This morning I came into work and noticed that the trash can at my desk no longer had a liner in it. I figured someone took it or that the cleaning staff just forgot, no big deal really. I then found out that the entire building had initiated a mandatory recycling policy.
The "trash" cans at our desks are no longer trash cans but "recycle" bins. Only washed recyclable materials are allowed in the bins without liners. They have provided 4, standard desk sized trash bins for us to use for non recyclable material. There are over 100 people in this office who now have only 4 small trash cans. The amount of trash that will be in 4 piles around the office is going to be epic.
Now I am all for recycling, it is a great idea. However I do not like things that become mandatory. If they had put a green colored bin next to my desk with a note saying, "put recycle stuff here" I would happily put any scrap paper, plastic and whatnot in there. But this is " you will put recyclable material in the bins... you will wash or wipe out said materials before putting them in the bin" I don't like that.
Recycling only works if the process is made easy and voluntary. I had heard that a building wide recycling program was coming and was trying to figure out the best way I can participate. I thought they would provide a couple recycle bins for us to use but the actual program is the exact opposite.
It is too much trouble, and the implementation of a mandatory project is causing me to reject the whole thing. Is that bad? am I somehow broken that when someone says "You must do this" my first reaction is "fuck you buddy!"?
Now I have to train myself not to put everything in the bin. I am too lazy to wash or wipe everything out and I guess I will bring a plastic grocery bag from home to put my waste in and throw it on top of the inevitable trash piles that will form when the scarce trash bins overflow.
I wonder how long this will last. How many will comply? are there enough people who have reacted like me that this will be abandoned quickly?
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i can certainly understand the frustration of having your day-to-day work experience dictated to you - i have the same "broken" reaction to authority figures.
ReplyDeletebut the godless hippie in me is glad that green awareness is (slowly) being taken on in corporate america.
i figure, if we actually want to make a difference and do more than offer lip service to the environment, we're going to have to make daily, individual allowances instead of magically having someone else take care of it.
problem is, people don't change.
People can change. There are right and wrong ways to encourage it. Like David said, he was open to the idea of a wider recycling program in the workplace. But strict mandatory protocol dictated by the superiors is part of the reason why there are so many disgruntled workers in the world.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying authority is bad. It just needs to know when/how to be lenient and when/how to take charge.
The happiest employees are usually also the most productive.