Promoting sustainability can be done from anywhere at any moment. Whether it’s a big gesture or a series of small changes made overtime, lowering our impact on the environment is key to creating a more sustainable future and one of the best places to do this is at work.
Building an eco-friendly workplace can have a knock-on effect. When you do your own part, it may inspire your work colleagues to follow your example and we’ve put together some helpful tips on how to promote sustainability in the office.
Invest in eco-friendly cleaning supplies
They say cleanliness is next to godliness and that is certainly true at work. Maintaining a clean workstation and kitchen is important, yet many traditional cleaning products contain harmful chemicals like ammonia and formaldehyde that have a negative impact on the environment.
Investing in eco-friendly cleaning supplies is a great way to introduce sustainability into the office and we’d recommend our dish washing kit that comes with a wooden dish brush, compostable sponges and sponge scourer.
All the products in the kit are made from sustainable materials and are biodegradable, which helps to reduce your overall carbon footprint.
Go paperless
How many times do you use the printer at work? If it’s a lot, then it may be time to consider saving a few dozen trees by using less paper.
Instead of printing out documents, it’s worth using cloud-based sharing systems like Google Drive and One Drive to share notes and anything that needs to be edited. In a meeting, you could also use your computer to take notes or create a visual presentation.
Build eco-friendly lunch habits
Lunchtime provides a great opportunity to develop eco-friendly habits at work that can translate into other parts of your life. This could involve eating with sustainable utensils, such as our bamboo knife, fork and spoon set.
Another option is to eat from a sustainable lunch box that’s plastic-free or bring in a glass coffee cup that can be used again and again.
Go green with office plants
Another way to create an eco-friendly work environment is to bring in a plant for your desk. Office plants go a long way towards increasing oxygen flow and improving the overall air quality.
The actual chemicals that plants help to purge are benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde. All of these chemicals can have a negative impact on our health and the environment, so it’s always better to create a greener workspace.
Start a sustainability challenge
Why not introduce some fun into your sustainability efforts by setting up a monthly challenge for everyone in the office? Not only can this help to boost team morale, it gives people an incentive to participate and builds a foundation for them developing their own sustainability habits.
One example of challenge could be to reduce carbon emissions by setting up a cycle to work competition and having a prize at the end of the month.
Share your thoughts
There is no one-size-fits all approach to creating an environmentally friendly workplace and we’d love to hear your tips so we can add to our own lists. Let us know in the comments below!