How to Make Your Office Greener

1 comment so far

There are many ways in which to introduce a more environmentally friendly approach to the way you run your office. Many business owners have opted to go green in an attempt to create a more eco-friendly environment; here are a few tips you may want to put in place to make your office more environmentally friendly.

Update: If you like this, feel free to Digg it!

Enjoy the breeze - Open the curtains and windows and let the sun shine in. Use the natural light of the office instead of switching on the electrical ones. This will also prevent the office from becoming stuffy and eliminate the need to turn the air conditioners on.

Double check - Make sure that you double check all documents for mistakes before printing them. This prevents you from re-printing and wasting paper.

Put a pause on the printing - Print only as many documents as you need. During a meeting, ask staff members to share documents instead of giving each individual their own copy.

Recycle - Encourage staff members to recycle and re-use anything they can. Make it a fun office policy to recycle and reward those individuals who do well.

Put the lights off - Make sure that your computer and any other office equipment is turned off before you leave at the end of the day. Make it a rule that the last person to leave should make sure that all lights, plugs, air conditioners and other general office equipment is turned off before they leave.

Don’t chuck it - Supply the office with coffee mugs, plates, forks, knives and spoons, or ask staff members to bring them from home. This means you do not need to use Styrofoam cups or any other sort of plastic or paper utensils.

Double up - Try to use both sides of the paper when printing, or use documents that are no longer important as scrap paper on which to jot down notes or reminders. Place boxes around the office and encourage staff members to fill it with any re-usable scrap paper.

Switch off equipment in common areas - When common areas are not in use, turn off any electrical equipment in that room. During the day the kitchen and bathroom lights can be turned off, as well as any TVs and computer equipment in the boardroom.

Plants are pretty - Adorn your office with some small indoor plants. Open the window and let the plant enjoy some sunshine. The fresh air and greenery will do wonders for the office environment.

Read environmental blogs - Encourage your staff members to read environmental blogs such as this one to encourage pro-active environmental awareness.

Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 9:24 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.