Case Study: Enhanced Recycling Increases Waste
Diversion
Key Topics
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Chicago Field
Office diverted waste from landfills by revitalizing its recycling
program. This work resulted in a recycling rate of 38 percent. ICE
attributes its success to redesign of recycling bin placement, an
education and outreach campaign, and the clean-out of a storage
room full of equipment the agency no longer needed.
In 2011, ICE's downtown Chicago office had only a single recycling
bin for its 200-person, 24-hour operation housed on two floors of a
U.S. General Services Administration-owned building. A new
comprehensive recycling program was proposed to a field office
director who approved the request to start the program.
Collaborating with GSA, ICE experimented with various setups for
recycling, including stations for recycling paper and beverage
containers in several locations of each floor. This did not work well
because the recycling bins became contaminated with trash and
other non-recyclable materials.
ICE worked with GSA to have individual recycling boxes distributed
to all employees.
The boxes are
emptied and
sorted by cleaning
staff. This allowed
for minimal effort
on the part of ICE
employees, but
still encouraged
everyone to
recycle. The
> boxes were free
, butthe
collaboration with
I GSA required that
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Chicago Field Office
resides in the 536 S. Clark Building.
Sustainable Materials Management
Federal Green Challenge
CHANGING HOW WE THINK ABOUT OUR RESOURCES FOR A BETTER TOMORROW
Paper and electronics
recycling.
Results
• 38 percent recycling rate.
• 85 percent participation
rate.
• Recycling electronics helped
local schools and opened up
storage space.
Facility at a Glance
• Located in a 10-story GSA-
owned building in downtown
Chicago.
• Over 150 staff housed on
two floors of the 24-hour
operation.
• Participant since 2011 in the
FGC waste and electronics
categories.
www.epa.gov/smm
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Waste Diversion Increased
ICE promote the recycling program through emails
and fliers.
Ultimately, ICE established a hybrid system of four
recycling centers in common areas and recycling
boxes at each work station. ICE estimates a
program participation rate of 85 percent.
With the help of the building's property
management, the agency also organized an
electronics recycling and reuse project to clean out
a storage room full of equipment. These electronics
were either donated to schools or recycled with a
third-party certified electronics recycler.
ICE found the most significant challenges to the
recycling program were lack of funding for the
project and obtaining participation from ICE
employees. In addition, the agency handles
sensitive information, so some documents must be
shredded. It was a challenge to teach employees
the proper procedure for separating various types
of recyclables and separating sensitive from non-
sensitive papers. But this education was a critical
component to the successful implementation of the
recycling program. ICE provided reminders and
instructions via email, and asked employees for
their suggestions to make the recycling program a
success.
The agency hopes to continue its success by
working with GSAto encourage recycling throughout
the rest of the building, and is evaluating methods
to implement recycling collection at another ICE
location in a privately owned building.
About the Federal Green Challenge
The Federal Green Challenge, part of EPA's Sustainable Materials
Management Program, is designed to challenge federal agencies
throughout the country to lead by example in reducing the federal
government's environmental impact. It helps agencies meet obligations
under Executive Orders 13514 and 13423.
In 2012, nearly 300 federal agencies, representing more than 500,000
employees participated in the Federal Green Challenge. Their combined
efforts resulted in an estimated cost savings of more than $31 million to
U.S. taxpayers.
Region 5, Land and Chemicals Division, Materials Management Branch
EPA-905-F-14-001
February 2014
For More
Information
ICE's Chicago Field Office
Recycling Education Campaign
contact:
Angelina Ramos
312-347-2226
aramos82@ice.dhs.gov
Federal Green Challenge:
http://epa.gov/fgc
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