45 Mespil Road gets Zero Award for Sustainability Efforts

The City Bin Co. was brought onto 45 Mespil Road, a site boasting 50,000 square feet of prime standalone office space overlooking Grand Canal, owned by Davy Target Investments and managed by Melinda Muntean from Knight Frank, in Q3 2020 to manage waste and kickstart the sustainability journey.

This site is a newbuild and currently has 2 active tenants: Amryt Pharmaceuticals and Ellucian.

October 2020

• The City Bin Co. worked with Knight Frank to organise bin types onsite to cover all the waste streams generated. Today there are 4 bin types in operation; General Waste, Recycling, Glass and Organic.
• The City Bin Co. commenced working with the cleaning company onsite (Moore Cleaning Services). We have identified that over 90% of waste generated onsite is recyclable, with a nominal amount of general waste being generated due to current snagging of the building.

January 2021

• Bin store installed into the site’s basement, with clear labelling on all bins to ensure proper waste segregation, leading to increased recycling rates.

Ongoing 2021 Plans

• Training to be provided to all tenants onsite to ensure the building is scoring highly in waste segregation and recycling management.

Check out other case study videos…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QrNPue0XM8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXHkX07uLvE

And if you would like more information on the Zero Project, please contact John Farrell, The City Bin Co. email john@citybin.com

Or for a quote for your own project get in touch with us here.

The Oval – a Zero Project success story

The Oval is one of about 12 sites that The City Bin Co. and Knight Frank are working on specifically with regard to waste management. The site is owned by Patrizia AG and managed by Knight Frank. The estate manager on behalf of Knight Frank is Ciaran McDonnell.

In August 2020, The City Bin Co. began working as The Oval’s sustainability partner making changes to The Oval’s waste management system to increase recycling rates, whilst making cost savings at the same time. We agreed the Zero Waste roadmap to success with The Oval team. The Zero Waste plan has been successfully implemented, and currently, the site has seen an 84% reduction in weekly general waste.

August 2020

• We introduced colour-coded bins into The Oval’s waste storage area, clearly defining waste streams to allow for more recycling. Through carrying out onsite training with Knight Frank and the individual tenants in the building, including Centra, Eirgrid, WeWork, Starbucks, and Tableau, we demonstrated ways to easily reduce waste and recycling.

October 2020

• The waste and recycling streams were developed further, and The Oval now have glass bins, organic bins, recycling bins, general waste bins, a baler for baling cardboard, and a cage specifically for WEEE waste. The introduction of more waste streams has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the amount of general waste being presented onsite.

November 2020

• We carried out training with Knight Frank’s cleaning company, Cagney Contract Cleaning, specifying what goes into what bin and why. This proved to be an outstanding success with even less materials going into the general waste bin.
• We engaged directly with Centra at The Oval and separated their bins from the communal area, providing them with direct data on usage, helping them tackle the amount of food waste being dumped by their team. The City Bin Co. have advised Mark Coughlan, and his Centra team about how to save money on waste, portion control and control on food preparation.

January 2021

• We engaged with The Oval’s landscape company and Knight Frank to build a compost site in the rear garden. By making use of Starbuck’s spent coffee grinds and mixing it with some plant and grass cuttings to make compost, The Oval has been developing a beautiful wildflower garden that houses a number of hives of native Irish bees. The compost that they are producing is used to grow flowers that the bees are using to produce honey. Last year there were about 100 jars of honey produced from this site.

March 2021

• We started working on organising specific bins for other tenants onsite, such as Eirgrid. Eirgrid wants to see personalized data relating to their waste streams. This system is going live on May 1st 2021 and monthly reporting will follow.

April 2021

• The Oval was accredited with The City Bin Co.’s Zero Project Certificate, officially being a zero waste to landfill site.

Check out other case study videos…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QrNPue0XM8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXHkX07uLvE

And if you would like more information on the Zero Project, please contact John Farrell, The City Bin Co. email john@citybin.com

Or for a quote for your own project get in touch with us here.

Earth Day 2021

When is Earth Day 2021? What is Earth Day about? How are people celebrating Earth Day 2021?

There are many questions surrounding the ever more important Earth Day! Earth Day 2021 will take place on April 22nd. Earth Day is the international day of environmental action, first celebrated on April 22nd 1970, and now attracts an estimated one billion people every year, from 193 countries.

10 Simple Ways to Mark Earth Day 2021

1. Get Moving
A great way to celebrate Earth Day 2021 would be to start finding transport alternatives that reduce your carbon footprint whilst getting you moving. The fewer cars on the road, the less carbon emissions polluting the air. Help our country reach the EU target of a 50 % reduction in emissions by 2030.

2. Shop Smart for Clothes
We all love treating ourselves to a new outfit every now and again, but we can do so in a way that is environmentally friendly! Buying materials that’s already been used is great for the Earth because it doesn’t involve new resources. Second-hand clothing apps such as Depop have all kind of beautiful clothing pieces, shoes, and accessories, and you’re saving money as well as the planet.

3. Plant Something
Trees clean the air and give off more oxygen (one large tree can supply a day’s supply of oxygen for four people), among many other benefits. Plant a tree in your garden – they are proven to increase the value of property by approximately 15%. If you are not ready to commit to planting a tree, another great option is to start growing your own fruits and veggies, which will benefit your health, whilst reducing the amount of fossil fuel emissions spent in having to transport the produce to supermarkets.

4. Tune into Earth Day 2021 Events
Join the world leaders for Earth Day 2021 for three days of climate action from April 20th – 22nd.
On April 20th you can join the global youth climate summit led by Earth Uprising featuring youth climate activists including Greta Thunberg, Alexandria Villaseñor, and Licypriya Kangujam.
On April 21st Education International will lead the “Teach for the Planet: Global Education Summit”, which will feature prominent activists, focusing on the crucial role that educators play in combating climate change and why we need transformative climate education now.  On April 22nd “Earth Day” Earthday.org will host its second Earth Day Live digital event at 12pm Eastern Time. The theme of this year’s Earth Day is Restore Our Earth™. Tune in to learn more about natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems.

5. Conserve Energy at Home
We are all spending a lot more time at home and this has been reflected in the 9% increase in carbon emissions from the residential sector in 2020. There are many small changes we can make in the home to conserve energy. Some simple examples include turning off lights and electronics when not in use, using a timer thermostat, hanging the clothes on the line instead of using the dryer, and using LED lightbulbs.

6. Recycle your Electronics
Recycling your old, unused or broken hairdryers, computers, tablets, phones and other electronics saves natural resources while also reducing pollution. Your WEEE items can be recycled for free at your local recycling centre – see here for directions to ours!

7. Buy Local
Buying local produce and other items reduces shipping distances from food sourced overseas, whilst also supporting local businesses and communities. Food in grocery stores travels on average 1,500 miles to get to you. All that shipping can cause an increase in fossil fuel consumption, carbon emissions and pollution. When you buy locally, produce and other items travel a shorter distance to arrive at your doorstep.

8. Reduce your Paper Waste
Some great ways to reduce your paper waste is opting for online billing, removing your name from unwanted mailing lists to reduce junk mail, and thinking twice before you print something.

9. Use Reusable Bags
To avoid having to purchase plastic bags from the shops, keep a stash of reusable bags in the boot of your car that you can use again and again.

10. Follow the 3 R’s
By looking for ways to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in your home wherever possible you will save resources, energy, and money on your waste bill. We have many fun DIY project ideas like this Garden Bar on our blog and social channels (see below) for both kids & adults!

How will you mark World Earth Day? We’d love to know! Share your Earth Day 2021 plans with us on our social channels!

3 Great Reasons To Fill A Skip!

When you get into spring-cleaning mode, it’s normally time to say goodbye to some unwanted clutter and fill a skip! By learning to let go of unwanted items in your home your space becomes cleaner, and your mind becomes clearer.

So, apart from the obvious benefits of a good clear-out, we’ve identified 3 other benefits to consider!

Gets You Organised & Focused – Putting on the gloves and clearing out the unused and unwanted items in your home, garden and shed helps to get super organised. When our living environment is more orderly we tend to be more focused which allows us to make better decisions on everything.

Gets You in Shape – If losing weight and getting fit is on your agenda, a deep spring-cleaning will certainly start the ball rolling. All that lifting will get the right muscles moving. Spring cleaning is not just a chore, it’s a commitment to an end goal and cleaning out the mess in your life. As a plus you will be actively exercising as you do so. If you really find that you love it, you can always volunteer to tidy up the neighbour’s home! Put your safety first. But be sure to always ask for help moving big or heavy items or climbing up ladders.

Makes You Happy & Healthy! – The act of cleaning is considered by many experts to be therapeutic and relaxing.  Life’s little negativities and stresses can become nonexistent while spring-cleaning. What may appear to be a chore is actually a great stress reliever. Tidying guru Marie Kondo has developed an entire business on how to defeat clutter and discover what sparks joy!

So, put a smile on your face today, spark some joy and hire a skip!

Introducing The City Bin Co. Junior Crew

It happened quietly. First one, then another. Then we started getting notes from parents. And more notes and more until it became apparent…

Kids really, really love bin trucks.

They love the sound, the size, the uniform of the crew, and the regularity. They wait by their windows and doors every collection day, anticipating the growl of the truck as it enters their estate and, weather-permitting, they line up outside to pay tribute to their heroes.

Our fans in action

By way of an example, here’s some of the notes we’ve received…

“The crew on that route today made my toddler’s day when they all waved at him while he was watching them – he’s at that loving big trucks stage.”

“I have two children, ages 4 and 2 and they wait ‘somewhat’ patiently all week to see your red truck coming up our road! Your crew on our road is so friendly and lovely and they never forget the two waving kids on our doorstep every week! Words can’t describe the excitement when the kids hear the truck arriving and it makes his whole week to get a wave from the guys and even a ‘beep beep’ from the truck! He spends the entire week telling everyone about it.”

“Your field team on the trucks always have a wave and beep of the horn when my kids excitedly see them pull up (5 years ago with child 1 and now with child 2) and are always friendly. We genuinely open the front door and let my son watch them roll by every Monday because that’s his biggest action item of the week in his little life.”

The Science Behind the Fascination

But we can’t take all the credit for this (even though we do take a huge amount of pride in it!) – there seems to be some real science behind it as we discovered in this article by TheAtlantic.com. It turns out that various factors contribute to this fascination.

First is routine. Kids love routine and typically the collection schedule happens at the same time every week. Secondly, children frequently think of the truck as an enormous living creature— “It has lights and those look like eyes, so suddenly it’s got a face,”. Thirdly, trucks are loud, properly loud – and kids mimic these noises with their own toys. For many, it’s as if a Transformer has turned up at their house! The fascination goes as far as having a YouTuber called Blippi (I’m not sharing the link!) rack up about 31.8m views for his song about garbage trucks.

So, what can we do?

With all these emails, notes, and photos, we figured we had better find a way to repay this fandom.

So, we created City Bin Juniors (CBJ) as a way to say ‘thank you’ to all those who take the time to show appreciation to our crews. We developed a new logo, a t-shirt, bag, fridge magnet, and some other pieces depending on the age. And having done a test batch it looks like we’ll be heading back to the suppliers for more pretty soon!

For now, the best way to get your hands on a pack is to head over to our Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter pages where we have a competition to give away some of these packs. So, if your little bin truck fan wants to join the CBJ crew – check out the competition!

And keep waving – it makes our day!

How to Reduce Food Waste this Christmas

When we think of Christmas, many things come to mind: happiness, togetherness, Santa, toys, and excessive amounts of food.

Christmas is an easy time for us to get carried away, buy too much food, and end up wasting more than we should. According to the Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA), we generate 20% more household waste during the Christmas season, and food waste is one of the major contributors.

The good news is that you can take a few simple steps to manage your food during the festive season that will save you money and reduce your carbon footprint.

So here are our top tips to reduce your food waste at Christmas, without taking away from the fun of festivities.

1. Plan the menu
   Our top tip is to plan your Christmas menu before doing the food shop. Think back to last year and try to identify the food items that you had too much of. Did you buy too big a turkey, did you stock up on everything ‘just in case’, or were there certain food items that were not crowd-pleasers – that Christmas pudding perhaps? Whether you are having a small or larger gathering this Christmas, plan how much food you’ll need for the number of people joining you. Remember the shops are only closed for 2 days.
2. Stick to the Christmas shopping list
   Once you have planned out what food you need, make a list, and stick to it. Check the fridge, freezer, and cupboards to make sure you’re not buying something you already have.
3. Don’t PLAN to have leftovers
   If you have a tendency to over cater, resist the urge to make extra to have as leftovers. Trust that there will naturally be leftovers.
4. Delicious leftovers – can save you time and money
   Without planning to have leftovers, you will most likely still have some. Christmas dinner leftovers are delicious ingredients and can be used for your Stephen’s Day dinner. If you have loads of leftover turkey, ham, or desserts pack up a little gift bundle for your guests to take home. Then you are not left with masses of leftovers that you’ll never be able to get through and your guests go home happy.
5. Refrigerate or freeze leftovers ASAP
   Once you’ve cooked all this amazing food, you want to make sure it is going to last long enough for you to eat to eliminate any possible food waste. The sooner you refrigerate or freeze your leftovers, the sooner bacteria growth will be slowed and the longer your leftovers will last.

Why not try these easy tips this Christmas to help reduce your food waste! It is also the perfect opportunity to make a New Year’s resolution to continue planning your meals and portions, only buying food you need and storing it properly, reusing leftovers, and freezing food for another time.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, from all at The City Bin Co. 😊

6 Ways to Reduce your Waste this Christmas

It’s no secret that Christmas time can be the most excessive time of the year for most of us.

Figures from Repak show that in Ireland, our packaging waste increases by 25% over the Christmas period. We get through 6 million rolls of wrapping paper, 50 million bottles of beer, 51 million beer cans, 3 million spirit bottles, 23 million wine bottles and 20 million soft drink cans. This results in 74,000 tonnes of used glass, paper and cardboard being produced – that’s about 44 kilos of waste per household!

So, how can you easily reduce the waste you and your family produce this Christmas? Here are our 6 top tips for reducing Christmas waste:

1. Personalise gifts by making the wrapping yourself, using cloth materials, newspaper magazine and any other suitable materials you have at home! If you receive gifts wrapped with plastic-based wrapping paper or heavily sellotaped wrapping, remember they’re not suitable for recycling.
2. Make your own Christmas crackers from toilet or kitchen rolls or your own decorations using old jars, bottles, fabric, and newspaper. This is also a great fun family craft activity!
3. Instead of buying new Christmas décor, check out what the charity shops have to offer or upcycle your old Christmas decorations to make funky new additions to your festive home.
4. Natural decorations can look just as good as shop-bought ones. See what you have in your garden already, using things like fresh holly, pinecones and mistletoe are a great way to bring festive cheer into your home! The bonus is, when you are done with them, they can go back into the garden and be composted.
5. If you have a real Christmas tree, make sure you recycle it at a designated recycling centre or even better if you live in Galway, book our City Junk service to come and take away your tree – hassle-free!
6. Christmas cards – if you are sending Christmas cards avoid buying shop-bought ones, if you must, ensure they are recyclable. Create your own festive designs using any Christmas cards you kept from last year. If you have not saved any – keep this in mind for next year, and you’ll be extra organised for next Christmas and save a few pennies!

Although it is inevitable that you’ll have some amount of excess waste at Christmas time, if we all try to make more sustainable choice, together we’ll make an impact. We encourage people to take the time to find out what is recyclable, as we can all play a part in ensuring that waste items are disposed of correctly.

What’s your name?

Names can be tough to remember! Especially when you hear so many new names every day.

Chester Santos ‘The International Man of Memory’, famously said, ‘When you can remember somebody’s name, it shows them that they are important to you’. When James Kent and I walked into the bar of the Sheraton Hotel at the Mall of Emirates in Dubai in October 2016 we were both impressed with the hotel host. He was an Egyptian gentleman by the name of Abdou Hassan Gharby. As we entered the bar, Abdou shook our hands and made good eye contact. With a warm smile, he said ‘Hello Mr. James and Mr. Oisín, Welcome back. It’s so nice to see you again’. We were both amazed because we were only ever there once before and that was the previous June when we stayed at the hotel for a few nights on a work assignment. Abdou makes it his business to know everybody’s name and to welcome them.

The power of learning, knowing and addressing your clients by name in business has many positive outcomes, such as repeat business, familiarity, good rapport and respect. The customer sees the business representative is attentive and listening, creating confidence between both parties. It becomes easier to address shortcomings and sing praises. This is equally essential for colleagues as it is for staff. This is how you create culture. This is a good place to begin. There is the old saying in the world of commerce: ‘It’s not personal, it’s business’. For me, this is not true. All good business is personal and that a personal touch starts and finishes with a name. Your client will either know your name or you will know their name. Firstly, it’s up to you to start. Introduce yourself to your customers by means of nametags, verbally introduce yourself and in turn, ask the client their name. Write it down if you have to.

When I was in Doha City Centre shopping mall in Qatar, in March 2017, I went to the cinema to see Kong: Skull Island. I arrived early so I decided to grab a quick coffee in Caribou Coffee. I noticed that all of the staff wore hand-written badges that stated their name and which coffee they loved: ‘I’m Alex and I love Americano’. A name provides familiarity and friendliness. Two weeks later, I found myself in Times Square Shopping Centre in Dubai and I recognised the same branded coffee house. Because of my positive experience in Doha, I was drawn to get a take away there and, of course, noticed that all the friendly staff had their nametag and favourite coffee badge. When you learn somebody’s name and a little something about them you build trust. This trust is the base of any relationship, business or otherwise.

Starbucks is famous for asking the customers their name and writing it on the coffee cups. Each and every time I’m in my local Starbucks in Eyre Square Shopping Centre back in Galway, Ireland I’m always struck by how the staff ask for my name when taking my order and call me by name when my order is ready. No surprise that some of the staff remember my name and order when I go there.

If you are in an office and communicating by phone always introduce yourself by name first and then the company. ‘Good morning, my name is Joe and I’m ringing you from The Print Company’. You are at an advantage in the office as you can write the name down. If you are not in an office you can carry a notebook or record it on your phone. If you don’t know how to spell a name, just ask them. ‘Let me write that down. Can you give me the correct spelling of your name?’

Depending on how busy you are, you might think it’s not easy to remember so many names. Some simple techniques to help you remember is to say the client’s name back to them a few times within the conversation. Here are a few hacks for remembering people’s names:

Commit to remembering names
• Write down their name(s)
• Repeat the name in the conversation
• For complex names ask the person to spell their name
• Associate the name with a visual
• Focus on the person in front of you
• Be 100% in the conversation
• At the end of your day go back over all the people you met

Mr Abdou from the Sheraton Hotel made it his business to remember the names of James Kent and I. He created a bond resulting in repeat business. What the staff in Caribou Coffee, Starbucks and the Sheridan Hotel have in common is people that nurture great culture.

Culture is an established ingredient in customer service. And, for good reason.

Taken from The ‘Binman’s Guide to Amazing Customer Service’ by Oisin Browne, which can be ordered on Amazon Kindle today. It is stocked in Charlie Byrne’s in Galway, Hana’s Bookshop in Dublin, and O’Mahony’s bookshop in Limerick.

The Culture Club

It’s tough to define culture in business. If I had to boil it down to one thing I would say: Culture is established by the attitude and behaviour of the leadership of a business.

You could say; change the leadership and you change the culture. I believe this is true, but unless you have a set direction guided by a strong leader, you could be swopping out one bad egg for another.

Company culture isn’t just one thing. Yes, it’s guided by the leader of the organization but it is so much more. It is the character of your company. It’s the collective personality that the customer sees. It’s the vibe. It represents the environment in which you work. It’s the backdrop of your business. Company culture can be created using a variety of elements such as a company mission, values, ethics, expectations, and goals. These are nothing if you don’t have the right people, space and atmosphere. It’s the empowerment of you and your colleagues to do what needs to be done. It’s your buy-in and fit to the company spirit. It’s your daily interactions and sincere passion about what you do.

Amazing culture promotes collaborations and rewards successful initiatives. Amazing culture listens and respects different opinions. Strong cultures celebrate their history and have a strong relationship with their customers. In a letter to his entire team in October 2013, Airbnb’s Brian Chesky defined culture as; ‘Simply a shared way of doing something with passion’. Author of Organisational Culture and Leadership, Edgar Schein, states 3 ways to understand culture:

Firstly, Artefacts; the visible things like what people wear to work or every desk is a tidy desk; Secondly, Beliefs and values; which are more invisible, like respecting opinions and decisions; and thirdly, Basic underlying assumptions; which are usually oblivious, like a belief that you should hire people like yourself or a principle that no product or service should be given without review.

While the day to day running of the business will bring you all sort of issues and problems such as financial strains and product pressure points, they will all pass. What will always be evident is the culture. And a strong culture will solve any problem and unravel any issue with more ease and faster than an uncultivated culture. ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’, is a famous phrase coined by management guru Peter Drucker and made famous by Mark Fields, President at Ford. I believe both are important and that there is a direct relationship between a healthy culture and a company’s strategy which, in turn, affects profits. That said, culture is a tough thing to balance. It’s a moving target that has different values for different people. It’s something that grows and evolves over years.

To understand your culture, you need to evaluate your current organisational culture. This can be done by electing a Company Culture Officer (CCO) whose task it is to oversee and implement a culture strategy. They need to look at the people. Interview the employees. Look at the space. Are the offices well located and divided? Look at the tools, phones, computers, wall displays and TV screens. Look at the canteens, washrooms, parking and common areas. How do people use these spaces? Are they welcoming? Look at communication. How do you communicate with your colleagues? Is there a positive atmosphere in the business? What interactions do employees have inside and outside the business? Then look at the company from the top down. Does the management team or the CEO embrace transparency? Are employees appreciated and rewarded for valuable contributions to the company? Is there a social club or a team events manager to nurture strong relationships between colleagues? Is there empowerment on the front line and is this supported? Is there flexibility? Does the company communicate the values, goals and purpose? Are they understood and delivered with passion? It’s important to display and communicate core values to all members of the team. When a new employee starts at The City Bin Co. they attend an induction workshop with the CEO of the company to introduce them to the company’s history, values, customer expectations, mission and purpose. This is the beginning of creating a high-level trust between the leadership and all members of the team. It demonstrates open communication.

As a main driver in The City Bin Co., culture-learning ranks high with opportunities for career development, mentoring and training provided through programmes such as ‘Earn as you learn’ and ‘Garbage University’. There is no ‘one fits all’ solution for creating culture but there are a few basics that can be achieved from the get-go, one step at a time:

• Create an environment of trust
• Respect all employees and customers
• Communicate your core values and principals to all
• Empower employees by allowing them to make decisions
• Embrace failure. Make an acceptance for mistakes and risk-taking
• Encourage creativity, innovation and the development of ideas
• Collect feedback and suggestions
• Create a learning environment where the team can grow 
together
• Measure success by the mood of the camp and not just the sales, KPIs or a P&L sheet

Taken from The ‘Binman’s Guide to Amazing Customer Service’ by Oisin Browne, which can be ordered on Amazon Kindle today. It is stocked in Charlie Byrne’s in Galway, Hana’s Bookshop in Dublin, and O’Mahony’s bookshop in Limerick.

Stretch Like A Cat

With more people working from home, they are missing out on the morning commute where there is an opportunity to get the muscles moving before starting the day’s grind.

Sitting in a chair with your head tilted in the same position for long periods of time can add a large amount of pressure and strain to the back muscles and spinal discs. People with customer centre jobs or desk jobs generally don’t move around much. The tendency is to slouch over time. I used to suffer from back and neck pain when I was working in the call centre many years ago. The cure was simple. Stretch like a cat.

It’s important to move the muscles and stretch. Before and after work and at the break times, I would take a few minutes to stretch. Every time I got up, I stretched my arms, legs and back. Add stretching to your daily routine and be consistent. Each session should be two minutes every hour or so. If you are not sure about stretching, invite a personal trainer to demonstrate to all the team.

My brother Ronan was a personal trainer while I worked in the customer centre and here is the stretching routine he did out for me:

• Stand up. Slowly reach to the sky and stand on the tips of your toes for three seconds. Repeat three times.
• Stretch your neck. Move slowly in circular movements 
five times in each direction.
• Drop your head down and tuck in your chin. Slowly 
turn your chin toward your left shoulder, and then 
slowly turn toward your right shoulder.
• Stretch your shoulders up to the sky. Hold the position 
for three seconds and release.
• Stretch your feet and arms. Reach for the sky while 
standing on your tippy toes and hold for two seconds 
and release.
• Stretch your hands. Simply open and close your fist 
holding all fingers stretched out in the opened position.

This routine was designed for me and we are all very different. Find what works for you. If you have an existing condition or have had surgery then some stretches may not be appropriate. Always consult a personal trainer or professional doctor first. If doing a stretching routine like this isn’t your cup of tea simply get up and take a quick three-minute walk.

Your body will thank you.

Taken from The ‘Binman’s Guide to Amazing Customer Service’ by Oisin Browne, which can be pre-ordered on Amazon Kindle today and will be available along with the paperback on the 27th of November on Amazon. It will be stocked in Charlie Byrne’s in Galway, Hana’s Bookshop in Dublin, and O’Mahony’s bookshop in Limerick.