If you’re reading this you recognize that there is a portion of your customer base who values green initiatives and you are trying to reach those guests. Those guests may be groups who have made “green” a criterion for selecting locations for their meetings or annual conferences. Or they may be individuals who are extending their environmental values to all aspects of their life—even recreation and travel. But how do you showcase your green commitment? It’s not easy to see green.
To showcase your green commitment, don’t overlook the value of prominent high-aesthetic recycling containers. Whether it’s fair or not, many of your guests will judge your green efforts by the visual clues they see. Recycling bins offer your guests a constant visual reminder of your green initiatives. And unless you have a windmill on your property or solar panels located somewhere that guests can see them, recycling bins may be the only green initiative that your guests will see.
Many of your other initiatives might be green, but they are often completely unseen by your guests. Have you better insulated or air-sealed your facilities? How will anyone know? Unless you leave holes cut into the walls for someone to see the insulation, that effort to be green will go completely unseen. Have you made improvements to your HVAC system? Unless you plan to take your guests on a tour of your mechanical rooms and attic crawlspaces as part of their stay, those improvements are invisible to your guests.
Lighting Efforts Often Go Unseen
Even lighting, one of the most popular green improvements, often goes unseen. In many cases, light bulbs are hidden behind shades, in wall sconces, and under covers. Even where people can see portions of exposed bulbs, the majority of travelers aren’t spending their trip looking up at light bulbs. Even if they see them, many travelers don’t recognize the difference between T12 and T8 bulbs.
If they can’t see your green initiatives, how do people trust that you are really green? That’s where prominent high-aesthetic recycling bins come in. When people arrive at your facility and see prominently-located, aesthetic, well-labeled recycling bins next to every trash can, they see an effective green program. They may only notice it subconsciously, but they do notice it. When they do, because the aspect of sustainability that they can see is run effectively, it makes your guests more likely to believe that the aspects of sustainability that they can’t see are also run effectively.
The opposite is even truer. If you walk into a facility that is promoting itself as green and that facility does not appear to recycle, are you as likely to believe the facility is green, or does doubt start to creep into your mind?
Method to Bin Placement, Appearance
When guests arrive at your facility, what do they see? Do they see prominent high-aesthetic, well-maintained recycling bins integrated into your facility? Or do they see trash cans all over the place with no adjoining recycling bins? Or do they see recycling bins that look like they were thrown haphazardly in the lobby in a sort of condescending placation of a conference group’s green screening criteria, bins that look like they will disappear the minute the guests turn their backs and walk out the door? (As someone who has spoken at a lot of conferences and done a lot of conference travel, I have seen that a little too often.) Or even worse, do they see cleaning staff dumping recyclables into the trash? If they see any of those latter options, will they believe you are a green facility regardless of how prominently you hang your LEED-certified plaque, or how much time and money you have spent re-lamping, or insulating and air-sealing the building, or improving the efficiency of your HVAC and refrigeration?
If you are trying to position yourself as a green facility, think about your recycling bins. An investment in even a few prominently-placed high-aesthetic, well-labeled recycling bins can provide a significant payback. And those recycling bins may help your guests to see all of your other green initiatives.
Roger Guzowski has spent more than 20 years in the recycling field and has managed award-winning recycling programs in both Massachusetts and California. Throughout that time, Roger has been a prolific public speaker about recycling across the country, having presented in almost every region of the country and for a broad spectrum of organizations. Roger has played a leadership role in several state and national collegiate recycling councils, and has been actively involved with a variety of recycling organizations including MassRecycle, the California Resource Recovery Assn., the Northeast Resource Recovery Assn., and the National Recycling Coalition. Guzowski is also a resident expert for Prestwick Limited, which manufactures waste and recycling solutions.
