Problem: Laboratories and research organizations generate millions of nonhazardous lab disposables per year. Scientists corresponding to international science journal Nature have estimated that lab plastics waste accounted for 5.5 million tons in 2014, roughly the combined tonnage of 67 cruise liners—and this estimate only speaks to one of the many types of waste created by labs. The quantity and variety of waste generated depends on the type of lab, as the lab and research industry can be broadly defined to include hospitals, universities, pharmaceutical corporations and regulatory agencies. Every lab is different and creates a mix of natural and synthetic materials, which may include glass, plastic, hybrid material lab garments and nitrile and rubber gloves.

Reducing the amount of “stuff” you go through is an intimidating concept to many, and deciding how to take those first few steps can be downright overwhelming. But embarking on your own zero-waste journey doesn’t need to be a complete lifestyle overhaul. Even the smaller, more methodical zero-waste strategies come with their own personal and environmental rewards. Here are six pieces of advice to help you lessen your waste and get on track to greener living.

One of the challenges facing recycling efforts is that only certain waste can be recycled while the rest is thrown away, generating massive amounts of garbage in landfills. Figuring out what can be recycled and where to dispose of it may cause well-intentioned consumers and businesses to throw their hands up in despair. But an innovative company called TerraCycle is out to change that.

“Green buildings” are on the rise in an industry at a crossroads. Technology and enhanced environmental consciousness are changing the way physical spaces are used to do business, and differentiation is essential to enhance the attraction and retention of clients and stakeholders. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, sustainability adoption reaps real benefits for owners and managers in the commercial real estate sector, who are in a position to set themselves apart with innovative processes and positive impacts.

LE RECYCLAGE Envoyer les mégots collectés à TerraCycle, notre partenaire en charge du recyclage, et, à terme, créer une filière locale de recyclage des mégots avec ce même partenaire. Les mégots sont recyclés grâce à un procédé innovant. Après une dépollution et l'extraction du plastique issu des filtres, cette matière est pressée sous forme de plaques, qui seront ensuite employées, par exemple, dans la construction (isolant) ou la fabrication de bancs publics, de jardinières urbaines et de séparateurs pour salon d'exposition.

Dédé est un projet de la Conciergerie Solidaire qui veut prendre à bras le corps la question du traitement des déchets produits aux Grands Voisins. Depuis quelques mois, une équipe dédiée, composée de 5 personnes, travaille à la sensibilisation des Voisins et la mise en place de processus et d’outils pour améliorer la collecte, le tri et le réemploi de tous types de déchets.

We save money on fair-trade organic coffee by buying five-pound bags.  Larger bags also mean less garbage per pound of coffee, but those metallized plastic bags are still an environmental problem: Most recycling programs won’t take them, and they’re not biodegradable. For several years, I collected coffee bags—our own and those discarded by friends, co-workers, my church, and people attending various events at church who saw my flyer on the bulletin board and tacked their bags to it—until I had enough to pack a box very full, and then I mailed it to the Netherlands, to a company that was making tote bags out of coffee bags. That was pretty cool, but trans-Atlantic postage is expensive, and then the company began struggling, reduced production, and told me they didn’t need more bags.  I’m not sure if they’re still in business now.  But I never stopped collecting bags.  I needed another way to recycle them. TerraCycle specializes in recycling unusual items that are difficult to recycle because of the multiple materials used in one item—things like juice pouches, toothpaste tubes, and three-ring binders.  I learned about TerraCycle from my friend Suella, who began collecting markers and pens for TerraCycle several years ago, including all the markers and pens my son and his friends collected from their school.

This month the Canadian waste and recycling management services company announced an e-commerce partnership with TerraCycle. It’s an effort meant to divert more cosmetics and personal care waste from landfills and incineration. Making the boxes and recycling service available online should mean that RecycleSmart can reach and serve more customers and divert more waste in the process. “We are ecstatic to begin a partnership with RecycleSmart since both organizations share a common mission of increasing waste diversion and offering additional recycling options in Canada,” Sunil Kaushik, senior manager of TerraCycle Canada, tells the press. “Through RecycleSmart’s website, businesses and individuals can now purchase Zero Waste Boxes to recycle many items previously deemed non-recyclable, from coffee capsules to safety equipment.”  

RICHMOND, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RecycleSmart, a leading provider of waste and recycling management services, today announced its partnership with TerraCycle in launching an online store that offers TerraCycle’s Zero Waste Boxes. The e-commerce site is an extension of RecycleSmart’s existing services. It also offers other waste management related products like recycling bags and bins.

What should we do with those K-Cups? What do we do with “unrecyclable” items? Long-standing office supply chain Grand & Toy, operating since 1882 and now an ecommerce site also driven by direct sales, has solutions; the company is all-in when it comes to going green. Through innovative partnerships and by example, it has demonstrated a sincere and comprehensive dedication to sustainable practices, which invites socially conscious young employees and loyal customers. Last fall, Grand & Toy — owned by U.S. office supply retailer Office Depot, Inc. — issued its seventh annual Corporate Sustainability Report, based on its Seven Pillars of Sustainability program established in 2007. A 2014 survey of its key stakeholders — customers, suppliers and associates — ranked “the relative importance of each issue to all stakeholders. Green products and recycling were deemed the most important aspects, followed by packaging and transportation efficiency.” The recent sustainability report highlights progress across several key areas, including recycling and green product initiatives, such as the reduction of waste and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as new programs which provide opportunities for customers to go green. Two notable takeaways provided by Grand & Toy: “In 2015, Grand & Toy launched a revolutionary green products classification program, assigning products a light, mid or dark green shade depending on their environmental attributes. The company created a dedicated ‘Go Green’ page to allow customers to search green products more effectively, as well as a ‘Greener Office’ page to encourage environmentally conscious purchasing practices. Sales of green products have increased to 24 percent of total sales, up 4 percent since 2014.” “The 2014 TerraCycle K-cup recycling pilot project was rolled out nationally in 2015 resulting in 270,000 recycled coffee capsules by Grand & Toy and its customers, a vast improvement over the 50,000 recycled in 2014. Also, other Zero Waste Boxes were introduced to help customers recycle the ‘unrecyclable’ including office supplies, personal protective equipment and computer accessories.” There’s also a new-ish volunteer program called Pause and Affect that grants Grand & Toy associates eight paid hours per year to participate in volunteer activities, such as tree planting and neighbourhood clean-up. From the program’s inception in May 2015 to year-end, Grand & Toy employees contributed 577 hours of volunteering across Canada, a number the company hopes to grow moving forward. Grand & Toy also stages corporate volunteer events such as packing school supplies for underprivileged children to further engage its employees. As Grand & Toy’s sustainability manager, Serguei Tchertok is responsible both for overseeing the Corporate Sustainability Report, as well as ensuring implementation and execution of its practices across the business. He spoke with Samaritanmag about the company’s many initiatives and why being the so-called green guy makes going to work in the morning such a pleasure. If you had to describe Grand & Toy’s sustainability efforts in an elevator pitch, how would you do it? I’d say our top priorities are greener products, recycling our products and making sure our community involvement is high and our associates are engaged in our communities. If we can achieve those things above all else, we’re doing okay. This is Grand & Toy’s seventh Corporate Sustainability Report. Put that in some perspective: how common are these kinds of reports in the business world. They’re becoming more and more common with both mid- to large-size corporations. t’s a heartening trend and research seems to indicate that younger workers often ask prospective employers about their governance and altruism before accepting jobs. In 2015, we published a Thought Leadership Insights Report. We collaborated with Hamilton’s McMaster University and asked students how they felt about their future employers’ sustainability practices. We asked students if they’d refuse a job offer if a company’s sustainability practices were not great as new graduates and as mid-career professionals. Many of the students — some 13 percent — said that sustainability mattered so much they’d turn down a job even as new graduates. When imagining themselves as mid-career professionals, most said they would reject a job offer. It’s clear that if you want to attract and keep the best and brightest, you must ensure your environmental and social practices are on par. Is it fair to say the office supply industry — with its high product attrition rate — is uniquely placed to lead the charge on sustainability? Yes, and that’s why recycling is one of our top sustainability issues. We definitely need to make sure we are taking better care of our products once they go out into the world. We have take-back programs for some of our products, such as the thINK program for ink and toner cartridges. In 2014 when I started with Grand & Toy, we formed a partnership with (waste solutions company) TerraCycle Canada and we became the first retailer in Canada to offer a recycling solution for coffee capsules such as K-cups. We launched that program nationally in 2015 and we added other recycling options for so-called unrecyclable products such as personal protective equipment, office supplies and even candy wrappers. Apart from its environmental impact and ability to attract talent, where else do you gauge the impact of these sustainability measures? Our top sustainability issue is green products so we want to be sure our product offering is expanded. And we want to move our customers towards environmentally friendly purchasing. If we can do that, it’ll eclipse anything we do internally as a corporation because the impact of buying recyclable products — or products with other meaningful environmental attributes — is huge. In some cases, that’s very measurable, as with paper where we can present people with life-cycle analysis of how much water, trees and energy has been saved. These numbers are quite impressive and they really add up.