are making a very big impact!

For more questions and concerns about recycling, contact recyclespot.org or email info@businessrecyclingsolutions.com to start a recycling program at your local business today!

Recycling vs Shredding, What’s the Difference?

Many people don’t know the difference between recycling vs shredding. Some, think that it is all the same but it’s not! There are a lot of key differences between the two you should know about and it could end up saving you time, money and the possibility of being a victim of Identity theft.

So What Is Recycling?

The definition of recycling is “the action or process of converting waste into reusable material.” Items that are typically recycled are things such as, paper, plastic, aluminum and cardboard. There are a few recycling companies that even accept and recycle glass.

At Business Recycling Solutions we want to encourage our customers to recycle 80% of their waste, leaving them with only 20% going to a landfill! Our customers take the 80/20 challenge to make a difference in our environment!

Recycling is NOT the same as shredding!

When recycling items, things such as paper, plastic, aluminum and cardboard are being sorted and processed at a local recycling facility. When shredding, only paper is being shredded and then taken to a processing facility to be recycled. This is the difference with recycling vs shredding!

Recycling paper is not the same as shredding paper. Paper that is sent to recycling are not confidential. These are things like magazines, newspapers, extra copies of non confidential documents you no longer need, etc.

Paper that is sent to shredding are things that are confidential. These are things such as forms with social security numbers, tax ID numbers, credit card information, etc. Those are items that would need to be shredded.

What does Business Recycling Solutions recycle?

  1. Newspapers
  2. Magazines and Brochures
  3. Phone Books
  4. Aluminum Cans
  5. Cardboard
  6. Take out containers that are rinsed and free of food particles
  7. Hard Plastic (i.e. plastics #1 & #2)
  8. File Folders

You can find a basic list of what is typically unacceptable at recycling centers everywhere here. If you are unsure what’s recyclable, contact your local processing facility before taking your recyclables. If you are recycling with Business Recycling Solutions, contact us and we’ll gladly help you with what you can put in your recycling bin!

How does Business Recycling Solutions work?

Business Recycling Solutions is B2B Recycling Company that goes to other businesses and pick up their recycling! We’ve found that a lot of businesses have a hard time recycling when they don’t have curbside pickup due to them being inside of a bigger building or their building manager doesn’t offer it!

That’s where we come in! We take the type of company that you are and the amount of space you have and determine what options are best for you. We come and pick up the recycling for you instead of you or an employee taking the recycling home or to a recycle center.

This gives you more time to focus on your business and less time spent traveling around to recycle your items. Feel free to reach out to us if you’re interested in learning more about our recycling options!

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle in 2019 | 5 Tips to Start Now!

Happy New Year! With every new year, a New Year’s Resolution or goal follows. According to Psychology Today, the most common New Year’s Resolutions are losing weight, exercising more, or to quit smoking.

These are all amazing resolutions and we hope you succeed in your goals! If you don’t have a goal for the new year but want to make a difference, we suggest to “reduce, reuse, and recycle”! If you don’t know where to start or what to do, don’t worry, we have five easy beginner tips you can use to help out our beloved planet.

1. Reduce plastic bottles and single use coffee cups.

This is one of the easier practices that you can start today and make a difference!

How can you reduce plastic bottles and single use coffee cups?

No more Coke from the vending machine or gas station. Purchase a reusable cup that you can refill with your favorite beverage instead of buying it in a plastic bottle. This can also be done with water! Invest in a reusable water bottle that can save you money and waste.

2. Reduce plastic grocery bags and buy reusable ones!

The average American uses 307 bags a year. That is 100 billion bags thrown away annually in America and 4 trillion bags worldwide.

How can you reduce plastic bag waste?

Instead of using 4-5 grocery bags per grocery store visit, pack reusable bags. Keep them in your car to be sure you don’t forget them when you go shopping! If you do forget your reusable bags at home, ask for paper instead!

Paper bags can be broken down quicker in landfills and are easier to be recycled into things like cardboard.

3. Say no to plastic straws and utensils.

The US uses around 500 million drinking straws a day. That is enough to fill 46,400 school buses every year!

How can you reduce plastic straw usage?

Plastic straws are available everywhere for convenience. One way to reduce plastic straws would be to bring your own cup with a reusable straw whenever possible. If you are going out to eat a restaurant, say no to a plastic straw.

Another way to avoid plastic straws would be to carry your own reusable straw. There are travel size reusable stainless steel straws now!

4. Ride your bike or walk more!

What benefit does riding your bike have?

If your new years resolution is to workout more then you’re in luck! You can exercise riding your bike or walking to your close destinations while reducing air pollution.

5. Reduce your waste by recycling more.

How do you reduce your waste conveniently?

You can reduce your waste without it being inconvenient by simply watching what you are throwing away and asking yourself if it can be recycled. You’d be surprised by how much we throw away that can simply be recycled.

Do you order a lot of packages from amazon? What do you do with the cardboard? Cardboard can be recycled into more cardboard without using new resources. If you switch from plastic grocery bags to paper bags, those can be recycled as well.

Do you ever wonder what the world would be like if everyone recycled? We do! Which is why we offer business to business recycling in the Kansas City Metro area. If this sounds like something your business would be interested in, contact us and we would be happy to help!

Sustainable Tip: Back to School

It’s that time of the year again but this time be sustainable, let’s think GREEN!

If you’re a parent then you know the struggle of buying school supplies and maybe a little extra for those who may have forgotten or can’t afford it. Pencils are still a requirement on the school supplies list. More pencils mean more trees that need to be cut. According to Tree Hugger, over 82,000 trees are cut down per year to make pencils. That’s a lot of trees and resources. Pencils made from recycled materials such as newspapers, would decrease the amount of new resources used by reusing what we already have.

 

On average, there are 21 students per classroom. Students are then asked to bring one pack of 24 pencils each as their school supplies. If each student brings 24 pencils, that is 504 pencils per classroom. The average elementary school holds 26 classroom (excluding the art and music rooms) which could possibly be 13,104 pencils per school. That is a lot of trees and a lot of resources for one school. Also according to tree hugger, one tree makes 170,000 pencils. If one school in every state switched to recycled newspaper pencils, that would save almost four trees.

Other Think GREEN Tips!

Decomposition of newspapers in landfills could take 2-6 weeks vs wood could take 100-200 years to decompose in a landfill. Other ways to save space in landfills would be to never throw away your pencil shavings. Pencil shavings are excellent compost material and can be used as mulch in your plants. Instead of throwing your pencil shavings in the trash, throw them in your plants instead!

We hope you enjoyed our Back to School sustainable tip, think GREEN! To find these amazing recycled newspaper pencils, check out Amazon or The Ultimate Green Store.

The Solution to K-Cups Pollution

According to Market Watch, There are around 121 million households in the U.S., and Keurig has a machine in about 20 million, or 16%, of them. Not only is that a lot of coffee, but it is a lot of single use K-Cups as well. According to The Atlantic, there are enough Keurig K-Cups in landfills to circle the Earth more than 12 times and the number continues to grow.

We’ve all dreaded being the designated coffee maker in the mornings at the office, which is probably why Keurig single serve coffee brewer aka K-Cups have been extremely popular. Everyone loves the smell of fresh brewed coffee in the morning but nobody loves to make it unless it’s convenient.

Why do we love K-Cups?

We live in a fast pace time. Everything is made to be convenient and quick; it only takes 30 seconds to pop in a K-Cup and get Starbucks coffee instantly! How could we ever say no to that?

Coffee gets us up in the morning and even on time to work. You may even need extra coffee in the middle of the day to motivate you to keep hanging on, using a possible 3 K-Cups a day. That is 1,095 K-Cups a day for 1 person. If you’re still holding on to your Keurig for dear life and just can’t let go, we may have the solution to your K-Cup pollution that will keep you and the earth happy. If your office (or even your home) is stocked with an abundance of K-Cups, you may want to invest in one or more of these items for your office. 

1. Grounds to Grow On Program

Keurig Green Mountain’s “Grounds to Grow On” recycling program. They will ship recyclable containers to you with return shipping labels attached, for your office to throw used K-Cups in. You would then ship the K-Cups back to them to be taken apart and recycled (for a fee of course). Technically, K-Cups are considered recyclable once they’ve been taken apart but not while still all together. K-Cups are made of plastic, aluminum and paper that can be separated and recycled individually but in reality, who has time or wants to make time to pull apart their used K-Cup every morning to recycle all of it’s contents?

This would be a fantastic office solution for your K-Cup pollution if your employees/co-workers use over 20 K-Cups a day.

Don’t use that many K-Cups a day? No problem!

2. Recycle-A-Cup!

Solution #2 would be the company “Recycle A Cup“, who has a nifty contraption that separates the aluminum, filter and plastic in one twist. This would be great for at home or small businesses who don’t use as many K-Cups a day but still want to be Green! After pulling apart the cup, you can recycle your plastic and aluminum then compost your coffee. Voila! No more K-Cup waste. If you don’t know where to recycle your plastic but still want to recycle at work, Business Recycling Solutions offers a great B2B recycling program to pick up recyclables in the office, all in one bin!

3. Reusable K-Cups

The most common way to reduce K-Cup pollution is to purchase a reusable K-Cup. All you have to do is empty it and refill it with your favorite coffee. This option would divert plastic and K-Cup waste in the landfills completely.

Recycling doesn’t have to always take a lot of work. With the right resources, everyone could recycle in their home and workplace easily while still maintaining convenience! Let us know in the comments below, if this blog was helpful to you.