WASTE WATCHERS BLOG

Lunch containers such as pizza boxes, brown paper bags, and compostable containers may or may not be recyclable. How can you decide what to do with them? Here are some tips to understand whether your lunch containers should end up in the trash or in a recycling container.

  “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” - John Muir   There’s a reason many of us choose to escape into nature, if only briefly at times, to find peace, quiet, and support mental health. The clean air, the sounds of the birds, and the tall green trees surrounding us have proven to help slow us down in this fast-paced world.   Your office lunch can play a major role in keeping wild spaces healthy and green. 

Are you aware of the consequences that arise from not breaking down your cardboard for disposal? In this blog post, we've assembled a helpful resource that details why 'breaking it down' is important, how properly doing so could create a revenue source for businesses, as well as the best practices to leverage for your cardboard waste.

  In the United States and the EU alone, around 80 percent of all products sold are packaged in cardboard. However, a shocking 850 million tonnes of paper and cardboard are thrown away and end up in landfills across the United States annually. Moreover, if you’re measuring this material estimate during the holiday season, the total amount of cardboard waste generated increases by more than 25% of the normal average. Even more shocking is the EPA’s recent estimate that states paper and cardboard materials represent the largest component of municipal solid waste. Why does this matter? If you’re a business owner or manager, chances are you generate a lot of cardboard waste—from office supplies to shipping and logistics, or recurring Amazon deliveries—it’s unavoidable. And if you aren’t disposing of your cardboard properly, like the majority of folks who add this material to their trash heap, you’re missing an opportunity to not only be more environmentally friendly but also save money on your waste bill. In this blog post, we share a quick and helpful resource that details why 'breaking it down' is important, how properly doing so could add green to your organization’s bottom line, as well as the best practices to leverage to better dispose of your business’s cardboard waste.

Between junk mail and cardboard packages, the majority of what you receive in the mail is recyclable. We provide an easy guide for recycling more of it.

  Neither snow nor rain nor heat may stop the postal service from delivering your mail. Even in an age dominated by email—and despite a global pandemic—paper envelopes, glossy magazines, and cardstock postcards endure as a priority.  However, the same priority isn’t considered in the recycling of the steady influx that floods mailrooms and doorsteps around the US.  Between unsolicited mail (or “junk mail”), envelopes with plastic address windows, bubble mailers, shipping boxes, packing peanuts, and more, the lower perceived value and confusion over mail’s recyclability leads to millions of tons of sought-after paper and cardboard filling up the nation’s landfills per year. It’s a missed opportunity, as not all mail is junk. In fact, it’s the opposite, and understanding what mail is and isn’t recyclable benefits not only the economy and environment, but also your business's waste bill.

From 10,000 sheets of office paper to 500 disposable coffee cups, the average office worker generates a substantial amount of waste every year. Considering the majority of our days are spent in the office, it’s very important to focus on recycling there! Read on to find out how much waste the average office worker generates.

This article was originally published June 2019 and has been updated. The concept of working a 9-to-5 office job often evokes memories of spending more waking hours at your place of business than in your own home. Inevitably, in being more active at work, the average American office worker generated a substantial amount of waste—from 10,000 sheets of office paper to 500 “disposable” coffee cups. When the COVID-19 pandemic sent many workers home, all of our wasteful behaviors followed us to the kitchen, couch, and bedroom. But now, as the economy reopens and companies like Google and Goldman Sachs act as bellwethers leading the nation back to their second homes, the time has arrived to reset how offices think about waste and recycling. With sustainability, efficiency, and employee well-being top of mind, we discuss five materials responsible for the disproportionate waste generation in the office setting, as well as ongoing considerations for a zero-waste future. Let's dive deeper into just how much waste is created in the office...

During the holiday season, Americans produce an additional one million tons of waste each week! We put together a resource that will help you reduce your waste this holiday season.

  I think most of us can admit that we’ve collectively experienced a strange year, to put it mildly. And as 2020 draws closer to its end, there seems to be a sense of relief that has settled in for many as we wade into the gift-giving season. However, if you’ve read any of RoadRunner’s recent blogs, wishing you a “green” holiday or sharing sustainability tips to encourage more eco-friendly habits during upcoming festivities, you may have picked up that this time of year is responsible for a significant increase in waste generation (see below). Moreover, the average holiday waste figure above is based on data from previous years when much of the world wasn’t living through a global pandemic—An ongoing event that has shifted the way many households live, how businesses operate, and the type of waste we all create.  With this in mind, we wanted to talk about a material that most businesses and households are probably quite familiar with, more so now than ever before: Cardboard!  Given that many of us are working—or, at the very least—shopping from home, we’re likely well aware of how cardboard makes its way into our space, in the form of online orders, takeout meals, ongoing deliveries, office shipments, and more. In an effort to not only educate, but also motivate you, to recycle your cardboard appropriately, we put together an infographic called: Cardboard Recycling 101 to share some interesting facts, explain the lifecycle of this material, and, most importantly, encourage people to reuse, recycle, or upcycle it this holiday season and into the new year.

Product packaging requires a significant amount of raw materials, and now more than ever, we need to prioritize using efficient and sustainable packaging materials. In this post, we take a deep dive into the packaging industry to determine the eco-friendliness of common packaging materials and what major brands are doing to minimize their environmental impact.

From food wrappers, to Amazon boxes, to drink bottles, to toothpaste tubes, most of us don't realize the extent to which product packaging is built into our everyday lives. Product packaging requires a significant amount of raw materials, and now more than ever, we need to prioritize using efficient and sustainable packaging materials. In this post, we take a deep dive into the packaging industry to determine the eco-friendliness of common packaging materials and what major brands are doing to minimize their environmental impact. Continue reading to learn more!

In this post, we wanted to focus on the 'full picture' of recycling, so we created an infographic that details the series of events that occur during the life cycle of your recyclable materials - from generation, to consumption, to turning the recyclables back into new products.

  If you're a frequent reader of our blog, you know we like to include interesting recycling tidbits in our posts, like the fact that you can recycle an aluminum can, and after only 60 days, it will be back on a store shelf. Or for every ton of mixed paper that is recycled, 17 trees are saved. In this post, we wanted to focus on the 'full picture' of recycling, so we created an infographic that details the series of events that occur during the life cycle of your recyclable materials - from generation, to consumption, to turning the recyclables back into new products. Let us know what you think in the comments below and please share with your colleagues who would be interested in learning more about this!

We created this post to help you understand the unique challenges involved with recycling in the manufacturing industry and what you can do to streamline your operations, increase diversion from landfill, and control costs.

  Manufacturing businesses in the United States generate an estimated 7.6 billion tons of waste every year. Simply put, waste & recycling for manufacturers should not follow a one-size-fits-all approach. Developing systems for managing the wide-range and high volume of waste materials can be rather challenging. We created this post to help you understand the unique challenges involved with recycling in the manufacturing industry and what you can do to streamline your operations, increase diversion from landfill, and control costs.

Have you ever wondered what happens to your materials after they have been tossed in the recycling bin? After collection, each material is set on its own path to become a new product. Learn about the recyclables’ journey from the recycling bin back to the shelf.

  Have you ever wondered what happens to your materials after they have been tossed in the recycling bin? After collection, each material is set on its own path to become a new product. Some materials can cycle through the process indefinitely, while others can only be recycled a few times before they lose their quality. Continue reading to learn about the recyclables' journey from the recycling bin back to the shelf.