Seven ways to reduce your environmental impact in 2019 | Part three – the office!
So, you’re thinking about making your work place more environmentally friendly? A green office is not a thing of future – just a few simple steps will help you to reduce, reuse and recycle more in your office.
According to a recent survey the average Briton will spend 3,507 days at work, including 204 days of overtime, in their lifetime. This is a lot of time that we spend at our desks, and whilst we work our day jobs, we produce waste which can often be recycled.
Does your office or workplace have a recycling point? Sometimes a complete set of separate recycling containers can take up valuable space, but fear not, you can still recycle efficiently by putting all recyclables into one bin. Simply sign up to our mixed recycling service, and all your card, paper, plastic bottles and cans will be collected in one container.
You can also recycle coffee pods, crisp packets and cigarette butts. Our partners TerraCycle offer a Zero Waste Box™ solution which allows you to recycle almost any type of waste – from coffee capsules to printing materials and stationery. Choose the waste stream you’d like to recycle, purchase your preferred box size and collect your waste, then send it to TerraCycle to be repurposed into new products.
Having an eco-friendly office today isn’t as hard as you may think. Here are seven tips to help make your workspace more environmentally friendly this year:
1. Go paperless – consider using digital tools such as Dropbox, OneDrive or Google drive to reduce your reliance on paper and make sharing documents quick and easy from any location.
Did you know that producing 100,000 sheets of paper from new sources requires more than eight trees and almost 2,000kWh of energy? Glowing cloud symbol with download arrow in city at night
2. Consider subscribing to a food waste collection service – by separating your food waste from your general waste, you will be lowering your carbon footprint, reducing the amount of landfill tax you pay and also feeding renewable energy facilities Kitchen Compost Bin
3. Take care of your confidential documents – the arrival of Spring marks the end of the financial year, which motivates us to get our paperwork in order. Remember that with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in place, as a responsible business you need to ensure that any redundant personal data is securely disposed of. Secure Shredding
4. Think about your offices’ energy consumption – consider changing your energy supplier and ensure that the thermostat is kept under control. According to the energy saving trust turning the room thermostat down by one degree can save you up to £75 and 340kg carbon dioxide every year.
5. Turn off electronics and lighting every evening – introduce a strict ‘everything-off-at night’ rule and hold your staff responsible. You could introduce this new rule by taking part in the WWF #earthhour, where on 30 March 2019 many iconic landmarks across the globe will ‘switch off’ for one hour from 8.30pm.
6. Refill stations and reusable cups – by installing hot water tap your employees will have instant hot and cold water to avoid the kettle being boiler over and over again. Encourage your colleagues to use a reusable coffee cup and refillable water bottle to reduce your reliance on disposables – saving cost and reducing waste.
7. How green is your commute? Have you thought about how you get to your workplace? There are many means of transport for your journey to and from the office. You could use public transport, car share with a colleague, or cycle or walk. Spring is a great time to mix-up your routine and reduce your commute’s carbon footprint.
Competition
We’d love to hear more about your tried and tested methods of minimising your impact on the environment; please comment and share them with us below.
In return for your eco-wisdom, we will select seven of your best ideas to receive the “Save pounds and the planet” book, a green guide to saving the planet and your purse that’s quirkier, easier and smarter.
It is our vision to live in a society where there is no more waste. We can all make simple changes to reduce the amount of waste we produce, and by being more savvy with our purchasing habits, planning better and being more resourceful. We as individuals will be able to improve our impact on the planet!
For the rest of the series please see below…
BLOG | Seven ways to reduce your environmental impact in 2019 | Part one – the bathroom!
BLOG | Seven ways to reduce your environmental impact in 2019 | Part two – the kitchen!
BLOG | Seven ways to reduce your environmental impact in 2019 | Part four - reduce single-use!