The Green Office
As individuals, our level of environmental awareness proves important for many reasons; it fosters a sense of respect for the natural world we live in, promotes sustainable development and encourages conservation of irreplaceable natural resources and vulnerable plant and animal species. When it comes to ways in which we as individuals can make a difference, we might undertake restorative projects; perform basic tasks like recycling; using reusable bags and investing in clean energy.
But what can we do to lessen our environmental impact at work?
This is the question asked by many organizations who now follow a Green Office Program. “Going Green” has become part of many company’s corporate social responsibility. Companies such as McDonald’s, Google and Dell are looking for innovative ways to introduce green practices to their business activities.
The typical office environment provides lots of opportunities for going green from adjusting your office’s lighting system through to the types of office supplies you choose and use. There are hundreds of things you can do to make your office more environmentally friendly but here are our top 10 at Intuity Technologies:
Our Top 10 ways to make your office environmentally friendly.
- Introduce and promote a Waste Management Policy. Facilitate the separation and recycling of waste in the office by placing recycle centres across the office. Empty recycle bins regularly and arrange glass bottle runs. Promote awareness among staff and ensure the policy is part of staff induction.
- Get a coffee machine that doesn’t require pods or filters and encourage staff to use mugs provided as opposed to paper cups. Provide kitchen utensils in the staff canteen to avoid the need for plastic cutlery.
- Review your energy efficiency by addressing day to day habits. Switch light bulbs to energy efficient LED bulbs and encourage staff to switch off lights when leaving a room. Ask all staff to turn off PC’s when leaving the office and regulate the temperature of heating based on office occupancy.
- Implement a Managed Print Strategy. Focus on printing only what is necessary and using a multifunction printer. Utilise software solutions to understand your print volumes and machine efficiency.
- Avoid unnecessary travel and encourage paperless meetings. Encourage virtual meetings using software like Microsoft Teams where possible to avoid unnecessary travelling by car.
- Practice Green Procurement – Purchase green recycled office supplies and avoid unnecessary plastic. Recycle old equipment such as PC’s and laptops.
- Create a Green Team who review practices and take feedback and ideas from staff on a regular basis. Green Team activities such as beach clean ups are also lots of fun and good team building events.
- Place at least one large green plant in the office to recycle the air. Encourage staff to bring a desk plant to work.
- Use Smart Power Strips to regulate power usage on different devices. Create a shutdown evening checklist for staff to follow to reduce energy consumption.
- Consider Renewable energy options such as rooftop solar panels to provide your company energy needs.