Greening The Office – A Guide To A Greener Workplace Part 1

Everybody knows the importance of saving energy at home, but when you consider the average amount of time spent at work is 37 hours a week, it becomes easy to see the huge amount of capacity for energy saving and being greener in the workplace.

Although many companies have policies of corporate responsibility and tell people about their environmental commitments, there is also a large amount of companies currently doing little or nothing to reduce their environmental impact. But it’s not just down to employers to be making changes and green decisions; employees can make changes to their daily routine and actions in the workplace by recycling office waste and reducing the amount they contribute to their company’s carbon footprint.

When it comes to offices jobs, there is so much electrical equipment buzzing away all day, from computers to fax machines, photocopiers to air conditioning, and many many lightbulbs humming from at least 8am-5pm and often on into the evening. However not every job is in a building of rows of computers and office equipment. Most places of work do have common areas where changes can be made however; simple changes that require minimal effort, in order to reduce the impact the business has on the planet we live on.

Paper

Most businesses use paper on a daily basis, and although some will get through reams a day, others may only get through half a pack in a week. Paper, however, can be one of the biggest waste products to come out of the workplace. There are a number of easy to implement measures that can be put in place to both reduce paper consumption, and also reduce the environmental impact of the paper used in your workplace by considering the source of paper you buy, and what happens to it when it leaves your office.

1. Look for recycled paper for use in the workplace rather than brand new paper
   This reduces the burden on virgin forests and helps boost the market for recycling old paper rather than it being destined for landfill.
2. Recycle your old paper
   Instead of sending your waste paper off to landfill, put recycling bins in your offices and encourage colleagues to recycle their old paper instead of throwing it away with other rubbish. There are a number of companies offering collection services for recycling, and with white paper making up 20% of UK office waste disposal, it is easy to see how significant a difference this could make both to waste costs for businesses and for the environment as a whole.

   Business waste recycling can be easy. If your employer won’t install a recycling box, instead of blaming them for being environmentally irresponsible, why not do some guerilla greening of your workplace and put your own box out and take the paper to your nearest recycling bank instead. Sometimes direct action can be the best way of making employers aware of how serious people are about issues that matter to them.

3. Think before you print
   Consider how much you print out each day and whether you actually need to click that button and get a copy of what could easily be saved and stored on your computer for future reference should you need it. Very often, people will print things to read them instead of just reading the information on the screen. The offending document then finds its way, inevitably, into the bin. And justifying it by saying the document will be recycled, although better than it being thrown in the bin is still not a good enough reason to print every email you receive and every document on your computer. Remember, there’s ink and electricity involved as well as the paper, so every sheet saved is having triple the impact in saving resources.
4. Go electronic!
   Could you review processes such as filing or sending correspondence to make them paper free? Electronic storage devices and systems are becoming a popular option for saving documents electronically rather than having filing cabinets filled with folders and paper that often don’t even get looked at very often anyway, therefore saving time, space, paper and inevitably money for your company. As for correspondence, emails are the new letters and your outbox is the excellent reference point for tracking when and who information has been sent to. An additional money saving bonus is that emails don’t require envelopes or stamps, and again save time for everybody involved. There will always be people who don’t yet have access to the internet, however with technology advancing all the time, even banks and energy companies are switching to paper free systems so there has to be something in it!

It can be surprising just how easy, with a few simple steps, reducing your company’s carbon emissions can be. Although a significant area for change and improvements, saving paper isn’t the only way you can help your business become a green business. Look out for Part 2 with more tips and advice to help you cut the carbon.

Other items you might find of interest:

1. Greening The Office: A Guide To A Greener Workplace Part 2 – Energy
2. Richmond Council Recycling Scheme Loses Biggest Client
3. Environment Agency To Integrate Carbon Emission Reducing VPO Technology

Tags: carbon emissions, carbon footprint, office, recycle, save energy, save paper, workplace