9 Eco-Friendly Office Tips
9 green tips to bring to work
download our infographic as a helpful reminder
Office Sustainability Ideas
Every day we wake up and get ready for work. While in our domain, we make the decisions we think are best, but upon arrival to the workplace, some of those choices are turned down by the big cheeses! At my old job, we (the employees) had to bring our own 5-gallon water containers swapping turns to refill so we had clean drinking water and minimal waste. Some opted to bring in single-use water bottles instead. I learned our 5-gallon swap created awareness with our colleagues that they could 1. Save $$ by joining our program and 2. Save the planet! Sharing knowledge and taking action can help people make choices that benefit our planet.
So being a small fish in a big sea, you might ask… “What can I do?”
There are many actions employees can take. Some of them are super simple like my example above, while others require time and effort. Some people look to start a corporate coup, or maybe start with a sustainability council. Below is a list I put together of environmentally friendly actions that can be taken in the workplace and the impact they can have on both small and large companies. – Brandegee Pierce – Founder/ Design guru
#WorkSustainably
Quick Navigation
Bring Your Own Lunch!
Nobody is perfect. There will be days when the baby wouldn’t sleep or you woke up late or you thought you might get castrated by co-workers for bringing in leftover salmon but let’s try to make those the rarity – plus think of all the $$$ you’ll save!
Since I can remember, I almost always hated take-out because of the abundance of waste restaurants handout with your meal. Seamless (a food ordering App) claims that they single-handedly saved 1,000,000 sets of plastic utensils and napkins (worth checking out!). On the other hand, McDonald's alone creates 90,000 tons of single-use waste annually. Let’s help decrease this statistic by bringing your lunch when we can!
Think twice before printing.
Let’s start with an alarming stat. Over 85,000,000 tons of paper are used in the United States per year; about 680 pounds per person (University of Southern Indiana).
You might be thinking that it is an insane number, but that includes mailers, brochures, and nude magazines alike! In the office, I used to receive numerous catalogs from companies that sell office supplies because someone, somewhere, somehow got my contact information. How can you get them to stop? Call/email the company and request they immediately stop all direct mail to you! We live in a digital world. Stop printing presentations/ handouts and email instead!
Turn off monitor/Set timer for computer
Think of your computer like it was your house or your car. When you leave for the day, do you leave the car running in the parking lot or the AC in the house at 72? I didn’t think so.
When computers are set to sleep/hibernate, they use about 1/3 the power as when they are awake. That’s a big difference. If you are going to lunch, a meeting, a bathroom “get-away”, it’s best to put your computer to sleep. If you are going home for the night or going out of town, remember to turn the computer off!
Request eco friendly products
Beet juice, lemon zest and camel dung are all perfect ink alternatives to last forever when writing office notes. JK. But in all seriousness, there are plenty of eco-friendly office products. Lots of companies are now making paper or bamboo pens. When you do need to print, make sure to buy post-consumer paper. A good source for office supplies is www.dundermifflin.com
Bring a water cup to work
Hopefully, you didn’t have the same issues as I did with water in the office place. If you have a water refill station, just bring your Pirani cup or anything reusable drinking vessel! Plastic is not the only culprit… those little snow cone looking wax-coated paper cups can’t be recycled, barely hold any water, and definitely don’t keep it cold/ hot. One stainless steel cup can last forever!
Bike/Skate/Jog to Work or Take Public Transit
Grab your fancy little fixie and brush off the dust. Try to take public transit or ride a bike, skate or even a Segway to the office. Using subways or metros reduce greenhouse gases by up to 76%, light rail trains up to 62% and buses are around 33%, and human-powered is sitting around 100% and it can often be faster in urban metropolitan areas. PS – It gets the booty looking good too, and everybody likes a nice booty!
Build a Sustainability Council
Education might be the best thing to offer the world when it comes to becoming more eco-friendly. “Wish Recycling” is only due to a lack of education. Building a team of educators and enforcers will get the office thinking about the topics on this list amongst many others!
Recycle Responsibly and Often
Priority list.
- Reduce
- Reuse
- Recover
- Refill
- Repair
- Repurpose
- Rethink
- Regift
- Restore
- Recycle
Recycle should be the last resort, but it is often necessary. Try to be diligent to learn what can and can’t be recycled. Paper in an office should almost always be recycled and it should be easy to do. If there is no recycling, join the sustainability council and try to get your company on track to becoming a more eco-friendly establishment.
Bring Reusables (Cutlery/Plates/Bowls)
This shouldn’t even be on the list, but at my old job, it was unbelievable that people would literally bring their own lunch and then use disposable cutlery! To make matters worse, we had a full kitchen and even drawers for people to put their own stuff! It is proof that plastic has changed the planet and have created an obsession with convenience. Bring a fork and knife from home to leave at your desk, or invest in a reusable cutlery kit that you can carry around in your purse, bag, pocket, car etc.! Think it takes to much time to wash? Check this video and see for yourself what’s really inconvenient:
Youtube - The Story of a Spoon
Leave a comment