Smartcan Blog

We are proud to announce we are joining forces with Recycle Across America® to offer standardized recycling labels for our line of SmartcanMax™ recycling, compost and trash receptacles. These standardized labels encourage consumers to recycle properly. 

Why is this important you may ask?

If people are confused when discarding waste or recyclables placing them in the wrong receptacle, it contaminates the container, making it more expensive and challenges efficiency for recyclers. Recycle Across America® has developed the first and only society-wide standardized labeling system for recycling bins to help eliminate public confusion around recycling and improve the economics to everyone’s benefit.

We are excited to combine our safer SmartcanMax™ with these standardized labels to offer customers and end users the ultimate in convenience and efficiency. We know more companies, schools and municipalities capture additional waste streams as part of their sustainability programs. Recycle Across America® labels have proven to reduce confusion at the point of discard, making recycling more efficient.

With more than nine million Recycle Across America® labels in service we can’t wait to see our SmartcanMax™ emblazoned with them as well!

We think it’s a terrific combination for our customers, consumers, and at the end of the day, every single one of us. Learn more about this new and exciting program here.

Capturing organic waste in America for reuse is a leading initiative for many industries and municipalities, understandably so. In the US roughly 50% of all produce is thrown away. This tragic fact means 60 million tons ($160B) of produce is annually disposed of.

There are many reasons for this high level of organic waste, including more healthful eating trends and the importance of aesthetic appearances of produce to consumers. Many municipalities have started food scrap programs. Organic waste is captured and then used for energy creation, composting and other fertilizing initiatives.

One of the challenging side aspects of this trend is the creation of partnerships between cities and sustainability groups to capture the organic waste, as it is very heavy and messy. Traditional waste receptacles become heavy and unwieldy due to the density of organic waste. When municipalities and sustainability groups jointly develop programs (under the best of intents) they often time provide receptacles to end users, opening themselves up to liability for the injuries that can occur all too frequently when handling organic waste.

In 2011, The University of California suffered $7.1M USD in injuries, with the #1 issue being recycled and material handling. Getting a bag out of a receptacle is dangerous, especially if you must hold the can with one hand and lift the bag with the other due to suction and vacuum. This reduces lifting power by 50 percent and places the users in awkward ergonomic positions.

We urge groups embarking on any sustainability, recycling or organic waste programs to consider providing a safer receptacle for ends users, that is also much easier to clean - SmartcanMax™.

One of the really interesting things about leading a design and engineering company with our SmartcanMax™ solution is all the different people and industries I interact with. From manufacturing to ergonomics, recycling, sustainability, janitors, facility management, C-suite executives and other specialists they have different backgrounds and priorities. At the end of the day, safety is what we are really focused on with our product offering, and what they respond to.

One of the biggest benefits SmartcanMax™ provides is the potential to reduce injuries - especially musculoskeletal injuries in the back, shoulders, neck and arms. Traditionally health management in the United States has been somewhat reactive - we treat injuries as they happen. But we know the healthcare industry itself is failing - people work really hard in this country and yet businesses currently spend over $1 billion a week treating injuries and dealing with worker compensation claims. It seems to me that controlling the costs or trying to avoid the cost of injuries is a much better approach than trying to simply treat an injury after it occurs. From our standpoint we are simply providing an ergonomic tool for an injury problem and task that is done millions of times daily.

A healthcare industry trend that I’ve noticed is moving healthcare into the actual organizations and facilities themselves so having closer treatment proximity can save time and even reduce injury outcomes. This trend currently defined as whole health is a positive one. Now while I’m no healthcare expert myself I still believe that a prevention focused aspect in the facility is certainly better than simply being able to treat your employee injuries as they occur onsite.

If we really want to reduce costs from injuries such as musculoskeletal injuries I think this needs to be done by providing workers better tools, training, working conditions, fitness incentives, and more organized task work flows. As the old saying goes an ounce of prevention goes a long way.

Recycling is more than just smart, it’s effective too.
Let’s take paper for example:

Americans use lots of paper, approximately 90 million tons each year.

That’s 700 lbs per person! Currently, only half of this is recycled - typically through commercial business recycling programs. We toss away about 1 billion trees’ worth of paper each year - enough to heat 50 million American homes for 20 years.

So what are the advantages to recycling the paper we use in America?

According to the EPA (2013) recycling one ton of paper* saves:

17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, 7,000 gallons of water and enough energy to power the average home in the US for six months.

But that’s not all: 275 lbs of sulfur, 350 lbs of limestone and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.

To top it off, those 17 trees, (which have been saved) can absorb 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, annually. Burning that same ton of paper would create 1500 lbs of carbon dioxide.

• Producing recycled paper vs virgin paper requires 60 percent less energy
• Recycling a single run of the New York Times would save about 75,000 trees.
• If Americans just recycled their newspapers it would save 250 million trees each year.
• Building a paper mill, which uses recycled paper costs 50 – 80 percent less than a paper mill designed to use virgin pulp.
• The latest EPA data shows that in 2013, more than 63 percent of the total paper used was recovered for recycling in the US.
• The organization, Keep America Beautiful reports that, “...over 73 percent of all newspapers are recovered for recycling. Almost a third goes back into making more newsprint. The remainder is used to make paperboard, tissue, insulation, or exported.”
• Other recycled paper is made into paper, paper towels, envelopes, copy paper and other paper products. Additionally, egg cartons and other molded packaging, compost and kitty litter are made with recycled paper.
• Recycling paper offers the environment, energy and natural resources many benefits.

With our SmartcanMax recycle unit, we make your recycling capture locations standout and also make it safer for users to empty. Paper, and other materials captured for recycling can get heavy.

Remember to recycle and keep your cleaning teams safe!

The month of June is National Safety Month, for good reason.

It has been estimated that employers pay almost $1 billion per week for direct workers’ compensation costs alone, or $52 billion annually.

Injuries on the job hurt, cripple, maim and unfortunately kill workers.

They disrupt lives, work places, and hurt productivity.

National Safety Month focuses on reducing leading causes of injury and fatality at work, on the road, in the home and in communities. This year, the month’s special focus areas are ergonomics, preventing falls, preventing fatigue, and preparing for active shooters.

Providing a better ergonomic waste and recycling receptacle is our calling, by making bag removal safer and easier by 100%. This task is done millions of times a day.

If safety matters to your organization, participate in the weekly learning themes offered by the National Safety Council.

Are you scared yet?  How about pretending to be outraged and offended — when in actuality,  Americans buy into it with open wallets:

According to the National Retail Foundation Americans are expected to spend some $7.4 billion on Halloween this year alone.  Ghosts, goblins and ghouls—there’s no doubt about it, Halloween is a festive and spooky time.  But if there’s one thing scarier than skeletons in the trees,  it’s trash on the street—trash that can wash into storm drains and travel all the way to the ocean.  From candy wrappers to decorations and costumes, it’s easy to make a ton of trash around Halloween.

So we would like to give you easy ways to reduce your family’s waste this year:

1. Let’s start with pumpkins According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), we Americans have created a demand for approximately 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins per year.  Pumpkins with which we will, for the most part, use for carving and traditional fall décor, after which point, we will toss them in the trash to be discarded into the local landfill.  Make a conscious effort to do more with the pumpkin than to just decorate it. Use the pumpkin! Take the insides and bake something delicious like pumpkin bread or pumpkin muffins. Make pumpkin soup (serve it in the pumpkin!) and roast the seeds for a delicious snack to power you through the afternoon.  When you’re done, resist trashing it.  Pumpkins do not break down well in landfills due to a lack of oxygen.  If you or any of your friends have compost bins, break it into pieces and add it to the compost pile.  If not, check with your city for a community-wide pumpkin recycling initiative.  You may even be able to donate pumpkins to your local zoo for animal treats.
2. Decorate your home with remnants of the trash:  Turn cardboard boxes into tombstones and a fabulous up cycling trick to try this Halloween is to transform aluminum cans into luminaries. Dive into your recycling bin and retrieve a few empties. Then use a thumbtack to punch through the thin aluminum to help your design take shape.
3. How about challenging your kids to keep all of their Halloween candy wrappers in a box to ensure they don’t end up as litter?  Who ever collects the most wrappers wins!  Then on the first rainy day get those wrappers out and have an arts and crafts day and each kid can make his or her own pencil case!
4. Costumes.  Make your own!  The Force Awakens is on it’s way to theaters - and anyone with a sharpie, some electrical tape and a clean rubbish receptacle can easily create a costume.  Tutorials are available online and easy to follow.
5. May the force be with you!

     
Sources: 
      (1) nrf.com/media/press-releases/record-number-of-americans-buy-halloween-costumes
      (2) nass.usda.gov
      (3) eventbrite.com/e/etsy-craft-night-upcycled-halloween-soda-can-luminaries-with-terracycle registration18333969396
      (4) punkinpatterns.com/blog/2011/03/sweet-tooth-pouch.html
      (5) starwars.com/the-force-awakens

Our message today is to share four innovative products transforming everyday tasks into healthy and ergonomically-sound activities. The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society has designated October as National Ergonomics Month (NEM). The purpose of NEM is to heighten awareness of human factors and ergonomics through grassroots, community-based activities at colleges and universities, high schools, and corporations. 

Move Over Exoskeleton - Make Way For The Ergoskeleton™

What you may have seen only in science fiction movies is entering the workplace today. The ErgoSkeleton is a wearable, self powered lifting device combining core principles of ergonomics and exoskeletons specifically aimed to improve human productivity, health and wellness during active work. On September 17, 2015 3M Safety and Graphics Business Group announced a minority equity investment in StrongArm Technologies Inc., a New York-based startup focused on creating innovative safety products for the industrial workforce. The company consists of designers from families of manual laborers who witnessed their father’s lives shortened due to the physical demands of their jobs. By replacing industrial age safety solutions with breakthrough technologies this ‘ergo startup’ enables workers to stay safe and strong in their jobs longer.  The human body is not designed to endure the physical tolls of unnatural postures and repetitive motions of the workforce -  However, by wearing the FLx Ergoskeleton™  the industrial athlete® suddenly has a personal spotter to automatically guide workers into proper posture and form—protecting them from the dangerous variables of the worksite. When the wearer is at risk of injury, the device engages and increases support to gently remind them to adjust their position.

An Unexpected Surprise - Handles on a Trash Bag

Heritage Bag Company has four decades of ongoing research and development and manufacturing expertise unmatched by anyone in the can liner business. Their latest most innovative product LiteLift® is the first and only ergonomic can liner designed to improve worker safety by allowing for better control of the bag reducing proximity to the body risk factors. There is far less control with the one-handed lift and typical carrying methods used with traditional can liners. According to their web site, LiteLift® employs two handles on the bag (one on the top and one on the bottom) promoting correct posture while lifting and carrying the bag.

Safety and Comfort Merge in the Kitchen

Not even the kitchen is safe from ergonomic peril. Many repetitive actions are performed in the kitchen every day with little care for what it does to the body. Standing in place while washing dishes or cooking can cause hip and back problems. To combat this, use an ergonomic kitchen mat, such as these commercial models from GelPro. It will help ensure a more comfortable kitchen experience. The refrigerator is another area that is commonly overlooked. Choose a refrigerator with a pull-out bottom freezer and french doors for the refrigerator area, such as this example from GE. A pull-out freezer will allow you to open the bottom drawer and view the contents without having to bend down and look inside, which can put your body in an awkward position and potentially cause injury.

Any organization failing to utilize the use of post-consumer production methods - or not diverting carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere is unacceptable and perhaps even un-American. Sustainability is the new normal even though sustainability is by no means a novel idea.

Since the dawn of civilization, humans have searched for the very best ways to accomplish the growing cultural necessities and inventions using as few natural resources as possible. And, upon the dawn of the cyber world, humanity seems to be consuming resources more rapidly - which in part causes more ravages upon the earth. Environmental concern must be paramount in all businesses as consumer and cultural expectations demand and thus be well positioned in the new era.

Fifteen years ago, believe it or not, the world moved at a much slower pace, technology was not a ubiquitous part of society as it is today and the unceasing cheers for sustainability was not the rule as it is today. Consequently, sustainability as a goal has had a significant impact on corporate America as well as in many global business practices. It is also important to note that modern society is perpetually taking the establishment to task and has inspired many a hierarchy of protocol and business practices which now are part of many corporate ethos. For instance, high-profile conglomerates such as; Whole Foods, Seventh Generation, and Method promote and sell products facilitating sustainability initiatives. Additionally, Costco, Apple and Adidas conduct their operations in carbon-neutral facilities attempting to create the development of expansive green infrastructures in an effort lessen their environmental impact.

Today, consumers are religious about the sustainability efforts companies utilize. Many times a consumer will switch brands if its revealed a particular business or organization was idle in efforts to preserve the environment.  Recently, Unilever released a new soap product which requires less water and is a tremendous success, especially in markets where water is scarce (1). Not all aspects of every business may lend itself to sustainable methods, however, under careful scrutiny, many organizations could identify several areas which could benefit from a environmental makeover.  And more often than not, sustainability efforts end up saving organizations money.

Consider hiring a sustainability consultant or environmental expert to evaluate your firm and locate areas where environmental efficiencies need improvement. Benefits of implementing a proactive path are significant: Environmental protection, a boost in public perception of your business, and potential financial savings. Ultimately, it’s more than economics, sustainability is also a call to action, a task in progress or journey and as a result many companies are now spending money to pursue sustainable initiatives out of responsibility and active decision-making. 

Source:
      (1) fortune.com/2015/09/24/sustainability-practices-in-business-intel-unilever-wal-mart-dupont

Americans are prolific at wasting food.  According to an article in the Wall Street Journal last month, 133 billion pounds of food was discarded in the retail and consumer sectors in 2010 (1). The value of loss was roughly $161.6 billion, that’s about 429 pounds per person annually.

Interestingly enough, the majority of Americans food waste originates at the consumer level. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) states in a recent report that the average American family throws out approximately 25% of the food they purchase, equalling anywhere from $1,365 to $2,275 annually (2). Making matters worse, Americans are oblivious to their own habitual waste. Many of us recall our grandparents and older family members accounting of our country’s struggle during The Great Depression. There was no available food, store shelves were barren, and the lack of money plagued the United States for almost ten years. America learned to do without.  Today many have no conception of real hunger.  And, the majority of American public, including our downtrodden, homeless and desolate are privileged compared to many a third world country.

It might be interesting to learn one of the leading factors of food waste in this country is a direct result from confusion over expiration dates (2). Americans have little or no knowledge of the actual meaning of expiration dates and how it impacts food safety. The dates printed on food product packaging are not regulated by any government organization (with the exception of infant formula). However, manufacturers generally assign dates to their products in an effort to insure an optimum time frame for consuming the food for taste and ultimate “freshness” purposes, but those dates have nothing to do with safety.

While consumer food sector accounts for the majority of food waste in this country, the retail sector also contributes significantly. 43 billion pounds of food, or 10% of the total retail food supply was wasted in 2008 (2). Thanks to the food science era of the 1950s, food production grew exponentially, and Americans became experts at producing large quantities of food. 

“The future,” as it was called, heralded the age of frozen food, larger food yields, and new foods available for the first time. America is still benefitting from this age of abundance, however, this abundance is yielding grotesque waste. Super-size meals, value-size packaging, and wholesale clubs run rampant.  Additionally, consumers expect fresh, perfect food everywhere and as a result, restaurants and grocery stores throw away astronomic amounts of perfectly edible food each day simply because it has “expired” or has slight imperfections.

One might ask, ‘why isn’t all of this food used to feed the hungry in our country and around the world?’ Well our laws are the main reason. One might logically concur if restaurants and grocery stores are going to throw out perfectly edible food, then why not provide it to the less fortunate and our homeless? The fact is many cities, counties, and states have strict laws prohibiting any non-governmental organization from providing food to the homeless. 

Ultimately, food waste isn’t going away and American ingenuity must create ways to help reduce this waste. Thankfully, cities and counties have started programs to chip away at this national issue, providing alternatives to throwing food into landfills. If these proactive methods continue, perhaps America can reverse the trend and start to turn the tide on food waste in this country.

      Sources:
(1) wsj.com/article_email/the-difficulty-of-taking-a-bite-out-of-food-waste
(2) nrdc.org/food/files/wasted-food

In our last blog post, the topic was employee safety. Isn’t it timely that just this week, a story broke about the settlement in a 2012 case involving the work-related death of an employee at a Bumble Bee tuna factory in California who was killed when he was accidentally cooked in an industrial oven. When we highlighted the plight of the early 20th century workers as told by Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” last week, it’s safe to say that most people would assume that things like that could never happen in 2015. How wrong we all were. These real safety concerns are still present in today’s society. While many factories are either completely or almost completely automated, human intervention is required at some point. As long as humans and machines need to coexist in industrial applications, accidents will always happen. When a company is involved in a work-related accident, the company loses on many levels. It costs more than just dollars and cents. Let’s look at this tragic case with Bumble Bee.

Right now, Bumble Bee is involved in the largest work-related accident settlement in California’s history. They will pay over $6 million is various fees, penalties, restitution, facility upgrades, training; the list is very long. Just the restitution for the worker’s family weighs in at $1.5 million. Workers will need to be retrained, facilities will need to be changed and upgraded, and don’t forget those are just fixed costs. The workers who are retrained will need to be paid for their time. The company will be forced to pay court costs as well. Those are just the tangible costs that the company can touch. What about the negative PR and ill will?

If you think that the $6 million that Bumble Bee has to pay is bad, just think of how much the brand will suffer as a result. Would you want to buy this product knowing that the company contributed to death of an employee through negligence? Let’s turn the tables - do you think consumers would want to buy your products if your company had done the same thing? Worker’s safety has to be one of the primary concerns for all companies. Granted, this is an extreme and rare example, but it is one that happened in the facility of a large multinational company. Many would assume that they use modern and safe equipment and have protocols in place to ensure worker safety. In addition to all of the problems for the company at large, two of their employees were sentenced in the case and are facing fines, community service, and probation.

When considering budgets for 2016, don’t skimp on new employee training, existing employee education, and facility upgrades. If Bumble Bee had upgraded their facilities and changed their policies, this incident would have most likely been avoided. Instead, this gruesome accident resulted in the tragic loss of an employee, criminal charges for two others, millions of dollars in fines and fees, and damage to the company brand. Change starts with one little idea. Be the force of change in your company. Providing a safe work environment for employees is your moral obligation as their employer. Just think how far $10,000 in training can go when it saves your company $6 million. You’ll be thanking the champion of that idea in the long run.

      Source:
(1) nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bumble-bee-pay-6-million-over-employee-cooked-tuna-oven

Americans are prolific at wasting food.  According to an article in the Wall Street Journal last month, 133 billion pounds of food was discarded in the retail and consumer sectors in 2010 (1). The value of loss was roughly $161.6 billion, that’s about 429 pounds per person annually.

In a heartbreaking series of events, fired reporter Vester Lee Flanagan II murdered former coworkers, Alison Parker and Adam Ward during an on-air broadcast in Roanoke, VA. This sparked a nationwide debate about workplace safety.

Flanagan was dismissed from television station WDBJ two years ago due to workplace conduct and for making his coworkers feel “threatened and uncomfortable.” The real question is: Was this terrible incident caused by employer negligence? And if so, what could WDBJ have implemented to ensure safety?

In 1970 OHSA redefined the responsibilities of employers to ensure the safety of its employees, and to provide a safe workplace by providing workplace training, updating the equipment, and preventing workplace-related health problems. Every employer has rules in the hiring process beginning with the screening interview(s), and every employer has rules and procedures for workplace conduct. Interestingly enough, Flanagan was fired for violating rules set forth by his former employer, so the question is where did WDBJ fail? The public may never know.

The isolated and spontaneous actions of a disturbed individual who was directed by his former employer to obtain counseling - and even upon doing so, was still terminated for continuing to threaten his coworkers. The Americans With Disabilities Act states that employers must accommodate workers who have mental health issues as long as they perform their jobs, and if an employer reveals medical information, the employer can be sued. However, if the employee presents violent behavior, even as a result of mental illness, they can be terminated. While having outlets for employees is important, laws cannot prevent tragedy from happening.

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP), helps employees with various aspects of life including;  occupational stress, emotional distress or major life events, such as birth and death, health care concerns, work relationship issues, and financial or legal concerns. EAP implementations can improve morale and also provide a neutral third party for employees to address their concerns.

Random acts of violence in the workplace are on a steady decline according to the Department of Labor with 404 in 2013 (1). With systems in place, many acts of violence are prevented in larger companies. However, midsize companies are lacking.

      Source:
(1) data.bls.gov/timeseries/FWU00X111XXX8EN00