It’s important to re-evaluate your facility’s sustainability strategy throughout the year. According to SC Johnson Professional, it is important to consider the following items to help ensure your facility is taking the right steps to help reduce its impact on the environment.
Trigger Bottles
You might think it’s just a handy way to dispense a product. But a trigger bottle is an engineering marvel. Imagine the challenge (and waste!) that would incur from trying to clean windows by splashing random amounts of cleaner on them instead of using a tidy spray. This product, while invaluable to effective cleaning, often also comes with a difficult recycling process. This means, it’s important to consider what to do with used up products before you toss them in the recycling or trash bin. You will need to determine if the bottle itself is recyclable or better yet, reusable. When possible, the best solution is to reuse your triggers and pumps. The bottom of the bottle should indicate what type of plastic it’s made from, and then you will need to confirm if it is recyclable in your area. Whereas the triggers themselves are to be disposed of in ‘general waste.’
Fun fact, the average SC Johnson® trigger bottle can be refilled and reused around 13 times! So, there’s no reason to recycle your bottles too soon.
Black Plastic
We’re all trying to do our part with recycling plastic properly. Unfortunately, if you’re tossing black plastic into the recycle bin, there’s a chance it’s still ending up in a landfill. Once your recycled plastics reach the material recovery facility, they’re put through a near-infrared scanner which doesn’t recognize the pigment of most black plastic. As a result, the items typically get skipped and continue down the belt with the trash.
So, what can you do? Follow the golden rule, or Golden Design Rules that were created by the Consumer Goods Forum which identified undetectable carbon black as a problematic plastic to be removed from packaging. You can do your part to reduce the amount of black plastic ending up in landfills by following a few easy steps:
- Choose products that are packaged in clear or light-colored plastic.
- Pass on facilities that use black plastic to-go containers.
- Utilize reusable storage wear whenever possible.
There are numerous ways to improve your sustainability and recycling habits, many of which can be found in your day-to-day routine. Facility managers can do their part to help limit plastic waste by evaluating their current products and processes and identify opportunities for plastic waste reduction, and SC Johnson Professional is here to help.
This content was provided by SC Johnson Professional.
