- So I do have, maybe some news you guys won't like.
- What?
(dramatic drum playing)
- I knew we were throwing away
a lot of trash here at Buzzfeed,
but I wanted to get some hard numbers
about how much exactly.
So, we sorted through 347 pounds of trash
and we discovered that over 60% of what we were sending
to landfill was actually recyclable or compostable.
We also found that we were sending
an estimated 1,000 pounds of recycling
to landfill per week from Buzzfeed.
This really bummed me,
so I decided we should do something about it.
Hi! I have an announcement.
Trying to get signatures to get people to recycle.
- I will do my best--
- To throw my recycling--
- In the blue recycling bins--
- And not--
- In the black trash bin.
- Are you down to sign?
- I'm all for that!
- Show of hands.
Yay!
(upbeat music)
- [Auri] My goal was to reduce
this amount by 20% in one month.
I contacted the company that takes out our trash aphids
and got in touch with their sustainability manager Jessica
to see if there's something we could do.
- So, looking at this area around us,
what can we do immediately to encourage people to recycle?
You have a lot of trashcans at every single desk,
there are no recycling containers.
If you were to remove all of those containers,
create a central location where people can drop
off their recycling and their landfill
it will encourage people to recycle more.
- So I do have, maybe some news you guys won't like.
- [Auri] We're getting rid of individual desk trash cans.
(laughs) What?
- [Auri] It's a real thing.
(laughing)
- And what instead of that?
- You're gonna have to get up to
a common area and throw away your trash.
- I think it changes everything.
- It's gonna be a bummer 'cause I'm
a really lazy person but I'll get my steps in.
- Does it sit well with me?
But I'll do it for the Earth.
- [Woman] If the containers aren't set up correctly,
there's no signage.
If people don't know what goes in
the container, they're not gonna use it right.
Just make sure that your containers are always
grouped together, recycling and trash.
And then make sure there's signage.
- After much emailing and coordinating,
we have this little trash station.
We did a lot of work coming up
with these signs and these bins.
And so after our best laid plans,
lets see if a mass of 400 people
are actually following the signs.
- I feel like I'm doing a math problem.
(laughing)
or diffusing a bomb.
- This is super helpful.
This has food in it, so I'm weird.
Any lunch leftovers.
(cheers)
- [Woman] I was able to figure out every
single thing and where it went.
If I didn't have that I would've just
dumped it all in the trash.
- It's baby steps, okay?
- [Woman] Move, move.
Look at what she just through in here.
- This is trash.
- [Woman] Yes, but this is not.
- Do I put it in there?
- [Woman] No!
You have to walk all the way over there.
- [Asian Woman] That's why you need a friend like that
to push you to do things like go to the gym.
- [Woman] Okay, this is all talk no action.
- [Asian Woman] To be fair, we still have
our personal trash cans, which is why she's taking it away.
I will do better once the trash can's gone,
but it was just there in my face.
- It's early Monday morning and all of
the personal trash cans are gone.
- [Selorm] This is my desk right now.
It's usually messy but now it's a little bit more messy
cause I gotta get up to put things places,
which is fine for the environment.
- It was frustrating at first
because I'm used to just throwing away in the trash can
which is right next to my desk,
but it was also frustrating 'cause
I see how much I am producing in trash.
Hashtag I'm faced with my ways!
- A fork.
(loud gasp)
Unfortunately, these cannot go in the compost.
They go to the landfill.
- [Jasmine] If only people could read!
- A lot of things are actually not recyclable.
This is not; this should be trash.
Bioplastics: trash.
- I don't even have to read the things, look.
I know napkins go with organic.
Silverware will go here because they can't recycle it;
I don't know why.
- [Auri] Good job!
- Ah!
(clapping)
- [Auri] What's in your hand here?
- I took a lot of creamers from downstairs (laughs).
- [Auri] Are you stocking up for the apocalypse?
- I am!
(laughing)
I don't know when these are gonna be back in my life.
- [Auri] Yeah, we took them away
but there's bigger creamers in the main canteen.
- But I have to walk!
- [Auri] Dun dun dun!
(laughing)
Now that we have this new system,
I wanted to see if we had gotten better,
and if we had reduced the amount of recyclable
and compostable things we were sending to landfill.
So, we did another trash sort
with zero waste guide Jonathon.
Did we reach the 20 first side goal of reduction?
- No.
[Jonathon] We came in at about 13 and a half percent.
Even the fact that you just made some changes;
it's actually a really good step in the right direction.
- Whenever I dig in the trash cans,
which is basically every day,
I still see errors.
Getting a large group of people to change their habits
is hard, but most people are sorting correctly.
Buzzfeed is now recycling at a higher rate
and sending less food waste to landfill,
which means less methane in the atmosphere
contributing to climate change.
And for that, I'm happy and proud.
What can we get better at?
- Definitely need to get better at keeping
those bottles and cans out of the trash.
Put them in a recycle bin.
And also focusing on getting food waste
into the compost bin.
(upbeat music)