GreenFinder

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Greening the Workplace

February 1st, 2007

Given that the modern business is constantly trying to find ways to “streamline”, “cut-costs” and “achieve efficiencies” then it’s good to know that they can at least part achieve these desired savings whilst helping the environment at the same time. From the tiny home-based business to the mighty corporations everyone can make a difference to their impact on the environment.

Setting the printer default for duplex will instantly halve the expenditure on paper, in addition to helping reduce some of the 4.6m tonnes of waste paper produced by British business each year. Saving emails and documents to the hard drive will also save paper and scanning documents instead of faxing them will also help preserve a few trees. Having the recycle bin nearer to work stations than the waste paper bin will encourage people to recycle paper instead of throwing it away.

Asking the office’s stationary buyer to choose 80g paper rather than the thicker sheets and choose a recycled product- they are cheaper and require less energy to produce. Get them to buy recycled ink cartridges. They offer the same performance as regular but at a lower price!

Encouraging the last one out at night to turn off not only the lights but also the photocopier will reap dividends, The energy saved overnight from flicking the copier switch to off will be enough to make 1,600 photocopies (on 800 pages of duplex, of course!). If workers turn off the their monitors, fax machines and PC’s when they leave, which on top of the 15% you will save from switching off the lights will lead to a healthy saving on overheads.

Reusable mugs and glasses are much better for the environment than the plastic disposable cups you get at many office drinks machines. If your company or colleagues can’t be swayed on this one you can call in ‘save a cup’ to collect your empties which they will then recycle.

When we began setting up the GreenFinder office we were determined not to go overboard by buying shiny new office equipment and stationary. Six months down the line and we have managed to source most of the furniture and accessories second-hand from charity shops and from our local recycling project. Luckily we had plenty of left over paper, folders and subject dividers from our previous jobs lying around which have now been put to good use. When friends and family have a clear out at home and work we get kind donations of paper, plastic files and envelopes which saves us buying new and saves more resources.

Finally, here are a few more ideas to help your company go that bit further to green their workspace

• Set up a lift share scheme for employees

• Ditch the plastic milk cartons and opt for bottled milk delivered to the door

• Purchase envelope reuse labels

• Invest in a company compost bin

• Switch to Fair-Trade tea bags

• Encourage employees to work from home where possible

• Have pool bikes/bags/umbrellas etc for those 5 minute lunchtime trips to the shops