Ask the Expert

Company Recycling  

By Dan Lemke, Quill Facilities Manager

In honor of Earth Day on April 22, the Pen Pal asked Quill’s Facilities Manager, Dan Lemke, to share some details on how Quill does their part to save the planet by recycling.

• Realize that it costs money to throw things away. We can reduce those costs by reducing our garbage through recycling. At Quill, we look at everything that goes into the garbage. For example, 25 years ago, Quill did not have a recycling program. Our warehouse compactor was picked up every other day (about 13 times per month). At $400 a pull, today it would be costing us $5,200 per month! Through recycling we have reduced that to two pulls per month, costing us only $800. 
  
  
• We get paid about $5,000 per month for our recyclables. We have bins for aluminum cans, plastic bottles, ink cartridges and cell phones and encourage everyone to recycle these items. The top money makers are cardboard and paper.
  
  
• We work with several recycling companies and use the one that will give us the best price on a certain item.
  
  
• We have some recyclables for which we don’t get paid. One example is plastic bottles. We continue to recycle these to help the environment and reduce our garbage costs. 
  
  
• We try to use products made from recycled materials whenever possible. For example, all of the paper products in our restrooms are made from recycled materials. By using products like these, we increase the demand for recycled goods.

Tell us about steps your company takes to recycle!