Here at Earthadelic, we have been doing some soul searching… and it’s time to make some changes in how we handle the waste at our offices and job sites.
After doing some research, we have found that we are not being as environmentally conscious as we would like. Since Earthadelic began, we have always strived to put the environment first in as many ways as possible. From using local plant species to recycling unused project materials, BUT it should not start and stop there. We have to be conscious from the ground up, which is why we are implementing a company recycling initiative! Our goal here is to establish a plan that can be useful for other businesses to use as well and share our journey in hopes of inspiring others to follow along!
94% of the US population has access to some type of recycling program, yet we continue to only recycle 25% of our waste! According to the City of Knoxville, more than 80% of what they collect is recyclable, and everything they receive that can be recycled is! (Only 16.8% of what they collect ends up being trash!) It is also important to note that according to the City of Knoxville’s recycling webpage, recyclable items may actually be considered trash and thrown away if they are placed into plastic bags for transport purposes. This raised some eyebrows around our office and we want to get to the bottom of it. This is very concerning because there is a large amount of people unaware of these facts and may continuously have their recycling thrown away to a landfill instead. So, it is better to directly place your recyclable materials into other recyclable items such as cardboard boxes or directly into your recycling bins. Knoxville seems to have a great recycling program in place, with over 50% of households voluntarily participating in their curbside recycling service already, and we are doing our best to join in (and exceed) their incredible efforts!
Did you know that recycling all of the paper that you use in a year can save 18 trees and that over four-fifths of household waste can be recycled?! Home construction, remodeling, and demolition services are responsible for 25% to 30% of the nation’s annual municipal solid waste. This caught our attention more than anything else because there is so much opportunity to make a difference in the environment and within our company. So, we have been hard at work discovering new ways to reuse and recycle our materials to get the most out of every resource.
As we mentioned earlier, this is something that must be done from the ground up. What better place to start than the office? There are so many small ways to make a big impact daily. It started with adding recycle bins in each office and common work areas which provides easy access to our employees and gives even more of an incentive to do the responsible thing! To provide some perspective, The University of Southern Indiana says that the amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years!
Next, we have added a water station to try and eliminate the use of plastic bottles in the office. According to Recycle Across America, Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour and recycling one ton of plastic bottles saves the equivalent energy usage of a two person household for one year. Recycling is something that should be at the forefront of everyone’s minds, especially business owners! It might be a lot of work and require some tedious steps, but the end result is worth it!
Below you can see an infographic that shows items that can and can’t be recycled:
One of our top priorities is helping our community in any way we can, and Earthadelic believes this is just a small step towards building a better, more sustainable future. Our overall goal is to help the planet and make a lasting impact. We also hope to develop a plan that is fit to share wit other businesses as well. Join us in our efforts or follow along as we become better caretakers of our beautiful planet!
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