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On a Monday morning earlier this month, Aaron Brindle arrived at his downtown Toronto office to find his wastepaper basket had disappeared. In its place was a small blue box for recycling. Attached was a small black garbage bin, no bigger than a breadbox.

Mr. Brindle, a CBC Radio producer, learned the garbage in the little bin was to be collected just once a week in an effort to encourage employees to sort and deposit as much of their trash as possible in new, communal recycling bins.

Within a few days, garbage and recycling bins were overflowing and waste was piling up all over employees' desks.

"I am stewing in my own filth," says Mr. Brindle, who works at the morning show The Current.

The shrunken bins are part of an aggressive new waste-reduction program rolled out at the CBC's Toronto headquarters, home to more than 3,000 staff in editorial, production and management. Similar programs have been put in place in the offices of Ontario Realty Corp. and in the federal Public Works and Government Services offices throughout the country. The CBC also has a waste-reduction program in its Montreal offices.

But the sudden change at the CBC in Toronto illustrates how well-intentioned efforts to do good for the environment can translate into workplace fiascos if employees aren't given proper training and time to adjust.

"We were close to a state of civil insurrection in the newsroom," says Jeff Keay, CBC spokesman, who admits there was not enough communication with employees about the new program.

Even when employees support the greening of their workplaces, planning can take its toll, especially on small businesses as environmental initiatives can eat up hours of staff time.

At the start of this month, Digitech, a 13-employee Vancouver company that recycles printer cartridges, introduced an office compost site for workers' leftover coffee grounds and sandwich crusts.

Finding a company to service the small account took at least 10 hours of research, says David McConachie, Digitech president. And the office manager volunteers her time to clean the compost at the end of every workday.

The company also divvies up cleaning duties in its green kitchen. Each day, someone must wash up the coffee mugs, utensils and plates to discourage employees from bringing plastic versions into the office.

"It does take more time every day," Mr. McConachie says. "But we are telling our clients to recycle, so we have to do the same thing."

Large organizations usually implement change slowly. At the University of Toronto, trash bins have been shrinking in size since the early 1990s, so employees have had lots of time to get used to minimizing whatever gets tossed out during the course of the workday.

"We've brought in smaller versions over the years," says Reno Strano, the university's waste management and recycling co-ordinator.

"It's not a surprise."

The university also recycled 1,200 tonnes of organic waste last year, comprising leftover food from kitchens and student residences, and animal waste from laboratories, Mr. Strano adds.

The federal government has had a program since the late 1990s at Environment Canada offices that replaces garbage cans at individual workstations with small desktop containers. Employees have to transport their own refuse to central waste and recycling stations.

The CBC's program was created because employees demanded it on internal surveys, Mr. Keay says. And Mr. Bindle says he would support any kind of workplace initiative that is good for the earth.

But the program "wasn't communicated effectively," he says. "I was totally confused."

He did not know where to toss his organic waste - apple cores and leftover yogurt from lunch, for example.

Even more puzzling, employees were also given toy-sized versions of the large blue recycling bins stationed in the hallways without explanation.

A visiting producer from Halifax took one home for her daughter's dollhouse, Mr. Bindle says. Staff also strung together about 30 and hung them as a mobile outside the office of Michael Enright, host of CBC Radio's The Sunday Edition.

The miniature bins were shown being pushed by miniature employees in a parody aired during an episode of The Hour earlier this month.

They were designed to be used as desktop pencil holders, Mr. Keay says.

He says the CBC is taking steps to better communicate to employees how to use the new boxes and is stepping up recycling collection. Over all, employee response has been positive, he says, and the program won an award for waste reduction from the Recycling Council of Ontario this month.

"It's a work in progress," Mr. Keay says.