Reduce, Recycle, Reuse

Waste. In a previous incarnation, the company I worked for saw (and measured) inefficiency as "waste" and aimed to reduce it. Instead of just measuring pages of paper printed, or miles travelled, they looked at things like the time lost in meeting through them starting or running late.

I guess that was the start of my "recycling" habit. Only it isn't just about recycling.....

Reduction

is about making sure you don't acquire or create things you don't need in the first place.  And that when you do need something, what sort of packaging does it come with ? What sort of waste does it create ? (My coffee machine uses discs that can be recycled - but there aren't any recycling points near me and you need to store a massive volume to justify getting them picked up).

From a work point of view the "thing" might not be tangible. It might be about not having meetings without a purpose and agenda, not starting projects that don't have a clear strategic alignment and owner.

Or it might be more obvious and be about printing less, writing efficient code, not getting the latest gadget because it is a status symbol or is the latest craze.

I remember any number of people saying "storage costs nothing". Yet every server we add to the estate takes time to maintain, update, manage, keep secure. Every server requires power and, at some point, become obsolete and needs replacing. Is that really "free" ?

Reuse

Many things can be "repurposed". Clothes can be reused either by someone else, or as part of the textiles that are used in the paper trade. Plastic bottles can be used to water gardens, or make windmills to scare birds away. The only limit is our imagination !

Recycle

If you can't do either of above, then clean up after yourself responsibly.

Cardboard, many plastics, tetrapacks, glass - they can all be recycled. It really becomes more a question of whether there is enough of something to make it worth collecting up and selling to someone to use as an ingredient for something new.

Check whether systems and applications are being used - and get rid of the ones that are no longer needed.
Retire old kit when it gets to its end of life

And you know I think there may be an extra category in terms of workplace waste - and it relates to the "inefficiency" comment that I started with.

If you go to a meeting unprepared, if you don't follow the purpose, agenda and so on of the meeting, then that is wasting all the attendees' time. Even more so if the meeting runs over or runs out of time to complete all the necessary items. So many times I hear people saying "we have too many meetings" - but those very same people are the ones who turn up unprepared and sidetrack the meeting.

My message to them would be "clean up your act !". If they don't want long meetings that over run, then do the prep, stick to the agenda, get in and get out. (Of course it's not easy to say that to your boss, or your boss's boss :( )