Sustainable business practices can help businesses lower their operating costs, reduce waste and gain new customers. However, to realize all the benefits of a sustainable business, it is important to engage the employees and have conveniently located recycling bins. An engaged workforce is more productive and happy!

Here are 4 ways you can engage your employees with your recycling and sustainability goals:

1. Employee ownership: Involve your employees in the decision-making process. Ask for suggestions and ideas to encourage your employees to participate in the development of your company’s green initiatives.
2. Establish resource conservation managers: Many business operations require direct management. Consider establishing managers for energy conservation, recycling efforts and employee commute programs.
3. Team building through green initiatives: Employees can accomplish a lot when they are excited about the cause. Encourage employees to form Green Teams on voluntary basis and reward group green achievements with perks such as time off or special lunches.
4. Encourage employee participation in environmental activities: Organize a company Earth Day clean up or green weekend activities such as planting trees in the neighborhood. These activities are a great way for employees to develop camaraderie around a good cause.

For information on recycling bins for the office, contact the Fibrex Group.  

Green Business Bureau

Tampa gets to say goodbye to the old blue recycle bins and boxes that didn’t hold enough recyclable stuff! Now they are saying hello to the new recycling carts: the City of Tampa is upgrading the old recycling containers with new, full-sized green versions on wheels.

The green recycling bins are being rolled out in four phases over the next 18 months. The first homes to get them are the neighborhoods that recycle the most.

"Those folks who have been faithfully recycling are going to be rewarded first by getting the cart," said City of Tampa Solid Waste & Recycling Director Tonja Brickhouse.

The new bins are nearly seven times larger, holding up to 95 gallons of recycled goods.

 The new recycling bins are bigger, but the new reality is more people want to recycle. More items can fit, so more will household goods will be recycled.

The bigger bins are more expensive, but since they're part of an automated collection system, labor costs will go down.

Bottles, cans, cardboard, and paper goods are all welcome inside the new recycling carts. City leaders are hopeful that the new carts could raise the city's recycling rate to 50% of all households.

Tampa's Solid Waste Department hopes to have the new green recycling bins at 85% of city households by fall of 2014.

For more information on larger recycling bins, contact Fibrex Group.

My Fox Tampa Bay

Did you know used oil can be re-refined into base stock for lubricating oil?

If you recycle just two gallons of used oil it can generate enough electricity to run the average household for almost 24 hours.

Cars are an indispensable fact of life for most of us. So, too, are abundant and clean supplies of drinking water. What we do with the used oil from our cars plays an important role in balancing our desire for convenient transportation with our desire for a clean and healthy environment today and for future generations.
 
We are all familiar with recycling newspapers, aluminum cans, glass and plastic bottles, but you may not be aware of the efforts of the petroleum industry and other groups to promote used motor oil recycling: providing convenient collection sites for the purpose of keeping used motor oil out of our waterways and ground water supplies and getting used oil into the recycling system. Many individuals who are unfamiliar with the importance of recycling used oil are unconsciously harming the environment by throwing it away with their normal garbage or emptying their used oil into storm drains. Such actions can cause real harm to the environment. To put it into perspective, just one gallon of used oil can contaminate 1 million gallons of water.

Recycling your used motor oil into oil recycling containers keeps it out of our rivers, lakes, streams and even the ground water. In many cases, that means keeping it out of our drinking water, off our beaches, and away from wildlife. We all share the responsibility of protecting our environment and keeping our waters safe. Recycling used oil allows us to continue to enjoy what many of us take for granted every day – clean water.

Motor oil has value even after it has been drained from an engine. The oil you take to a collection center is held in oil recycling containers until the oil is to be recycled. Recycled oil saves energy. It can be reprocessed and used in furnaces for heat or in power plants to generate electricity for homes, schools, and businesses. It can also be sent to a refinery that specializes in processing used oil and re-refined into lubricating base oils that can be used to formulate engine oils.

What can you do? If you change your own oil, be certain that you take it to a collection center for recycling. If you take your car to an automotive service outlet, you can be fairly certain that they recycle the oil that they change. But if you're not sure, ask.
 
Used motor oil that is collected by "Do-It-Yourselfers" (DIY) is critical to the used oil recycling system. Next time you change your own oil, remember, you can make a difference by recycling the oil from your car, truck, motorcycle, boat, recreational vehicle or lawnmower. By dropping off your used motor oil today you help prevent pollution and conserve energy for a safer and healthier tomorrow.

For more information on oil recycling containers, contact the Fibrex Group.