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Recycling is an important part of maintaining a green, clean, healthy community. It reduces waste, conserves natural resources, and minimizes the impact on the environment. But how do you, as a local business owner, convince your customers to recycle?
While recycling is undoubtedly important, getting your customers to engage in cycling can feel like an uphill battle.
According to statistics, Canadians produce around 3.3 million tons of plastic waste every year, with only 9 per cent being recycled. The remaining plastic ends up being dumped into landfills or are tossed into the environment as litter. Between 2012-2020, an estimated 15 billion plastic bottles and 14 billion plastic bags ended up as litter in Canada.
Today, many businesses are incorporating sustainability practices as a part of their business models, including trying to encourage their customers to be a part of their efforts.
Luckily, Classic Displays makes recycling easy and stylish! Today, we’re offering tips and tricks to encourage your customers to embrace recycling efforts. From making it easy and accessible to utilizing tried and true methods, this blog post will break down the simple strategies to get your customers recycling.
Let’s get right into it.
Informing the public is the best way to get them engaged with issues that impact the community. In order to get the public more involved, you have to give them a reason to care.
Share Statistics: Sharing statistics through creative means like newsletters, pamphlets, informative signage, and more can help customers quantify the issue in their minds, highlighting the importance of the issue.
Make Recycling Top of Mind: Clear indications that your business offers proper recycling facilities and making them accessible is ideal. Make recycling signage easy to read and provide instructions on what item goes where, such as having a bin for plastic waste, cans, and trash, respectively. Classic Displays’ Q Series Waste Recycling System offers versatility with hundreds of configurations, meaning it can be tailored to you and your business.
Track Your Impact: Offer fun and engaging graphics that track your business’ green efforts, including recycling goals. You may even decide to use some of your recycling for other charitable efforts, such as donating pop can tabs to build wheelchairs.
Make Information Accessible: The easier it is to find the information and absorb it, the more likely your customers are to engage with your efforts. You can share information on your website, social media pages, and through press releases to get the community engaged.
One of the most common reasons people avoid recycling is because it isn’t convenient. In the modern age, people are so busy that anything that causes them to go out of their way is axed off the “To-Do” list. Imagine if taking out the trash involved you having to take trash to the dump every single time. That’s not reasonable, is it?
While recycling might not seem important, in a world where people are always busy with work, chores, children, and other tasks – asking someone to sort and toss recycling seems like a big deal. It’s also important to make sure you have customizable recycling bins to suit your needs.
Here are some additional considerations:
Choose the Right Product: For example, our Nexus 50 Series Containers are perfect for busy offices because they have clear indicators of what material goes where. Making recycling and waste removal simple and easy. We even offer colour-coordination to make things that much simpler. By making the process easier, the more likely your customers are to participate.
Streamline Online Recycling: When it comes to doing business online, it’s essential to implement a system that allows your customers to easily return packaging materials or old products to recycle. You can do this by partnering with delivery services capable of providing eco-friendly packaging and return programs that support your green business efforts.
Rewards, points, incentives – people love getting back what they give. Knowing that their efforts have near-immediate rewards ensures that people stick with the program. By offering rewards, you encourage your customers to keep up with the company’s efforts.
Offer a Discount for Recycling: Offer your customers a discount on their bill if they return used items or packaging. This provides incentives to return recyclable materials.
Make Recycling Competitive: Host a series of contests that challenge your customers to recycle the most items in order to win prizes. Perhaps this is a discount coupon, maybe it’s a free product. Whatever the case may be, giving your customers the ability to work towards something could be enticing enough to get them to recycle.
Team Up with Organizations Who Care: Connect with people and organizations who share your mission. Allow your business to be a platform and contribute to these partnerships.
When you run a business, you attract the type of people you emulate. If you display to your customers that you’re green-savvy and care about the community, you're more likely to attract those who are in-kind.
Have Sustainable Packaging Options: While it might be economical and easier to rely on plastic, having biodegradable products makes it so disposing of what could otherwise be litter is easier than ever. When you make things effortless, the more likely your customers are to adopt the behaviour. Fortunately, products like Classic Displays’ Admiral Waste Recycling Container make outdoor recycling removal easy. Its stocky appearance and clear signage make it easy for passersby to drop off their recycling without a second thought.
Promote Sustainability Efforts: You want your customers to talk the talk? You better walk-the-walk. Use all your marketing channels to show all your sustainability efforts, ensuring they know you’re as committed as you’re asking them to be.
Accessibility in today’s world is very important; if you don’t cater your business to consider people who use accommodations, you may be missing out. Just because someone has individual challenges doesn’t mean they don’t care about the issues that affect us all, like recycling! This is why many of our models are customizable recycling bins, allowing you to choose options to suit your needs.
Recycling needs to be completely accessible, meaning all recycling bins are clear of elements and debris, and have clear and obvious signage that is readable for everyone. Whether that’s large, easy-to-identify visual signs, or even brail, making sure that everyone who wants to recycle can do so with ease is essential.
Ensure Recycling Bins Are Not Out of Sight: If you have a habit of tucking bits into corners, even the average person may miss it – causing them to toss their recyclables into the trash or onto the ground.
Ensure Recycling Bins are Unobscured: Make sure all your recycling bins are universally accessible to people of all abilities and needs. Ensuring other features like site furniture, tables, chairs, debris, or elements are not blocking anyone’s ability to recycle is essential. Classic Display’s Transit Waste Recycling Station is a prime example of a clear and accessible recycling option.
As a local business owner, you must know that customers are far more likely to participate in recycling efforts if they can see the fruits of their labour. By offering regular and encouraging feedback, customers are more likely to keep up their efforts and stay motivated.
Show the Impact of Their Efforts: Make sure your customers understand how their efforts make a difference in recycling. This could be as simple as how much recycling they've achieved over time, to how much energy they've saved over the course of the year. Knowing their efforts aren't in vain is essential to keeping your customer devoted to the cause.
Make Their Efforts Worthwhile: Don’t be afraid to offer discounts or obvious acknowledgements that your customers made a difference in your greener business efforts. Whether that’s providing coupons or social media posts that show you reached your goal with the help of your customers. Every little incentive matter in the fight to ensure that your business is making a positive impact.
Classic Displays may be known for our holiday displays, but we offer much more than that. Since 1977, our small operation has become something revolutionary by providing multidimensional services that provide both holiday displays and practical, community site furniture. We serve more than 350 municipalities, 150 BIA groups, and several other commercial properties across Canada.
Originally founded by Wayne Tucker, the business is currently directed by Adam and Chris. Classic Displays is run by a proud Canadian family and is operated within several communities that cherish the people within it. To us, our services serve our customers as if they were one of our own, and we plan to be around to make sure your community never goes without. Contact us today to find out why we're above the rest in our industry.
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