Earlier this month, Carolina Fibre had the unique opportunity to learn from fellow professionals in the recycling business at the Southeast Recycling Development Council’s fall recycling forum in Asheville, North Carolina. This year’s theme was “Overcoming Obstacles: Strategies for Success,” and for a day and a half we were able to gain a lot of industry insight! Approximately 100 private and public entities, as well as material group representatives and brand owners were in attendance to discuss strengthening demand of recycled feedstock.
As an organization dedicated to uniting industry leaders, government, and non-governmental groups in promoting sustainability and recycling in the region, the SERDC is all about education; the forum they hosted was no exception! Speakers included Brent Bell, the president at Waste Management Recycle America, Nicole Smith, who manages sustainability practices for Coca-Cola North America, and Katie Wallace, the CSR at New Belgium Brewery.
Thanks to these engaging sessions and the speakers that led them, we got to learn more about other companies’ goals for a greener future, all of which were similar to ours in that they rely on solid recycling infrastructure and industry support. We were thrilled to hear that others remained focused on outreach and education as well as promoting their businesses! Through sustainable practices and careful strategizing, these industry giants pushed cleaner work environments and continued to operate as successful businesses. And if they can do it, we know you can, too!
Here at Carolina Fibre, we want to promote the same ideals with other fields in the region. If you want to bring your business up to speed with commercial recycling for paper, plastic, aluminum, or other products, contact us today for consultation. We can help you make a game plan for your organization to get on the same environmental page as top industry leaders!

The start of the school year brings all sorts of challenges. There are new schedules to adjust, teachers with whom to become acquainted, and a slew of permission slips and other forms to get signed and returned to the right hands!
That doesn’t mean it all has to be stressful, though. A new year can bring a fresh perspective. Our suggestion? Take that feeling of renewal and start with your own personal environment, whether that is the classroom or parts of your home. Once you get started, it’s easy to learn how to make your everyday a little greener.
Create a recycling center.
We use a lot of reusable materials throughout the school year, so it can be truly helpful to set up a designated area just for taking care of all the loose odds and ends to be recycled. You can do this either at home or in the classroom with a simple container for each recyclable material and a basic label for each. At school, each student could be assigned his or her own week to monitor the station for cleanliness and emptying the bins when the time is right.
Make the world a more beautiful place, one crayon at a time.
It probably isn’t something you’d think about right off the bat, but you can reduce an education’s impact on the environment just by buying the right supplies! Several major brands supply eco-friendly offerings such as acid-free glue sticks, petroleum-free crayons, refillable dry erase markers, and more. Take the extra second to do a little research and see if your favorite brands can help you on your mission for a more sustainable school year.
Use what you have. 
Tempting though it may be, you probably don’t need all new items like lunch boxes and book covers. If you reuse the things you already have, there’s no need to toss the old in favor of the new. Likewise, you can always employ everyday items into what you need. Has your lunch box toted its last sandwich? Look into Tupperware alternatives that are already taking up space in your cabinets. Are you worried about the wear and tear a secondhand textbook might sustain? Save the paper bags from your grocery trips and decorate them to your heart’s content. It’s easy to shape them to the covers of most textbooks, but if you need some help you can find the basic idea here.
Hopefully these ideas will get you started on the way to a greener, more sustainable lifestyle for the school year, but if you still have concerns about recycling and eco-friendly living in general, Carolina Fibre is here to help. Check out our blog for more tips, or contact us today!

At Carolina Fibre, our mission has always been to encourage businesses to develop a strong recycling plan with the help of our services. Recycling is about sustainability, and by becoming more sustainable commercially, we continue to improve the quality of our environment. Here are a few ways your business will benefit when you work with us.
Lower Waste Costs 
Believe it or not, recycling can actually improve your company’s bottom line. When you recycle items such as paper and plastic with us, less trash will go into your waste bins. And if, like most businesses, you pay a waste management fee, you may save on those bills by producing less waste. You may even be able to negotiate a lower fee if you can track and prove your business is producing less waste. The best way to track those results? Start a recycling program!
New Purchase Savings 
When we consult with businesses, we typically lay out an effective sustainability plan they can easily follow. This includes suggestions on how to best recycle older technology items such as computers. If you need to buy new equipment for the team, don’t throw out the old stuff! Some retailers will take back computers, phones, and other devices, and recycle them in exchange for a small discount when you buy new items. It’s a great way to help the environment and save money at the same time!
Happier Work Environment 
Many employees want and welcome the ability to recycle at work. Instead of making them go out of their way to recycle, or give them the impression that they shouldn’t, keep designated bins around the office or in the break room so that they’re easy to find. Increased employee morale can make a big difference over time for your business, and recycling is such an easy way to give them a boost!
At Carolina Fibre, we offer extensive recycling services, including paper, plastic, and aluminum recycling, and confidential shredding. We accept several types of paper, plastic, and aluminum at our facility, which we encourage you to review if you’re unsure about some of your potential recycling materials. Our confidential shredding service ensures your company is protected against identity theft and the divulgence of private information by complete destruction of company records. Once the information is shredded, we send a certificate of destruction for all materials destroyed.
If you ever have any questions about our commercial recycling, please ask! Most likely someone has asked a similar question, which we’ve posted and answered on our FAQs page. If you’re ready to jump into a recycling program or plan for your company, we’re happy to help. Give us a call or fill out our online form and let’s get started!
 

We all know the importance of recycling and the benefits it can provide to our environment. The problem is many people are unaware of which items are recycle-friendly and which are for the trash. As a local North Carolina recycling business, it’s our responsibility to educate businesses concerning what facilities accept and why some items should never be recycled. To assist you in becoming the best recycler, we’ve listed the top five leading items that are thrown into the recycling bin when they belong in the trash.
Pizza Boxes. Out of everything we recycle, pizza boxes have the most common misconception. It’s true they’re made from corrugated cardboard and display the recycling symbols, but what makes them unrecyclable is the grease and cheese from pizza that soils the cardboard. When paper products are recycled, they’re mixed with water and turned into “slurry.” Since water and oil don’t mix, grease causes oil to form on top of the “slurry” and prevents paper fibers from separating from the oils. The oils ultimately ruin a perfectly sound batch of paper products. Soiled paper plates, paper napkins, and paper towels should also be discarded rather than recycled.
Plastic Bags. Just because something is plastic doesn’t mean it is recyclable. One popular misconception is plastic bags from grocery stores. These can get caught in recycling machinery and potentially damage the equipment. Either throw them in the trash or check with your local grocery store to see if they’ll accept your old bags for reuse. You can also check your local school. Some private schools in our Piedmont Triad area reuses them for trash bags at lunchtime.
Shredded Paper. This one is a surprise, isn’t it? Bundles of shredded paper create a problem with recycling facilities because it’s difficult to separate and sort recyclable paper from the non-recyclable material. It can also clog up machinery – not good! Instead, take those shredded documents to a facility that specializes in paper shredding, like us!
Plastic Bottle Caps. Do you regularly recycle plastic bottles such as water, soda, detergent, or something else that has a twist-off or flip-top cap? Start throwing those lids in the trash before recycling! Plastic caps are made from polypropylene (plastic #5) that cannot be recycled at many recycling facilities unless otherwise stated.
Certain Types of Glass. Glassware and ceramics are designed with a higher melting point than other types of glass and cannot be recycled. These would include light bulbs, fluorescent lighting, window glass, mirrors, glass art, and baking dishes.
If you’re already throwing the above items in the trash instead of the recycling bin, great! If one or more of these items were a surprise to you, now is the time to change in your recycling habits. Recycling is a wonderful thing, but we have to be smart about it. Help us spread the word about these items so we can continue to improve our world’s recycling efforts!
 

There are many reasons why commercial businesses should recycle. Not only is it a great way to reduce waste collection costs, but it also benefits the environment by reducing pollutants in the air and lessening local landfill usage. A successful recycling program is easy to set up and maintain, but many businesses continue to look the other way. The problem? Employees are taking notice and don’t appreciate it—especially millennials.
According to globally integrated research organization Lightspeed, one in ten millennials would quit their jobs if they found out their current employer was not sustainable. This is not an opinion that should be ignored, as millennials have officially exceeded Generation X as the largest number of employees in the United States work force as of 2015. And since millennials are known to move from job to job after only working at a company for a few years (especially compared to Generation X or baby boomers) employers have a higher risk of losing this generation to other companies if their values are not up to par.
Millennials have the power to shape today’s workplace practices, and being sustainable is a top priority on their list. They’re ready to make a difference and willing to turn down job offers that don’t align with their beliefs. As millennials and younger generations continue to enter the job market, employers should pay attention to the image they project and adapt their sustainability policies to attract and maintain employees.
Lightspeed’s study also discovered other significant key findings about millennials’ views on sustainability in the workplace, including:

• Nine in ten millennials (18-34) agree it’s important they work for a sustainable company compared to Generation X and baby boomers.
• 82% of millennials look for ways to help companies become more sustainable and 67% feel they have a good influence in their workplace to make an impact.
• Over 80% of millennials whose company does not have a recycling program in place believe employers should be responsible on encouraging recycling in the work place.
• Over two-thirds of millennials were willing to give up social media for a week if everyone at their company recycled.

As you can see, having a strong business recycling program in place is becoming vital to company and employee success. If you don’t have a plan in place, now is the time to take that next step! At Carolina Fibre Corporation, our goal is to help businesses become more sustainable. We offer extensive recycling services including paper, plastic, and aluminum recycling, confidential shredding, and sustainability consulting. Let us help you develop an effective recycling solution that you and your employees will greatly appreciate!
 

It’s that time again – Earth Day is this Saturday and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate our favorite holiday of the year! Earth Day is a time to celebrate the planet and raise awareness about the need to protect and respect it. It’s not just an American holiday – it’s celebrated around the world! This year, we challenge you to go beyond contributing just on April 22nd. We want you to change a daily habit (or a few!) to take care of our planet, and it’s very simple to do.
Pay Attention to water usage. Remember when you were young and were told to turn off the water while brushing your teeth? Are you still following that rule as an adult? Believe it or not, leaving the water on while brushing wastes 5 gallons of water a day – yikes! It’s a small thing to remember, but so important that we all do it together. Also, be aware of any leaky toilets in your home. Leaks can waste up to 20 gallons of water per day so pay attention to your bathrooms and make sure everything is working properly.
Turn off the lights. It’s that simple. If you leave a room and no one else is there, turn off the lights. Pull back the curtains and blinds and let that natural sunlight come into your home.
Avoid Plastic. It might be easy to buy bottles of water in bulk for your family, but it’s not good for the environment. All those empty bottles pile up in landfills, which release greenhouse gases – not good! Want to know a secret? Bottled water is treated tap water so why not invest in a filter to treat your water? They’re not expensive and overall will save you money compared to your monthly bottled water expanse.
Take electronics to a recycling center. Do you have old cell phones, computer parts, cords, headphones, and other electronics sitting somewhere collecting dust? Electronic waste is becoming the biggest category of trash in the world so gather your unused techy items and bring them to the nearest recycling center.
Go paperless. Does your bank offer paperless services? You may want to try it, especially if your filing cabinet can’t shut anymore. Receiving banking statements online means you’ll still get a statement every month, and you can review older statements at any time. Trust us, once you try paperless, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do this a long time ago!
Try driving less (if possible). The ability to drive a car to any destination is convenient, but not so good for the Earth. Each day you leave your vehicle at home, you’re saving over 750 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year! Try other means of getting to your destination such as carpooling, public transit, biking, or walking.
Earth Day is about enjoying and appreciating the world around us. This Saturday, take a moment to remember why our planet is worth protecting and start giving back to our Earth every day. We hope you try some of our tips above and discover new ways to help our world. Happy Earth Day!
 

The temperatures are rising, the daylight is sticking around a little longer, the birds are chirping, and the buds are blooming. Spring is almost here! It’s time to dress the upcoming season well and prepare your beautiful garden. While creating a beautiful garden, you can also create a more beautiful planet.
You might not realize it, but gardeners play a key role in developing a healthy eco-system. In fact, eco-gardening can even have an impact of cutting energy use, reducing common waste, and slowing down the climate changes. It’s time for you to play a part in this great environmental impact! There are a variety of ways to make a more self-sustaining environment within your very own yard that can have an incredibly positive impact on the world around us, and we are here to share a few tips on how to make your very own eco-friendly garden!
Bugs are Not the Enemy 
I think most of us can agree that some insects are downright scary. Who doesn’t scream when they see a cockroach crawling across their kitchen floor? And who doesn’t jump when a spider is spotted on their desk? However, not all bugs are the enemy! In fact, there are many bugs that can enhance the sustainability of our earth, as well are your home garden. For instance, ladybugs, lacewings, and even ground beetles are beneficial to reducing the population of bugs harmful to your plants. They especially play a part in eating aphids (small bugs that suck the sap and nutrients from plants). Let the “good guy” help you in reducing the risk and damage that could happen to your gorgeous garden.
The Early Bird Gets the Worm 
The good bugs can’t handle all those bad bugs on their own. They need a little help from their friends. With regard to defeating those slimy snails, caterpillars, and grubs – birds are there to step in and save the day! These guardians of nature feed on the wormy creatures that tend to destroy your blooms. It’s time to put up bird feeders around your garden to encourage more visits from our beloved bird friends.
Keep it Diverse 
Healthy gardens tend to be healthiest when they are filled with a diverse mix of plants. Also, combining specific complementary plans together can even enhance growth. Growing a tall plant, such as sunflowers, can naturally provide shade for those plants that are more sensitive to the bright UV rays. Consider which plants you want to live in your garden because some plants can hinder the vitality of others. Do your research prior to planting, so that you don’t risk that deterioration of pieces in your garden.
Keep Composting Cool 
Although you can easily run by Lowe’s to buy soil, why not participate in composting for creating your own soil? The process of composting is not only simple, but it is also becoming more and more common. Plus, it provides additional nutrients that your garden needs to grow. Set up a composting bin in your yard, save money at the local gardening store, and save the environment!
Never Forget the 3 R’s 
Reduce, reuse, and recycle – our three favorite “R” words! Yes, it’s easy to use everyday packaging for your plants, but why not recycle your plastic bottles and use them to enhance your garden? Protect your seeds with those used water bottles by cutting off the base and placing them around your future blooms. Or reuse your recycled plastic a make a DIY watering can for your thirsty crops.
Developing an eco-friendly environment this spring will not only brighten up your home garden, but it will also play a huge role in making Mother Nature healthy and beautiful.
 

It’s a new year! Take a moment to push the refresh button on your life and start setting some new goals. Maybe your resolution is to hit the gym more? Perhaps you are choosing to learn how to cook in 2017? These goals and so many others are admirable, but why just focus on your personal goals when you can focus on enhancing your business too? We are here to provide you with helpful pointers for living an environmentally friendly life in your everyday office life. Resolve to recycle at work in 2017! Let’s get started…
Keep a K-Cup
The ultimate saving grace of any office? Hands down, coffee. Have no fear. We would never ask you to give up coffee, but we do have some suggestions for making your coffee routine more green! Purchasing an office Keurig with a reusable K-cup is a great way for reducing waste and reusing. Not only will your employees save money from stopping at Starbucks on their way to work every morning, but they will also stay caffeinated to work hard throughout the day! 
Shut it down
When 5:00pm rolls around, it seems that the rush to head home often overtakes the mindfulness to save electricity. Encourage your employees to shut down their computers and all technology before scurrying out of the office at the end of the day. If time is of the essence, they can always set a timer for their computer to shut down at a particular time each day. On your way out the door, ensure that all lights are properly shut down. Wasting energy is not only harmful to the environment, but it is also tough on your electricity bills. Save money and save the planet by shutting it down!
Pick a Can
Pick a can, any can (but preferably the recycling option). Okay everyone, it is officially 2017, which means it’s time to invest in placing a recycling can next to your office trashcan. Give your employees the option to recycle reusable products. We often forget the fact that a major portion of our waste can actually be reused, so let’s start practicing the three R’s at our office: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
Wash and Reuse 
It’s time to cut back on the plastic silverware and the paper plates, and go back to the old-school way of dining. Start stocking your break room cabinets with washable dishes. This will significantly decrease the amount of trash you waste as a company. We know that washing dishes can take a few extra minutes, but it might be a nice break from work for a few minutes.
Plug it in
We all know that it is not always possible to ride your bike or even walk to your workplace. However, with many drivers switching over to chargeable cars, it would be convenient for your office to install a charging station in the company parking lot. Not only will this help those who already drive an electric vehicle, but it might also encourage your employees to switch over to this greener mode of transportation. And while you’re at it, add a bike rack to your parking lot too for those who can hop on their bicycle for their commute!
This could totally be your business’s year to set and achieve these attainable goals. Positive intentions and dedicated follow-through from your office can ultimately make the world a better place. Let us know on Facebook how you plan to add recycling goals to your everyday office life. Together, let’s resolve to go green in 2017!