Recycle More & Waste Less with Method

Foodbuy engaged Method Recycling in early 2024 to address a client requirement in Compass Group Australia’s Business & Industry sector with their office recycling requirement. Method bins were proposed to the client who instantly recognised the commercial and sustainability value by implementing this recycling solution.​

Method is on a mission to divert 1 billion kg of waste from landfill by 2030 – through design. ​

Method’s mission started when Kiwi couple Steven and India Korner continued to see organisations that wanted to recycle without the tools to be successful. Waste was and still is a major environmental impact of a business but bins were an afterthought, in beautiful offices they were hidden in cupboards and under desks prioritising aesthetics over impact. ​

The Korners, with backgrounds in product and graphic design, engineering and commercial leasing knew that this was a problem that could be solved with design thinking. They spent 3 years researching and designing a product that would effectively change behaviours while making recycling a beautiful thing.

Why work with Method? ​

Method’s team are passionate about making a difference. We’ve worked hard over the years to build a process that helps set your organisation up for recycling success.​

After all, our customer’s success is our success helping us to track towards our goal of diverting 1 billion kg of waste from landfills.

We are continuously working to innovate and improve workplace recycling and waste systems. In 2023, Method launched a world-first IoT waste data solution that provides accurate bin-by-bin waste data for all of an organisation’s locations at the push of a button – no manual weighing. ​

The Behaviour Changing Bins​

The result of this design was Method’s Award-winning Sixty Litre Recycling Bins, followed by the Twenty Litre Bins 5 years later. ​

The bins create beautiful, flexible and modular recycling stations that are placed out in the open in the modern workspace. ​

The bins change behaviours through: ​

• Colour-coded lids that match industry standards​
• Simple and easy-to-read signage can move contamination from 60% to 15%​
• With 60 & 20-litre bin stations consistently throughout the space recycling becomes simple and an unconscious habit​
• Bringing recycling out into the open beautifully and making bins something people like to interact with ​

Circular Design ​

Method is working towards a circular economy and this starts with the design of our bins. Method bins are designed to withstand the high impact of waste, so our bins come with a 5-year warranty, so you know they won’t need replacing any time soon. ​

Method bins are made with 50 – 80% recycled materials sourced locally from Whanganui and Christchurch, New Zealand. As of July 2024, we have used over 214 tonnes of recycled materials in the manufacturing of our bins. ​

As our bins are too big for traditional recycling programs, we take them back at the end of their life. If they are still usable we will refurbish them and donate them to a local charity, otherwise, we will organise for them to be recycled with a local partner. ​

A Certified B Corporation ​

Method is a proud B Corp alongside values-led businesses like Keep Cup, Patagonia, Intrepid Travel and Who Gives a Crap. B Corp Certification is an international certification that measures a company’s entire social and environmental impact.

​The certification includes a legal framework requiring a triple-bottom-line approach – considering people, the planet and profit. Method has been a certified B Corp since 2019, now with a score of 119.7.

​How the Australian National Maritime Museum reduced waste to landfill by 63%​

The Australian National Maritime Museum welcomes over 850,000 visitors annually, in just a couple of months of installing a Method System with vertical signage in their office and public spaces landfill was down 63% and they were tantalisingly close to their 80% diversion rate, achieving 76.86%.​

Adrian Snelling from the Australian National Maritime Museum said

“Method went above and beyond what anyone would expect from a company that sells bins and it was this passion that made the decision for the museum. It was clear that there was a strong alignment in values between the two organisations.”

Learn more at methodrecycling.com