Can you teach volunteers to follow a recycling plan?

December 7, 2007 5:10 PM

Looking for tips on implementing a recycling program during a two week "event".

I do seasonal holiday work for a large (65,000+ gift) holiday drive. This year, acting as a volunteer, I started the ball rolling towards "greening" the organization, starting with the crunch time of our warehouse operation the two weeks preceding Chistmas. We've had a few meetings over the past few months that have been productive and all of our action items have been followed through on.

A few pertinent details:

• 120,000 square-feet of warehouse, broken down into ~20k office/volunteer reception area - ~10k "store" area with unmarked gifts - ~90k floor area (split roughly in two by the "store") where the gifts are organized.
  
• 8,800 volunteers over two weeks with the largest shift being ~325 people + staff
  
• Food and beverages aren't allowed on the larger floor areas, they will all be collected in the volunteer reception area.
  

Items slated for recycling are:

• Cans/bottles (In reception area and what sneaks out to the floor).
  
• Paper - Office paper and what gift wrap our recycler can handle.
  
• Corrugated Cardboard
  
• Polyethylene (aka grocery) bags. Approx. 20-40,000 of them!
  

The main concern is the "zoo" portion of the warehouse floor. Approx. 50,000 square feet where most of the unpacking, (un)wrapping, and general waste is generated. We will incorporate proper practices into our volunteer orientations (roughly 5-10 minutes when they arrive for their shifts), have clearly visible signage as to what and where, and will have containers about every 40-50 feet, closer in the reception area. We do have a few do-it-all staff that aren't afraid of messy stuff, so we won't worry about asking our precious volunteers to do anything gross (Plus, Boy Scouts will do anything :).

My specific question deals with being prepared for those aspects I can't prepare for; I've only implemented a recycling program for a small office and that took months to get everyone trained. This situation is much different in that there is little time to train, it's more along the lines of "inform and hope they just do it. We have a staff of 20+ spread throughout the building that know what's going on, but I will be the primary coodinator 10-12 hours a day for those two weeks, along with my other duties.

Keep in mind that as well organized as we are, this is an absolutely crazy, busy, sometimes random sight to behold. Also, our volunteers are of all walks of life, ages and experience with recycling. Despite being in the Bay Area, CA, I'm guessing this won't fit into many of their worldviews.

If any of you have done event planning, what can I expect? Are there certain tricks to obtain compliance? Aspects that are easy to miss while planning something like this before it actually happens?

posted by a_green_man to work & money (7 comments total)

Signs on every bin with words AND pictures or samples of what goes in them. Some of your volunteers will be visual people and some won't. They shouldn't have to think about what goes where. If there's a piece of corrugated cardboard with 'cardboard' written on it on the cardboard bin, they don't have to think too hard.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:17 PM on December 7, 2007

I'm guessing you'll have some people who will comply and some who won't. Are you recycling because of some kind of city law/ordinance, or just because you think it's a good idea? If it's the former, then maybe you could post some signs/give some instructions to that effect. If it's the latter, I would suggest that you prepare yourself for the fact that some people just aren't going to do what you want them to do.

If I were one of the volunteers, I'd be a little bit annoyed at another volunteer (i.e. someone "on my level" and not the official head of the event) giving me grief about how I throw things away. I'm not categorically opposed to recycling, but I *am* opposed to being told what to do by my "peers" who are so convinced that they know better than I do how things should be done. (Not at all trying to imply that you're a holier-than-thou recycler, but there are some out there and they bug the shit out of me.)

How logistically difficult will it be for people to put the right stuff in the right bins? If you make the recycling bin the "path of least resistance" for as many people as possible it will probably be only the hard-core curmudgeons (like me) who don't do what you tell them.
posted by mccxxiii at 6:22 PM on December 7, 2007

seconding the signage, but noting that every event I've been to where it seems recycling is being done well, its because they have people at each waste spot diverting flows appropriately.
posted by andifsohow at 6:47 PM on December 7, 2007

You want gaylord boxes. That's what they're called, big, palletable HD cardboard boxes that are specifically used in recycling and shipping. You SHOULD be able to get your local solid waste authority or recycling center to give you some for free. Pallet them. Put giant signs on and/or above them regarding what goes into each, and put them in MULTIPLE places throughout your facility. Have extras so you can just pallet out the filled ones and replace them. Bu this time you should have a dialogue with your local recycler/SWA regarding what to DO with all the recycled materials.

IF you'd like to help another organization in the process, I suggest you look into "Cans for Habitat"---which is a program run by many Habitat affiliates throughout the country. They will supply you with boxes, bags, etc, but will ONLY want the cans. This program isn't entirely widespread yet, but if you're interested contact your local Habitat.

ALSO, make it a part of your orientation to tell these people they need to recycle, make them understand it's PART of the event. Include it in your literature and your daily briefings.
posted by TomMelee at 7:31 PM on December 7, 2007

Oh god WHY are you using 20,000-40,000 polyethylene bags for this event? That's an abomination, even if they get recycled. It takes a lot of resources, pollutants and energy to recycle bags.
posted by pluckysparrow at 10:22 PM on December 7, 2007

Thanks everyone. I think the first thing is to alter the signage, I tend to forget the visual vs. textual differences in how people think. As far as how we phrase the request, it's not anything like being holier-than-thou. It's more like, A. By doing this we divert xx amount of stuff from our crowded landfills thereby leaving more resources and a better world for those out there that we are here to help in the first place, and B. Saving money by not having to pay as much for garbage dumpsters to haul this stuff away. In an organization that puts 90%+ of it's budget towards it's programs, every little bit adds to the greater good.

As far as you, plucksparrow, you're just typing poorly thought out noise. Look around you. These bags are ubiquitous. We simply could never ask people to not use them. They still would, because the gift they buy is put into it at the store and they'd use them anyway and we probably have 80k items each year, many of which need to be protected from the cement floor, etc before they are wrapped, if they are to be wrapped at all. I suggest you take it up with your local city council, grocery store, manufacturer, shoppers, etc. Frankly, I am kind of sick of your kind of holier-than-thou "recycler" as well. It's about time you do what you can do and let us do what we can. We've thought about how much of a difference we can make this year, have you?
posted by a_green_man at 9:24 AM on December 8, 2007

Oh please. I just asked a question and made a comment. Surely that did not warrant a sweeping generalization and assumption about "the type of recycler" that I am, in addition to a private message reiterating the same.

Calm down.

Sheesh.
posted by pluckysparrow at 12:50 PM on December 8, 2007