Top Tips for Going Green
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Why do you want to go green? Seriously, you have to be very clear about the benefits you’re going to accrue from going eco. There’s loads of great business and social benefits, so write them down and be very clear, because you ‘re going to need these to persuade your colleagues to join you.
If you‘re just starting to green your office then you’re going to need some help. Get your boss on board with you. Of course, if you are the boss then you have a different problem – you have to get your staff on board. The key to both problems is getting support throughout the company, from the top, middle and bottom. Make sure they all know why you’re going green (this is where the benefits you wrote down come in).
When that’s done it’s time to measure EVERYTHING! Well almost everything: how much waste do you produce, how much is recycled, what isn’t being recycled? How about your electricity usage? As well as water, gas, paper use, printing – you name it, you can measure it. Right now statistics are your friend and they can help gauge your improvement.
Use your stats and the friends you’ve made to tell all your colleagues what your footprint is and get them to help find ways of reducing your impact. Going green should be a party! Have fun being creative with your colleagues.
Now you know how efficient your office is, here’s ten top tips on making it greener.
1. Remove all toxic materials and POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants). These include plastics like PVC (often found on files, folders and more), as well as bleach and harmful paints and chemicals. There’s a whole range of cost-effective eco alternatives to these environmental health hazards.
2. Reduce consumption. Whether it’s a matter of not printing an email or reusing a piece of paper, see where you can reduce the materials the most. Not only will you cut waste, but you’ll save money too.
3. Avoid disposable products. We hate disposal products. They do little but add to the cradle to grave waste cycle. Whatever can be reused again and again will save you money and the environment. And if you’re after something with a limited lifetime, how about a biodegradable option?
4. Recycle. Recycle everything you can – we can even help with our recycling services. Perhaps you can even reuse packaging. Remember to BUY recycled products too – without people buying recycled products, there’ll be nothing for your recycled waste to be turned into.
5. Use sustainable products. For virtually every option, there’s a sustainable option. Whether it’s FSC wood furniture or locally made products, we’ve compiled them all in our shop for you.
6. Buy UK. Most of our green office supplies are from the UK, giving them a drastically lower carbon footprint whilst supporting local manufacturers and the economy. It also means you can be sure the processes and materials used have the lowest environmental impact.
7. Check that green IS green. When going green, the best intentions can lead you to unknowingly buy environmentally damaging products because of their green label. If they’ve been shipped in from Asia, or use perhaps only a small percentage of recycled materials, they might not be quite as green as they claim.
8. Flick that switch. If you're out of the room for a while, do the lights laptops and more need to be on? There's no need burning energy and money for an empty room. And of course, check everything's turned off - by the plug - at the end of the day. We've got some great energy saving
devices to help. -
9. Constantly measure. You need to be sure that what you're doing has an impact so keep on measuring your waste and energy use. This will help you see where needs more improvement and maximise your efficiency. Things can only get greener.
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10. Check Travel and Logistics. Getting stuff for the office? Get as much as you can in one go to cut down deliveries. And if you're sending products out, encourage customers to do the same. Some eco friendly packaging doesn't go amiss, either. Travel
And finally. Go to The Green Desk shop. We've got literally everything you need to turn your office green. From supplies to services, we've got a one stop shop ready and waiting to make your office as environmentally
friendly as it can be. So whatever you want to turn green, come to us and we'll get you the best there is.
