By getting rid of individual garbage cans and instead creating communal trash stations with individual recycling, compost, and landfill sections, Etsy’s waste dropped 18%, while its compost rate jumped 300% and its recycling rate went up 20%.
Besides those obvious environmental benefits, employees now have more spontaneous interactions, too.
“I have more random conversations while sorting waste than anywhere else,” Dickerson told Business Insider. “The waste stations are like Etsy’s water-coolers.”