It’s the New Year! There’s no better time to start thinking about how you can help make your office a more eco-friendly place to work. We’ve complied a list of suggestions and tips for creating greener office and how you can start to execute them today!
Go Paperless
Try to limit unnecessary printing. In the modern office, printing is no longer a necessity. Some ideas to limit paper use include sending all memos/announcements by email and using a cloud storage for file sharing.
Ditch the Plastic
Swap out your single-use plastic cups or water bottles and instead bring in a reusable water bottle. You could also consider ordering branded company water bottles so that the entire office can join in!
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
This tip may seem obvious but if recycling facilities and options are not made easy an apparent for employees, they are less likely to use them. Make sure your office has clearly labelled and easy-to-find recycling bins. Recycling is about more than just putting your old newspapers in the blue bin. Encouraging your fellow colleagues to reuse things like folders and notebooks or taking notes on the back side of the page will not only help the environment, but also can help your office save money.
Use Non-Toxic Cleaning Products
Many standard office cleaning products contain harsh chemicals that can harm the environment (and even our bodies!). Consider asking your cleaning company to use green products or switch to one that does.
Try Switching to Eco-Friendly Office Snacks
Support sustainably produced snack, coffee and tea companies by providing them for your office. Be on the lookout for companies that are local to your area to further reduce your carbon footprint. There are many subscription services to help simplify things for you. You’ll not only help the environment, but could also improve your health!
Un-Plug It
Remembering to turn off all computers, printers/copiers, and other electronics that do not need to be left on at the end of the day can help reduce energy usage. Computers can be set to energy efficient settings with monitors set to shut off periods of no use.
Implementing even just a few of these small changes in your office can make a big impact on easing your company’s impact on the earth. We encourage you to show off your sustainable efforts on your company website or even include it as a part of your mission statement. Creating a greener office will benefit everyone. We are always trying to improve our sustainability, you can see here what we’ve currently got in place.
