Five Ways To Make Your Office More Eco Friendly

Now more than ever, it’s important for all of us to reduce the impact we have on the environment. Most crucially to preserve it, and stay competitive, as consumers increasingly choose to align themselves with more environmentally responsible companies.

But going green doesn’t have to mean costly, complicated procedures for your business. In fact, there are lots of simple, effective ways to help make a difference. And even a few that’ll save you money, too.

Here are five eco-friendly office tips to make your workspace more environmentally friendly.

1. Set Staff challenges

It takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit. But everyone has to start somewhere, and a month or even just a week can help set someone on the right path.

Get your office to take part in initiatives like Zero Waste Week, or set your own ones. For example, you could challenge everyone not to use plastic cutlery for a month, or set regular recycling goals with a small incentive to hit them.

Wherever possible, getting rid of single-use items is a great way to save money. How much could your business save if you bought the office mugs and stopped ordering disposable paper cups every month?

2. Go Paperless

While this one’s a bit more of a challenge to do completely, today’s technology has made it much easier to digitize everything. Google Calendar has all but replaced the humble desk calendar, notes can just as easily be taken on a tablet as on an actual notebook, and it’s more annoying than helpful to print out an entire slideshow presentation instead of just emailing it around.

If going totally paperless isn’t feasible, it’s still worth minimizing paper use. You can also use paper made with a high content of recycled material, as well as chlorine-free paper. Bleaching paper with chlorine produces harmful chemicals that then end up in our lakes and rivers. However, newer methods that don’t use chlorine are much kinder to the environment. 

Also, read 8 Easy Ways to Make Your Office Unique.

3. Power down at the end of the day

You’d be surprised at how much energy electronic appliances use simply by being plugged in and switched on, and even just on standby or sleep mode.

At the end of each day, make sure everything’s switched off – lights, computers, monitors, printers, everything. This goes for both at the office and at home. And as well as saving energy, you’ll be saving lots of money too.

You could also go a step further by installing motion-sensing lights. This way your office lights will only switch on when there’s someone around, saving even more energy. Just don’t forget to completely turn the system off at the end of the day.

If your bills are still high (especially now that the energy price cap has been raised), you can also choose to find a new energy supplier to find a cheaper, more sustainable option.

4. Make your workspace more Green (literally)

Environmentally friendly office ideas don’t all have to be about taking things away. Adding some greenery to the office isn’t just a mood-booster, but it also actively helps reduce indoor pollution and improve air quality.

Office plants have been shown to absorb as much as 87% of toxins in the air and not just carbon dioxide. This may help to reduce ‘sick office syndrome’ – the ill effects some people experience when working in an enclosed environment with many other people. They help improve the humidity in dry environments too. And with oxygen, they release natural chemicals that fight against bacteria and spores.

Aside from being an easy eco-friendly win, studies have shown that having plants in the office can also boost mental health, along with productivity and concentration.

5. Dress down

The term ‘dry cleaning’ is a bit of a red herring. Although water isn’t used, liquid solvents are used to clean the clothes instead. The problem is that these solvents are often extremely harmful to the environment (and to people, too).

One commonly-used solvent called PERC (perchloroethylene) is classified as a toxin by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), and as a “likely human carcinogen” too. And if it’s exposed to air and soil, it can have disastrous consequences both for humans and the environment on the whole.

Swapping a strictly-smart dress code for a more relaxed one means far fewer suits to be dry cleaned. And less expense for staff, too.

Remember – when thinking of how to make the office more sustainable, small, consistent changes can make a lot of difference. You don’t have to carry out all five tips all at once – start with one and go from there.