By Charlie Maitland
On June 11th, five bags of trash were randomly selected from each floor of the Vermont campus for an office-space waste audit. This search was performed by Sustainability/Waste Diversion Intern, Charlie Maitland. His goal was to determine how much material from each bag actually belonged in the trash. The results were less than ideal.
By weight, almost 70% of the items found in the office space trash could have been diverted to the recycling or compost bin. Employees on the fourth floor were the worst culprits with 90% of their trash being divertible. The official results are below.
Office Trash Contents by Weight
| Rank | Floor | Trash | Not Trash |
| 1 | 1 | 39% | 61% |
| 1 (tie) | 2 | 39% | 61% |
| 3 | 5 | 37% | 63% |
| 4 | 3 | 29% | 71% |
| 5 | 4 | 10% | 90% |
A prize will soon be announced for the floor with the best trash sorting in a future waste audit. The next audit will take place any time in the next few weeks, so be a prudent trash sorter to help your floor win! Until then, the following nicknames have been given to each floor.
First Floor – The Drink Wasters
People here see the glass half empty… and then throw it out. A significant amount of liquids was found in the trash on this floor. Next time:
- Just finish your drink!
- Dump your unwanted drink down the drain and recycle the bottle
- Use a re-usable glass, mug, or bottle
Second Floor – Glass Wasters
This floor sees straight through the glass without realizing it’s an infinitely renewable material. The highest quantity of glass bottles was found in these trash bag. Next time:
- Glass can be recycled indefinitely
- Glass will never break down in a landfill
- Recycle your glass!
Third Floor – Snackers
This floor keeps their glasses full, and their food rations well stocked! These office space “snackers” had the most food scraps in the trash. Next time:
- The kitchenettes on each floor have a white food scraps bin
- Compost your banana peels and apple cores here
Fourth Floor – Food Wasters
This floor had by far the most uneaten and perfectly decent food in their trash. Did you know that 40% of food produced in the United States gets wasted? Let’s not be part of this daunting statistic. Next time:
- Save any uneaten food for later
- Otherwise, put it in the white food scraps bin
Fifth Floor – Sweet Tooths
This floor was the only floor with scrap metal (two candy tins) in their trash. For the “sweet tooths,” we’d love to see your candy tins again, but please don’t let that good metal go to waste. Next time:
- Repurpose and refill your tins with candy for the office
- A second best, but less glamorous, life for the tins is the scrap metal dumpster found at many drop off locations.
The audit took place on Vermont’s campus, but our Texas campus does collect recycling – meaning all Texas employees are expected to participate in our zero-waste initiative.
Did you know that the city of Dallas has a zero-waste goal for 2040?
As defined by the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA), “Zero Waste” means diverting 90% of waste from a landfill or incinerator. The allowable 10% recognizes the fact that certain types of waste are very difficult to divert from disposal.
For employees who travel to both of National Life’s offices, it is important to know that recycling varies depending on the municipality. Be sure to pay attention to bin labels and local recycling guides.
Help National Life get closer to becoming a “Zero Waste Facility” with the following tips:
- Pay attention to signs labeling waste bins New and better signs are coming soon!
- Only recycle items that are reasonably clean It doesn’t have to be perfect but try not to contaminate the recycling. Napkins, paper towels, and dirty papers are not recyclable.
- Redeem your returnable bottles $1.20 worth of bottles was found during the waste audit
- Separate paper and cardboard from other recyclables National Life is paid for recycling these materials!
- Don’t throw out your food! The kitchen composts food scraps left on the conveyer belt, there are also food scrap bins in every kitchenette.
Still confused about waste? Send your recycling/waste questions to CMaitland@nationallife.com
