Going green in your office can save you tens of thousands of dollars through tax breaks. You can benefit from saving the world, it’s a clear win-win situation.
If you run an office and are interested in going green you may not be too sure where to start. There are plenty of options, but many may seem too hard to figure out or maybe even too complex to introduce to the office.
Don’t worry, there are plenty of things you can do in stages to get your office to the green side.
For some excellent green tips for the office, keep reading.
Green Tips for the Office
Remember, you’re doing this for a reason. Some of these changes may seem tough, but it’s for a good reason and your office will run better because of it.
The key thing to do is to get the employees on board. If everyone is working toward the same goal, then it will be easier to achieve the desired results.
1. Reduce
The first three tips will be the words you hear all the time connected to going green: reduce, reuse, recycle.
Reducing is essentially making less waste. Look at how much your office throws out each day. There are most likely plenty of needless waste items that can go away.
Introduce company sponsored cups for your employee’s beverages. This allows them to reuse the same container for water, coffee or soda and will no longer be throwing away cans and styrofoam cups.
Check out lights that are more energy efficient and make sure all your computers are energy star certified.
2. Reuse
Embrace the idea of multiple uses of the same item. If your company still prints out tons of paper, put processes in place that limit the amount of printing that’s done on a daily basis.
Every print job should be thought out. There is no reason it today’s age that multiple reams of paper should be used every day.
This is something that should be covered in training. Grouping it together with safety training for OSHA requirements and SafetySkills is a good way to share some green tips for the office.
3. Recycle
Your paper company should have a recycled paper available to purchase. You should do this for every office item available.
Stocking your office with recycled products is a good way to do your part in the global climate progression.
Also, check out your computer hardware usage. How much of it is just sitting in bins when employees have upgraded? Look at electronic recycling programs.
4. Cleaning Products
If your office contracts a cleaning company, they may be using toxic chemicals that you aren’t even aware of. Get on top of this immediately.
Cleaning chemicals go straight into drain pipes, causing catastrophic damage to our ecosystem. Your contractor or cleaning crew should switch to non-toxic alternatives. Sharing eco-tips with them can help them provide environmentally friendly options to all their customers.
This may be a little bit complex if you have to talk your contractor into switching brands, but it is ultimately worth it.
If the cleaning is done in-house then this fix is a little more straight-forward. Replace the harsh chemicals on your shopping list with toxic-free options.
5. Transportation
How far away do your employees live? The fact is that some of them may live really close but others could be commuting for more than an hour every single day.
Putting together a program that makes it easier for your employees to ride share together will go a long way to making your company and office as green as it can be.
To encourage your employees to carpool, you can create special parking spaces for energy efficient and registered carpool vehicles. Small practices like this go a long way to motivate your employees to go green.
6. Competition
How do you get your employees to participate in the green initiative? The only way to make this happen is with their assistance, so it’s important to get them on board.
Setting up competitions amongst your departments or individual employees may breed the best kind of results through competition you’ve ever seen.
The department that uses the printer the least or the employee that contributes the most to a communal recycling program can win certain prizes or rewards. This will create a natural need to be the best, and everyone wins in the end.
7. Office Temperature
Half of your employees like it cold and the other half like it warm. Who’s right and who’s wrong? There is no right answer to this.
Making all of your employees happy with the thermostat setting is nearly impossible, but what’s important is setting an expectation and sticking to it to become environmentally friendly.
Setting your thermostat even one degree higher or lower depending on what the external temperature is can save your office thousands. A communal thermostat can only lead to arguments within your office.
8. Go Paperless
As the state of technology progresses, the need for paper decreases.
Your office should already be relying on paper far less than it used to, but have you gone far enough? Passively using less paper is not enough, actively adapting to the changing world and making smart decisions early on is how you win the green race.
Identify the areas in which your office uses too much paper that could otherwise be done digitally. Consider outfitting your employees with tablets or smartphone applications that can give them the information they need while mobile without using paper.
With cloud storage and email, your office should be able to transition almost completely away from paper.
Save the World
What’s the benefit of going green? Is saving the world enough?
Your company can reap the benefits of going green by not only saving money but also creating a solid and respectable reputation. Customers enjoy giving business to corporations that are smart about the environment and employees feel better about working for them.
If you’re ready to make the transition to environmental responsibility, check out some more green tips for the office.
