Eco-Friendly Office Ideas
Whether at home or at work, we should all be doing our bit to be more environmentally aware. Offices are a hotbed for energy and material wastage, but simply adopting greener practices by taking note of eco-friendly office ideas where possible can help.
Read on to learn from Office Furniture Online how to make your office more sustainable.
Save Energy, Save Money
It may seem like the obvious step toward being a more energy-efficient office. Still, many workers forget to unplug their laptop chargers and leave their computers on standby overnight and at the weekend. According to The Carbon Trust, leaving a desktop computer on overnight can create enough CO2 to fill a double-decker bus over the course of a year. Those unchecked tech-related habits coupled with energy-sapping strip lights being left on can all add up to expensive bills for the company, and wasted energy which has an impact on the environment.
Here are some easy energy-saving ideas to implement for an eco-friendly office:
- Switch to LED lights and monitors
- Only use air conditioning during hot weather – having the AC on for an extra hour a day can use enough energy in a month to power a TV for over a year.
- Electrical leakage can occur even if the device is plugged into the mains but not switched on, so always remember to unplug!
- Only turn meeting room lights on when the room is being used – switch off when finished to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 171kg per year (Energy Saving Trust)
Introduce a Recycling Scheme
As an employer, another simple and effective way to create an eco-friendly office environment is to provide comprehensive waste and recycling options for staff. Encourage workers to recycle their food containers and other recyclable materials, such as cardboard and glass by providing clearly labelled separate bins in break rooms or kitchen areas. A tip to encourage employees to recycle is to remove personal desk bins in order to have a centrally located waste and recycling area to enforce better recycling practices.
An eco-friendly office should adopt the following recycling and waste management policies:
- Go digital – eliminate the mass of paper waste accrued by offices by limiting the printing of unnecessary documents which could be sent digitally!
- Hold basic recycling training to give people the knowledge of what they can and can’t recycle and encourage a ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ mindset at work
- Use actual mugs for client meetings rather than plastic cups
- Refill ink cartridges if the office is reliant on photocopying and printing
- Appoint a recycling monitoring team – select a one or two members of staff and give responsibility to them to help enforce recycling within the team
Opt for Eco-Friendly Office Products
Buying new equipment and other products for the office is inevitable. General wear and tear, updates and even company growth can mean new or more items are required to help staff do their jobs effectively and comfortably. There are many eco-friendly office ideas for this situation, such as opting for sustainably made products. Our range of eco-friendly notice boards is crafted from a large proportion of recycled materials and offers a sustainable approach to office products. For employee and client comfort, Office Furniture Online also offers an excellent range of environmentally friendly seating including eco-certified desk chairs, bar stools and sofas.
Ensuring your office is sustainable to fit with corporate responsibility doesn’t have to be time-consuming or costly as our eco-friendly office ideas show. Find sustainable office furniture and other products today with Office Furniture Online.
