It’s important for everywhere to start being more sustainable if we have any hope of turning climate change and the huge waste disposal problems that face our world around.
Factories can go one of two ways. These enterprises can have a huge carbon and waste footprint, but equally, they can make huge strides in managing their waste. If you run a factory, you may be wondering how to do your bit and recycle more. Here are some tips for creating a more sustainable factory.
Ensure Employees Know You Are Becoming A More Sustainable Factory
When you first make the decision to become a more sustainable factory, you need to ensure that all employees are on board. Make sure that all of your employees know that from now on, you are working towards becoming a more sustainable place of work.
It’s best if you have a meeting with all the employees to discuss these changes. Discuss why you need to make changes, showing some statistics, and talk about the benefits to your company. Then go into detail about what your employee’s role is in making this happen.
You might find that your staff follow more if you give them incentives, such as a green bonus if they comply with your new recycling regulations. This will work differently for each factory, but you could get people to record how often they recycle correctly and use this information to give rewards at the end of the year.
Make A Production Waste Plan
This tip should be at the core of your move into a sustainable factory. A production waste plan will detail exactly what you intend to recycle and how you will be recycling it. Make sure that you go into detail with this, and show everybody who works in your factory a copy. It should also be easily accessible if anyone would like to see a refresher.
Work Out How Much Raw Material You Need To Buy
Recycling is great, but the most sustainable way to deal with materials is to not use as many to begin with. When making your production waste plan, we recommend going back to your inventory and seeing how much raw material you have, and how much you actually need.
Then you’ll be able to order less, and subsequently have less to recycle. This is a win-win because you’ll be saving your company money as well. Over the years, these small savings will all add up a lot!
Arrange Your Recycling Bins
You may already have recycling bins – if you don’t, you should be able to arrange some with the council. These bins are for manufacturing waste like plastic, cardboard, glass, and small bits of metal (not scrap metal). They can be assembled anywhere in the factory, but try to put them in an obvious place so people will see them and remember to recycle.
The best place to put your recycling bins is somewhere near where the recyclable materials are coming in, but somewhere that does not get in the way of where the staff are working.
Make sure that you label the bins, so no products get put in the wrong bins. Make it easy to read, and put some pictures on the bins of items that will go into them for added emphasis. You could also use a colour-coded system. Make sure that your staff know the importance of putting each item in the right bin.
Invest In Metal Recycling
You might not already have the facilities to recycle all of your waste on-site. In fact, scrap metal recycling nearly always needs to be arranged with another company. It’s a great investment as your scrap metals will be taken away, and they will deal with them. All you need to do is separate your recycling and leave the scrap metals out!
If you happen to require any assistance with this, please be sure to get in touch with our team of experts, who would be more than happy to assist you further. This is a service that we provide at Morecambe Metals.
Clear Your Site Of Waste
You will also need to clear your site of any waste that is still there. This includes any old factory machinery or other items in a factory room. At Morecambe Metals, we also offer an industrial dismantling service, where we can clear factories and recycle the produce ourselves. We will do all the hard work for you!
Running a more sustainable workplace can seem daunting. However, as you can see, getting rid of waste and recycling does not have to be a chore. It’s easy enough to get rid of manufacturing waste in a sustainable way, just by putting bins in the right place and ensuring that staff members know that they must recycle from now on.
Morecambe Metals makes it easy for you to get rid of your scrap metal sustainably as well, by picking up anything that you need. We are determined to help more and more factories start their sustainable journey, so don’t hesitate to contact us and start yours today.