Whether you’re a brickie or a barista, everyone wants to do the right thing, but for small australian business owners it can be hard to find the time and money. That’s why in 2018, to mark its annual Business Recycling campaign, Planet Ark is launching a free War on Waste Toolkit for Business. The Kit contains ten tools, such as the recycling no-brainer checklist, the set of questions to ask a prospective recycler and new brain science-inspired signage. It also fills office managers and purchasers in on recycled options for products, such as paper and stationery, enabling them to help close the loop and build a circular economy.

Planet Ark was inspired to put together the new Toolkit after 3.7 million Australians watched the War on Waste in 2017, prompting an unprecedented amount of inquiries on recycling and discussions of how businesses could do their part. As a result, Planet Ark, along with its Foundation Partner the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (NSW EPA), has found financially beneficial and effective ways for staff and employers from businesses of all sizes to reduce waste and recycle more.

The toolkit will be an essential resource as Australia’s business waste grows.

A 2016 report found that the average business produces 849 kilograms of waste per person each year. That’s where the Toolkit comes in. It gives employees and business owners free advice on how to turn their waste into valuable resources. The Toolkit encourages co-workers to get in on the act of reducing waste by suggesting reusable alternatives to single-use items like coffee cups, water bottles and shopping bags.

Another bonus for small businesses is that it’s easy to get started for free. Services like Cartridges 4 Planet Ark and MobileMuster recycle workplace printer cartridges and mobile phones, and 1 Australian National Waste Report 2016, Department of the Environment and Energy & Blue Environment Pty Ltd accessories at no cost, while the National TV and Computer Recycling Scheme are also ideal for small businesses on a budget.

Better still, some business waste materials get recycled into things that offices can buy, including pens made from recycled printer cartridges and office paper such as Planet Ark Paper that remains high quality even when made from 100 per cent recycled material. And in truly circular fashion, once used, those pens and paper can be recycled again.

It’s not just traditional offices that can recycle either; services like construction and demolition processing mean that tradespeople and builders can both recycle and use products made from recycled materials.

For those businesses with high volume waste materials, there is the Small Scale Recycling Equipment Catalogue, which matches them up with suppliers of equipment including compactors and balers to reduce costs and save time and space.

The new Business Recycling Toolkit also points businesses to Bin Trim, a resource developed by the NSW EPA for businesses, which helps them to profile their current waste and recycling habits, and create a work plan to reduce both waste and costs. NSW businesses can also have a free assessment conducted by an EPA-funded Bin Trim Assessor after May 2018.