Nowadays, it’s not enough that you go about your life being wasteful and damaging the environment alongside it. Given all the damages that humans have caused on the environment, it’s high time that people would start being more conscious of their lifestyle choices. Luckily, we’ve been seeing an uptrend of people doing that.
Aside from your individual lifestyle choices, organizations, corporations, and businesses also have a responsibility to be more eco-friendly, given that they have a lot more power to damage the environment if they’re careless about it. If you value the environment both as a person and as a business, then you should build an eco-friendly workplace.
To help get you started, here are ten ways you can become a more eco-friendly workplace.
1. Implement a Recycling Program
Something that we all know by now is the concept of reusing, reducing, and recycling. Waste management is an essential part of reducing the negative impact that we leave in the environment. Therefore, as a business, it might be of interest to you that you implement a recycling program in how your business deals with its waste.
You can dedicate a day to train your employees on mindfulness and specific policy changes, such as learning how to recycle your trash. If people aren’t used to it, remind them that, eventually, after frequent practice, they’ll get used to it anyway.
Of course, this won’t be possible if there aren’t any recycling bins available for them to use in the office. Additionally, have a composting bin available so that any food waste can be useful again as well.
2. Conserve Energy Within the Office
Energy efficiency is also one way you can help your business become more eco-friendly. Being energy efficient isn’t only going to help you be more environmentally-friendly, but it’s also going to reduce your electricity bills, saving you some cash in the long run. Therefore, you might want to start implementing this soon to be able to reap the benefits.
You can do that by turning off and unplugging any unused electronic equipment, as well as the lights you aren’t using. You should also switch to LED lights as these last longer and are more efficient in terms of energy usage in comparison to other lighting options.
3. Promote a Paperless Office
A paperless office isn’t only good for the environment; it is also going to be more convenient. If you convert your documents to their digital versions, you will have access to them anytime and anywhere. Aside from that, you won’t have fire hazards everywhere in the office.
Also, you can use mobile forms and you’re going to be reducing the amount of money you’re spending every week on paper for your essential documents.
4. Reusable Dishes and Silverware
For your office pantry, try not to have paper or plastic cutleries available since these are not environmentally-friendly items. Instead, you should already be providing reusable dishes and silverware that your employees can use in the office. You can also encourage your employees to bring their cutlery and then provide dishwashing items in the office.
Not only will this be eco-friendly, but you’re also saving money and time from having to refill the disposable cutleries again and again.
5. Use Hand Dryers
Instead of using paper towels to wipe people’s hands in the bathroom, provide hand dryers in the toilets instead. You can reduce your paper waste because of this, and you don’t have to spend as much on paper towels once you get these installed in your toilets.
6. Use Non-toxic Cleaning Products
According to Maid Sailors office cleaning companies NYC, there are cleaning products out there that can be harmful to the environment. These harsh chemicals won’t only harm the environment, but they can also hurt you when you are overexposed to it.
With that said, when you’re cleaning the office, consider switching to more natural cleaning products that aren’t toxic to humans and the environment. You can even request some cleaning service providers to use natural cleaning solutions in the office if they have that service.
7. Recycle Old Office Furniture and Equipment
Instead of throwing out old office furniture and equipment, recycle them instead. Better yet, do a good deed and donate them away. If they can’t be donated, then yes, you should recycle them instead and reduce the wastage that your office generates during an upgrade.
8. Make Bulk Buying Your Thing
Instead of buying small packets of simple food items in the office like coffee, sugar, creamers, and so on, it’s better that you buy them in bulk. That way, you don’t throw away hundreds of packets in a day. Make sure that you keep them in labeled and clean containers and provide them with their serving spoons to keep everything sanitized.
9. Bring Homemade Lunch/Snack
It would help if you also encourage your employees to bring their own cooked lunch to work instead of getting deliverables or takeout as much as possible. Educated them about the amount of packaging waste that this generates all for one meal.
You can also encourage them to bring their own mugs to the office for their coffee.
10. Build Your Green Team!
If there are sustainability enthusiasts in the office, then you should encourage them to help the company become greener. Every once in a while, get together with them and brainstorm more ideas to make the office a healthy and sustainable place to work.
Over to You
Having an eco-friendly workplace comes with a set of challenges, and the transition can be rough if you are starting from scratch. However, you can always start small. Start with a single of the ten ways listed above, then expand from there. That way, you can start having an eco-friendly workplace with a smoother transition.
