Small business solid waste and recycling

Much discussion the past several years has been about the “green” movement and “sustainability”. Small businesses are usually on their own when the subject comes up. Larger businesses have more employees and the likelihood that they have a dedicated person to deal with their solid waste and recycling is usually directly related to the size of the business. The modern conscientious business would like nothing more than to follow sustainability principles, to be “green” and reduce, recycle and reuse, but with all the other day to day activities in a small business, few can afford to hire a sustainability coordinator.

One option is to hire a consultant to assist with solid waste and recycling, but in Iowa there is a resource that small businesses can use that is FREE, CONFIDENTIAL and is NON-REGULATORY. Every time a load is taken to an Iowa landfill, part of the fee to dump goes to pay for the Iowa Waste Exchange (IWE). The IWE doesn’t charge a fee for their service, which is primarily assisting businesses of ALL sizes with their solid waste and recycling needs. The service is confidential, so no trade secrets will get out, and it’s non-regulatory, so you don’t have to worry about the DNR or EPA knocking on your door because of the way you are dealing with your solid waste now. The IWE employs a team of full time representatives who have the job of analyzing an organization’s waste stream and helping find efficiencies. Each rep has access to a huge database of available materials and can place a material of yours that you need rid of too! If you’re looking for a material, they can help with that as well. They help divert an average of well over 75,000 tons of material from Iowa landfills EVERY YEAR!

Iowa Waste Exchange Representatives can help a small business whether it’s implementing a more sustainable in house solid waste strategy or assistance in applying an Iowa DNR financial assistance program. It really is FREE, it really is CONFIDENTIAL, and it really is NON-REGULATORY! Each rep covers a different part of the state, so go to their web to get contact information. (Don’t let the fact that it’s an Iowa DNR web scare you, their pay flows through the DNR…THAT’S IT! Why hire a “Recycling Coordinator”, or a “Sustainability Coordinator”, when you can get one for FREE?

Content Contributed by Matt Rasmussen, Iowa Waste Exchange