First, they came for the trash cans...

[WickerBill]

I work in a very large place. Approximately 18,000 employees and contractors work here with me. As you can imagine, the facilities are vast.

On January 2, they took away all of our trash cans and placed recycling and trash containers in one spot on each floor. In my case, that is 33 steps away.

There are also no bins in the conference rooms or kitchens anymore.


As most of you can likely tell, I am extremely old for my age, to the "get off of my lawn" stage of life, and I can honestly say I do not understand the benefits of this. They say they will save $n00,000 a year *and* will greatly increase recycling.

Am I being an anti-environment curmudgeon by thinking that stopping my work and walking 66 paces every time I blow my nose is ... dumb? Obviously letting that stuff collect on my desk is not sanitary.

We have been told if we bring in our own bins, they will be confiscated.


What am I missing about this brilliant plan? Is it just the times? Does your company do this? Will I get used to wasting 15 minutes a day (plus untold focus on my work)?

Please... I truly want to understand if there is a method of working in this environment that makes sense. I understand Google does it, but perhaps they have central bins much closer to desks, or their populace isn't as grumpy as me. Dunno.

[Napoleon]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_abe0p86QmVA/R-OduOkPWaI/AAAAAAAAAqo/FUxV7uIMS3w/s400/grandpa_simpson_yelling_at_cloud.jpg

[chop456]

No, I don't understand the point.

Plastic grocery bag at your desk. Deposit everything in there that you'd normally put in the waste basket. Throw it out at the end of the day. Preferably in the cube of the person that instituted the plan.

Having no garbage can in the kitchen is just stupid. I suggest dumping everything in the sink. :thumbup:

[Andrew Longman]

Sounds like the work of highly paid consultants

[WickerBill]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_abe0p86QmVA/R-OduOkPWaI/AAAAAAAAAqo/FUxV7uIMS3w/s400/grandpa_simpson_yelling_at_cloud.jpg

:laugh: that's what I was afraid of :)

[TKGAngel]

Not having garbage cans in the kitchen doesn't make any sense. Are you supposed to traipse through the office with the remains of your leftover fishy bacon broccoli surprise so as to deposit them in the community bin?

I'll bet the policy will change when some higher-up is inconvenienced.

[Elmo T]

A vastly smaller operation here - we went the other route and added a SECOND trash can for each one already out there. One for recycles and one for garbage. :rolleyes:

33 steps, huh. I can see you now counting the steps and grumbling. :laugh:

My Dad was absolutely opposed to the whole recycling thing and said if they were that interested, they could sort it at the landfill. :thumbup:

[dando]

My Dad was absolutely opposed to the whole recycling thing and said if they were that interested, they could sort it at the landfill. :thumbup:

Or be like Di$ney and have peeps sort through the garbage for recyclables. Di$ney has been known to put gift cards in the garbage as an incentive for the sorters to sort through it thoroughly. :saywhat:

-Kevin

[SteveH]

No, I don't understand the point.

Plastic grocery bag at your desk. Deposit everything in there that you'd normally put in the waste basket. Throw it out at the end of the day. Preferably in the cube of the person that instituted the plan.

Having no garbage can in the kitchen is just stupid. I suggest dumping everything in the sink. :thumbup:

Spoken by the master of sloth-like effeciency ;)

[dando]

Not having garbage cans in the kitchen is unsanitary. Mixing food scraps with recycling is a no-no. Not allowing a small bin @ the desk is silly and wastes time. Way back when, we used to have cardboard bins @ our desk for recycling and we would dump them into the Iron Mountain main bids about once a week.

-Kevin

[Tifosi24]

This sounds more like they (they being a consultant as noted above), or someone in accounting, discovered that they could "save a few bucks" on the cleaning contract if the crews only had to dump centrally located trash instead of hundreds of cans throughout the workspace. What they probably didn't factor into their analysis is that the cleaning crew will be spending just as much time cleaning up messes when food is dropped on the way to the trash or people being too lazy, or ornery in the case of Wickerbill, to walk to the central trash can.

[chop456]

Spoken by the master of sloth-like effeciency ;)

I believe in the conservation of energy in all its forms. Especially mine. :thumbup:

[nrc]

I think we've found the root of the problem: you're being paid less than the people who collect the trash.

I'd guess that there's someone in your company trying to make hay by claiming to be a "zero waste" workplace. This person probably smells bad and doesn't comb their hair. If you asked them about your tissue problem they'd probably suggest that you carry around a snot rag. This would earn you the nickname "snot rag" and cause people to avoid you, which might not be a bad thing if you're looking to keep them off your proverbial lawn anyway.

I agree with the grocery bag suggestion. If they confiscate it then that's one less that you have to take to the main bin.

At my workplace we have individual trash and recycle bins at each desk. Once a day a cleaning person comes around and dumps both of them into the same trash.

[Insomniac]

Think everyone has covered the "logic". Just add that I've always had 2 bins in my office. A central location seems dumb when you have an office. At Google, don't they have an open office?

[dando]

At Google, don't they have an open office?

Yes, they use pods for most rank and file employees...@ least @ the locations where former AOLers work.

-Kevin

[Don Quixote]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_abe0p86QmVA/R-OduOkPWaI/AAAAAAAAAqo/FUxV7uIMS3w/s400/grandpa_simpson_yelling_at_cloud.jpgDamn Nappy, that one hits close to home! :laugh:

[Gnam]

To serve you better. :gomer:

[TRDfan]

Wait until the Lean consultant draws a spaghetti map of people discarding their garbage and calulates how much waste of time and productivity there is.


Working in the world of higher ed we have a decent program. Small wastebasket at each desk for recyclable paper, smaller basket attached for non-recyclables. Baskets checked daily, not emptied unless needed. Each dept has a bin for cans, bottles, etc.

[cameraman]

Isn't having no waste bins in a kitchen a violation of health codes? It is here.

[dando]

Isn't having no waste bins in a kitchen a violation of health codes? It is here.

I thought about that possibility as well.

[TravelGal]

It sounds as if someone is aiming for an eco-friendly ranking for the business. I saw this happen at a huge tour company a few years back. The mess with the food scraps was unbelievable. Next visit, the monster centralized bins were all gone and employees were maximally relieved.

I suggest passive resistance. Lots of good suggestions in this thread. Drop papers and other goo near the bins. Let stuff slip on the way out the door but still in the kitchen Don't answer the phone fairly often or say, "Oh, sorry, for the delay. I was walking over to the trash bins." Be creative!

[Napoleon]

Damn Nappy, that one hits close to home! :laugh:

I could not help myself.

[Andrew Longman]

It went something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SoWNMNKNeM

I know. I am a highly paid consultant.

[Insomniac]

Wait until the Lean consultant draws a spaghetti map of people discarding their garbage and calulates how much waste of time and productivity there is.


Working in the world of higher ed we have a decent program. Small wastebasket at each desk for recyclable paper, smaller basket attached for non-recyclables. Baskets checked daily, not emptied unless needed. Each dept has a bin for cans, bottles, etc.

How do you know they aren't emptying empty baskets?

[JoeBob]

I also work in higher ed. A year or two ago they switched to only emptying trash cans at our desks once per week, while emptying the central trash cans daily.

It seems like a reasonable compromise. I had to change my routine and walk to a central location to discard anything that might rot/smell, but most things can go in the trash and sit there for up to a week.

[Indy]

I am a big greenie (my household throws out about 1 small grocery bag of trash a week, recycling whatever we can), but that plan sounds ridiculous. I understand what they are trying to do, disincentivizing waste, changing the mindless consumer culture, etc., but that goes too far. I would lay odds that some middle management dork is going for a gold star for the "cost reduction."

[chop456]

we have individual trash and recycle bins at each desk. Once a day a cleaning person comes around and dumps both of them into the same trash.

Yep. :rolleyes:

[cameraman]

I'm in a university lab environment so we have lots of raging greenies but no money and a wide assortment of hazardous wastes. There are recycling waste containers all over the place for your normal paper & plastics. Corrugated cardboard boxes & PS shipping boxes are put in the hall to be picked up for recycling. Regular non-recyclable garbage is picked up when you put the trash can in the hall. Biohazard, radiological & chemical wastes are an entirely different kettle of fish but I have 28 different waste containers in this room alone...

The recycling bins are quite a bit further than 33 steps round trip...

[datachicane]

We went through something similar where I work a few years back. Now, instead of the local rehab nonprofit that does our janitorial work sending a few developmentally disabled folks around the building weekly to empty the wastebaskets and recycling, we have highly paid software analysts schlepping their own trash to a central location on each floor in this large office building. I'm sure it looks good on paper.

[pfc_m_drake]

I also work in higher ed. A year or two ago they switched to only emptying trash cans at our desks once per week, while emptying the central trash cans daily.

It seems like a reasonable compromise. I had to change my routine and walk to a central location to discard anything that might rot/smell, but most things can go in the trash and sit there for up to a week.
While I don't work in higher ed, this is what we do in our office as well.