Going green in the office isn’t as difficult as you think
Ever considered making your office environmentally friendly? The UN has warned that we have 12 years to limit climate change. If you’re thinking about making a change, one of the best places to start is in the workplace. Don’t worry it’s not going to be time consuming or expensive! We have 5 easy ways to make your workplace more eco-friendly.
Go paperless
We live in a digital age and a great way to be eco-friendly is to go digital! Not everything needs to be printed out. Print documents that are necessary. Utilise cloud services such as One Drive, Dropbox or Google Drive to store documents. If your business has vendors, offer e-statements and invoices instead of paper statements. Use DocuSign to sign digital documents.
Unplug
Standby power can become an unnecessary expense for your company. It’s not enough to just shut down your computer at the end of your day because power is still being consumed when your devices are left plugged in. Most office electronic devices have an energy saving mode, so if you don’t want to completely unplug all your printers or computers this is another option.
Green commuting
Reduce greenhouse emissions by encouraging your team to take alternative modes of transport such as carpooling to work or cycling to work. Having a bike to work scheme is a great way to encourage employees to leave their cars and get on a bike. It will also encourage employees to get fit and healthy whilst looking after the environment.
Recycle
The easiest way to make your workplace more Eco-friendly is by recycling. There are a lot of items in offices that could be recycled. You could start by recycling any paper that doesn’t need to be shredded. Any electronics that are no longer in use, cardboard can be recycled. You could also have a recycling bin and a compost container in the kitchen.
Desk plants
There are certain types of plants that are known to improve the quality of air inside. The quality of air indoors is 2 to 5 times worse than outside air. Plants produce more oxygen, which will offset any chemicals released into the air by new office furniture. So if you spend your 9-5 in an office you should consider getting a desk plant.
We hope that some of these tips have inspired you to start transforming your workplace into a more environmentally friendly space!
