Recycling journey
Do you ever wonder what happens to your plastic bottle after you toss it in the recycling bin? We certainly did, that’s why we made it our mission to find out.
Once you recycle your used paper, plastic, or aluminum in a Cook recycling bin, it gets transported, sorted, broken down, and repurposed into something that can be used again. In all of the countries where Cook operates, your recycled paper is reprocessed at a paper mill and becomes the facial tissues, bathroom tissue, and paper towels that you use every day. Your recycled plastic is reprocessed into plastic pellets that can then be used to make everything from lawn furniture to flooring. If you make recycling a daily habit, then you can make a big difference in the amount of landfill waste we produce as individuals and as a company.
What do you throw out that could be recycled? Make it easy on yourself by placing a bin near your work station. Put your recycling in that bin and empty it daily at one of the Cook recycling stations in your building. For questions about how to execute this successfully, contact sustainability@cookmedical.com.
Watch our recycling journey video to see firsthand how recycling is important, impactful, and accessible.
What sustainability methods do you practice at your facility?
How about wearing gloves while sorting waste?
Yep, this part was nasty 😉
Nice work Erin. Congratulations to the team for the Earth Week program. Keep pushing forward…..
Great video! I have always wondered about this. Thanks Erin!
Great work to see a concerted effort toward recycling along with providing the recycling story.
Thanks David! I’m glad that you enjoyed the video.
Great work.
Very cool video and some great reminders!
LOVE that we are taking such an initiative in this area! Thank you Erin and everyone for becoming more cognizant to our environmental footprint and making changes. Would love to see a general “recycling” education piece, even for how I recycle at home. I’m confused sometimes on what can be recycled and what cannot. Thank you!
So, this begs the question, why are we still buying/using styrofoam cups? I am confident most people have an extra mug or two at home that they can bring in. Lets not count on people to recycle them, lets just not offer them as an option….
Great question, Sara. Due to conversations we had during Earth Week, it became apparent that the majority of COOK employees would prefer not to have Styrofoam around – so we are working on a plan to phase it out! I will try to keep everyone updated as the plan takes shape.
Totally agree!!!
Erin,
Great video! Love seeing someone stepping up to facilitate positive environmental practices over at Cook Medical. I work at Pharmica and we could really use some guidance regarding our current recycling/energy conservation methods! I would love to work with you make a difference here at our facilities. My email is Matthew.Laubach@cookpharmica.com, please reach out to me as soon as possible!
to make*
Cool video. Got a question- I had it in my mind that you can’t recycle milk cartons, or other “waxy”/”coated” type cardboard…i.e. those that are usually used for liquids or food. Does this depend on the recycling facility that you are using or have recycling rules become more lenient in recent years?
Great question, Christina! Those cartons are typically paper that is lined with a thin layer of plastic. This can make recycling complicated but depending on where you live, facilities can be equipped to detach the two materials and recycle them. You can call your local recycler or check their website to see whether or not they accept cartons. For example, on Bloomington’s city government website they’ve listed the items that can and cannot be recycled through their municipal process – with ‘waxy’ coated paper cartons on the ‘not recyclable’ list ( https://bloomington.in.gov/recycle ). (The reason we can recycle cartons at Park 48 is due to the fact that our corporate recycling gets routed through Indianapolis rather than through Bloomington’s municipal recycling process, so we are able to take advantage of the capabilities of Indy’s recycling centers.) Great strides have been made in recycling plastic lined paper cartons, but for now there are still some limitations!
Thanks!
Thank you Erin for taking on the hard but extremely important role of educating about environmental impact. It was great to speak with you in person about some of the goals that Cook has environmentally as well as the challenges that all employers face in educating themselves and their workforce to understand that this is everyones issue.
I look forward to the continued improvement. Keep up the good work.
I LOVE THIS! Thank you so much for putting this together and sharing!!!!
Great example of Cook caring about our community and future world! Thanks for increasing our awareness of how easy it is to make a difference!
Great video and great job, Erin! Hey, I know that guy that had the opportunity to go along this journey with you! 🙂 You certainly opened his eyes to the importance of recycling!
We would love to see a cup bin at CMI. Thank you very much for your visit. My family is making great changes at home starting with the little things like turning off lights and recycling boxes and plastic.
Great Job, I hope more people use the containers provided at Cook.
I had two trash containers built in my new kitchen 10 years ago, one for everyday trash and one for aluminum cans.
We no longer have pop in cans in the house and very little in bottles. So we converted the second one to plastic. Boy do we use a lot of plastic.
Just last month I started keeping 5 gallon buckets for metal cans and another for glass bottles.
After seeing that it takes 500 years to breakdown Styrofoam, I may have to purchase another container!
Thank you for all the information, again, great job!
Thank you for the “level of awareness” you are promoting with our work force.
Thanks so much, Martha! We look forward to many more opportunities to engage with employees and generate awareness in the future.
Thanks so much for taking the time to help people get this info. Some people didn’t have a clue otherwise. The foam cups are a big deal
and I’m glad to see so many people are starting to recycle them after the demo we had at Park 48-THANK YOU
Great work Erin! If everyone makes just a little effort everyday it soon adds up to massive change. Another example of how Cook is helping change the world for the better!
Love the video! Keep up all the great work you are doing. You are making such a difference. Our wonderful planet thanking you!
Thanks for the inspiring message, Erin!
I know Bill Gibbons was a big advocate for environmental responsibility, so I honor his memory by turning off my office lights when I’m at meetings.
Thank you,Ted. I did not have the privilege of knowing Bill, but I know that we would not have the Sustainability Program that we have today if it weren’t for him. He inspired so many people and his legacy lives on in actions like yours!