Recycling
Recycling increases the amount of work for janitors. This workload increase has not been accounted for in most janitorial contracts, although some contracts do have hourly premiums for recycling work.
Sorting through trash to separate recyclables can be time consuming and hazardous. For this reason, at least one SEIU Local union contract prohibits the employer from requiring workers to sort trash unless the process is safe and clean.
Recycling programs obviously benefit the environment. Such programs could also benefit SEIU members by allowing for increased hours on a single shift.
Recycling creates extra hours of work in two ways: either by needing to separate recyclable materials or by emptying twice as many trash bins.
To reduce cost to employers of increased payment to workers for time spent on recycling, SEIU and employers could partner to improve government incentives to businesses to implement large-scale recycling programs.
These extra funds would be passed through to the workers through premiums for recycling work.
