At Chapman, we’re always looking for ways to improve and streamline our own processes.

Back in October, a small group of our employees took a close look at our office trash output, and set out to develop a new office waste management program that would reduce our environmental footprint along with our operational costs. Recycling has always been a big part of Chapman’s culture, but our initial investigations revealed that we were still missing some recycling opportunities, and that the majority of our “trash” was actually compostable.

To address this, we redesigned our waste separation area, getting rid of our open 32-gallon trash barrel and replacing it with a tiny trash can with a lid. At the same time, we replaced our mixed recycling bin with individually labeled bins with clear guidelines for separating materials. We also added a compost bin and found a local company to manage the materials. We removed the individual trash cans from under each person’s desk, and educated our staff on the new program.

The results? Not having a trash can under your desk takes some getting used to, but with a little help from everyone in the office, our trash output has been reduced by nearly 90% while our recycling has increased 400%! We could not be happier with the positive effects this change has brought. We would like to give a special thanks to Bootstrap Compost for helping us to achieve these amazing results.