Hiding the Dirty Laundry

Call me crazy, but when I see a bin like this...

I leap to the conclusion that items placed in the correct slot will be recycled.  Not necessarily true!  Within days of  the greenwashing article I wrote being posted, I came across more "dirty laundry." 

Our client was using a property they held a meeting in several years before.  During the previous meeting, the property had recycled paper, plastic and glass.  Bins such as the one above were scattered throughout the meeting room level.  During the negotiation phase and the pre-con, we asked about recycling and they assured us "all the same systems are in place."

During the back-of-house tour, it became apparent there was no recycling area for the bottles and cans.  When I asked the staff about this, they reported it cost money to have the recycling company pick those up so they no longer recycled bottles and cans.  So sorry.

Yet, in their meeting areas, they still had bins marked as if recycling was occurring.  Attendees were carefully separating their trash and feeling good about helping out when, in fact, it all went to the landfill.  Outrageous!  Somehow, that isn't "all the same systems are in place" in my book and if I hadn't pressed the issue of a tour, I would have never known.

Sadly, meeting organizers are still required to perform due diligence to hold our vendors responsible and consumers are being misled.