Sustainability Team

Main Team Members

Here are the roles that most Sustainability Teams will need to fill:

• Sustainability Director – The head honcho, the big cheese, the Sustainability Director coordinates and oversees everything the Sustainability Team does. This is the person that everyone else should look to for what the plans and objectives are.
• Sustainability Specialist – This individual has passion, knowledge and experience when it comes to environmental practices. They should be the educator who checks facts and lets other people know what should go where and why when it comes to your recycling program.
• Waste Diversion Coordinator – This team member is responsible for understanding how exactly your recycling program works, from someone tossing an aluminum can in a bin to the delivery of that can to the materials recycling facility. They make sure that the correct processes for a smooth system are in place.
• Treasurer – This team member is responsible for controlling any cash flow. They are in charge of the money, which means they will likely be the individual to actually pay for the bins you need and pay for any distribution of education/marketing materials. This individual may be someone from your accounting department who is kept in the loop by the Sustainability Team, or it may be an active member of the team who just happens to love numbers!
• Sustainable Transportation Manager – This person is responsible for implementing green transportation programs. They highlight the benefits of carpooling, arrange for transportation that impacts the environment less, and/or work with haulers, suppliers, vendors and more, to ensure they are using the most efficient transportation options when working with you!
• Marketer(s) – They are responsible for getting your sustainable message out to the world! They should be documenting your environmental efforts, sending potential users updates on your progress and ensuring that signage is clear when your recycling program is finally up and running!
• Sustainability Leaders - If you need for more hands on deck, you may want to introduce some Sustainability Leaders into your team. For example, if you are a college/university with many different buildings, you may want a Sustainability Leader in each building that is responsible for ensuring that the right recycling practices are being followed there. This could also apply to different floors in an office or residential building, or different areas at an event. If you need more help with your program, get some volunteers to be Sustainability Leaders – you can’t be everywhere at once!

Please note that these are just the general roles that people should have. If you have a smaller team, you may have to give each person a few roles to be responsible for. Or, if you have quite a large group of sustainability enthusiasts, let people share some of the roles and work together to find solutions.

Other People to Keep Informed

• Custodial Staff – Whether you have an internal custodial staff, or you outsource this task to another company, you will want to keep them informed of your goals and objectives when it comes to your recycling program. They will need to be kept aware of how collection should take place, how it should be separated and where it should go once it has been collected. Ideally you'd want a member of your custodial staff to join your Sustainability Team. When this isn’t possible, clear instructions to these individuals will help your program run smoothly.
• Your Bin Supplier – Starting a new recycling program, or ramping up your current one? Once you’ve conducted your waste audits, get in touch with your bin supplier, aka your Waste Hauler, to let them know the needs you’ve identified for your program. They will walk you through the process of getting the right equipment to meet those needs!