Could Rewards Encourage People to Recycle? | Global Office Supplies

With many businesses, environmental policies and the government wanting to enhance recycling across the UK, a number of different practices, procedures and now even rewards have been put into place to encourage recycling.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Recycling is very important, especially when it comes to the office, as workplaces produce over 200 million tonnes of harmful emissions and waste each year in the UK alone, which will only rise if environmental practices are not put into place.

Recycling will not only lower the amount of waste sent to landfill sites, but it will also lower the release of toxic fumes, work towards reversing the negative effects of climate change, create job opportunities and provide your business with positive brand recognition.

To help your company achieve this, we have popped some reward ideas below to help get your team recycling.

Types of Rewards

Half a Day Off

If your team members are working hard to meet current goals, or have come up with their own, innovative ideas, why not reward them with half a day off if they become successful? This will motivate the employee to work towards reaching new targets and be creative as well as other team members wanting to have some time off. Your team will soon be on the way to breaking records and you will have helped improve their work-life balance, improving your workforce’s attitude.

Doughnut Day

If offering time off seems a bit of a stretch when implementing rewards, you could opt for something more simple like a doughnut day. This will show your team you appreciate and recognise their work and are taking this green transition seriously. And besides, who doesn’t love a free doughnut?

A Free Meal

If your doughnut day is working well and you seem to be reaching more goals, you could take your team out for a meal. This way, you are rewarding them for their hard work but you can also discuss new ways to tackle the green movement. You can look back at how far you’ve come, think of new ideas and carry out some effective team bonding in the process.

Other Ideas

As well as these three simple and effective ideas, you could implement a wide range of procedures such as:

• Weigh out the amount of rubbish in each department and reward those who have sent the most to be recycled.
• Offer a discount for those who bring their own mug into the cafeteria instead of using a paper cup.
• Earn an hour off or an hours pay for every day someone cycles into work.
• Pick one item each month that isn’t being recycled often enough, for example, plastic bottles and reward those who manage to cut down on that item, recycle more of them or not purchase them at all.
• Turn your tasks into games by implementing practices such as adding a hoop above the bin for people to throw their rubbish in. Do you fancy a game of bin ball?

Contact one of our green office experts to find out more