Our colleagues spent a month in November collecting litter during their lunch walk. It had been noticed for some time that the amount of litter at the Winschoterdiep business park was much greater than that encountered during a walk in one’s own residential neighborhood. Time for action! First of all, the ladies and gentlemen went in search of existing projects that keep business parks clean. There were none, so they created their own: No Waste November!
Waste hotspots in our business park
Ecoras would not be Ecoras if an analysis were also not carried out on it immediately. Where are the waste hotspots on our business park? What type of waste in particular do we encounter? How do we as colleagues experience an action like this? What are the opportunities and pitfalls of this action? Can we grow it into an action in which more companies participate, so that we actually get cleaner business parks. The municipality of Groningen encouraged No Waste November and brought to us waste grabbers and garbage bags. This worked very barrier-free and in the 18 or so working days some 30 kilos of litter was collected. This means over 1.5 kilos of litter per lunch walk! What we especially noticed is that there were several hotspots where litter was constantly lying around. Besides the familiar beverage cans, plastic containers, bottles and caps, and industrial waste, we also found a lot of disposable e-cigarettes and dumped furniture and household waste. We are going to separate and categorize the waste. We can then use this data to set up a database for analysis. Think of information about the locations where most waste is found and what type of waste occurs most often in different places. If you map this well for a particular area then you can make a targeted strategy to address the problem. For example, cleaners know which routes to walk and you can pay extra attention to hotspot locations.
The sequel to No Waste November
Our plan is to collect litter for another month in February so we can figure this out further. This month is also ”Circular Economy Week.” We hope several businesses will join us. After all, everyone benefits from a lunch walk. Why not also simultaneously clean up the area you walk in and have fun doing so? We will actively work to continue and expand this project.
Do you have initiatives or ideas to reduce litter and/or reuse or would you like to know more about the project? If so, please contact Micha Klaarenbeek at m.klaarenbeek@ecoras.nl.