Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the effects of business operations on the environment. Greening your company is instrumental in building a positive image. Customers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products and services. Environmental friendly work environment will motivate your employees hence increase productivity. So how do you make your office greener?
Go Paperless
Cutting down trees for paper materials is damaging to the environment. Hence, companies are switching to a digital system. You can reduce paper usage by encouraging employees to print necessary documents only and use both sides of a paper. Inform your suppliers to send electronic invoices. You can also shift from posting letters to sending emails.
Recycle and Reuse
Instead of throwing old papers and plastics into the trash cans put them in the recycle bins. Take part in community recycling efforts by purchasing recycled paper and ink cartridges.
Utilise Natural Light
Sunlight helps you conserve energy. It provides enough lighting thereby ensuring you use minimal artificial lighting. Have large floor to ceiling windows to let in natural light. However, natural light from a window may not reach all the rooms in the office. Good news is Parans Solar Lighting have a way of maximising sunlight. They use technology to capture sunlight and distribute it throughout the building.
Reduce Energy Consumption
Energy efficiency is crucial for environmental sustainability. Reduce energy costs by turning off all electronics when leaving the office. Manage lighting and heating equipment properly to lower utility bills. Consider using compact-fluorescent or LED light bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs consume minimal energy.
Embrace Renewable Energy
Power your business premises with energy from renewable sources. Wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower are cost-effective sources of clean energy. You can purchase green power from your current utility provider.Creating a green company is not something you can do overnight. However, starting small by implementing some practices is a step in the right direction. Make environmental sustainability part of your company’s culture.
Set a company policy
For instance, set a company policy that discourages everyone from having screen savers. Over time, you will discover having office monitors power off instead is fine, too. There’s no need to waste power on a machine that is not in use. Better yet, turn it off and unplug it; a machine that’s plugged into a live outlet still consumes power (read phantom power). It’s not only a waste to the company but also an unnecessary burden on the environment. However, knowing some people will forget, make this easy for everyone by installing a program that automatically powers down computers at specific times.
Buy Eco-friendly Office Equipment
From remanufactured ink and toner cartridges to LED lamps, multi-purpose machines, and portable ACs, you have several opportunities to show some love to the environment and save money, too. You will save energy using LED lamps, and reduce the number of machines you need by buying one that does more. On the other hand, remanufactured products reduce waste. If it’s an option, or where possible, consider second-hand products. There’s no point in all of us wanting to buy or use new products and then after a while, needing to dispose of them. Buy second-hand products to prolong products’ lives and help reduce manufacturing.
Try Innovation in the Bathroom and Kitchen
If left unchecked, these two places will undermine your ‘going green’ efforts. The biggest culprits are the cisterns in the toilets, the taps, and the supplies we choose. You will save money and avoid plastic if you buy an economy jar of coffee, a packet of sugar, skim milk, etc. instead of packs with individual sachets. It’s also possible to replace paper towels with towels in the kitchen. To save water, install low-flush/ half-flush cistern models in the bathrooms, and low-flow aerators on your taps. Alternatively, if you have the old model cisterns, place bricks in them to reduce the amount of water used per flush.