BLR -When devising a waste reduction policy, the first thing you are told to do is grab the "low-hanging fruit," defined as "targets or goals which are easily achievable and which do not require a lot of effort."
This could be a variety of things: Eliminate disposable coffee cups in the employee lounge or promote double-sided printing and copying. What’s the easiest? Most likely it is to eliminate disposable plastic water bottles from your facility.
Those plastic water bottles, as we have discussed on this blog in the past, are bad news. According to EPA, bottled water makes up 0.03 percent of the U.S. wastestream. Doesn't sound like a lot, right? Well, EPA also says that containers and packaging of drink bottles contribute the largest chunk to plastic waste. Some of those drink bottles contain juice and soft drinks, which don't flow out of the faucet, but water sure does!
It may seem difficult to remove disposable plastic water bottles from your workplace, as you may fear employee revolt. But many companies and organizations are doing it. Here are a few to inspire you:
The Grand Canyon! Officials of this national park estimated that disposable plastic water bottles accounted for 20 to 30 percent of the park's TOTAL wastestream. What a savings the bottle ban has created!