subject: How to Make Your Office Greener: Tips for Bristol Businesses [print this page] How to Make Your Office Greener: Tips for Bristol Businesses
Saving the planet can make your business big savings as well. For example, did you know that every UK office worker uses an incredible 35 litres of water every day- of which 30 could be saved by fitting water-saving devices to office toilets? Bristol is famous for being a hub of green activity, but all local businesses can do more to ensure our city stays at the forefront of the environmental revolution. Read on for some easily implemented tips to take to your boss, your staff or your business partners and take control of your business's environmental footprint.
How can it help my business?
At the start of 2010, Avery conducted a national environment survey to find out office workers' views on helping the environment. The results highlighted some worrying trends. Two thirds of office workers said they were not aware that their organisation had any environmental targets in place, and just 18% were told about targets during their induction. Yet, 46% of those surveyed say it's important our companies should act responsibly when it comes to the green issues. The key reason for a lack of staff participation in greener office practices like conserving energy is that they feel disengaged from the business's environmental interests: when surveyed, office workers admitted that the lack of empowerment, facilities and communication are the key reasons why they are not greener during working hours. 47% even said that they are less conscious of reducing power consumption because they aren't the ones paying the bills. Key to overcoming disengagement will be involving your entire staff in your environmental policy; this will increase their stake in the move to go green. Have a meeting and brainstorm ideas! It's a great way to bring your office staff together and increase dialogue between departments.
Reduce your waste
Residents of Bristol have been 'reducing' already- the total waste that we throw away every year has gone down by 50kg per person since 2005! But waste removal still costs businesses time and money. To reduce paper waste, try making phone pads out of scrap paper or setting up a scrap paper' box to use for printing non-important documents. Make sure you register your company with the Mail Preference Service to reduce the amount of junk mail you get. If you're still using paper plates, plastic cups or any other disposables in the kitchen, consider installing an energy efficient dishwasher and making the change to proper crockery and cutlery- you'll vastly decrease your waste (think how many cups of coffee your office consumes in a day) and it's much more pleasant to eat and drink from. Likewise, try and change from using paper towels in the bathroom and kitchen to cotton. If you buy ten at once and get them laundered once a month with other household or business laundry, you'll make savings. If your office has a vending machine, most will allow you to place your own mug in the dispenser so the plastic cup won't appear. You'll get a bigger hot drink too!
Recycling Tips
If you have unwanted office furniture or other odds and ends, chances are a local charity like the Sofa Store will want them just visit the Bristol Council website for an A to Z of waste items and what to do with them, with a list of community groups who need donations. For example, if you have unopened tins of paint from the office redecoration, donate them to the Children's Scrapstore, a voluntary organisation. They aim to take clean, safe, waste products and re-use them as a creative resource for children's art and play activities- visit www.childrensscrapstore.co.uk . Or, visit the Bristol Freecycling group and find someone who will come and collect it.
Importantly, make sure you recycle your inkjet and toner cartridges. Find an office supplies company like KN Office in Bristol which will take away your empties for free when you order new ones. And don't dispose of computer hardware in the tip, particularly if sensitive commercial information could still be stored on it- make sure you contact Computers for Charities and dispose of it safely.
Buy in bulk and buy responsibly
As well as choosing recycled printer paper and other consumables, try to buy in bulk and avoid individual portion packs, like cereals and drinks. Ready-made convenience foods are often over-packaged so try and avoid these and remember that you are paying for unnecessary packaging. Why not arrange to have local foods sourced and delivered for your meetings' catering, rather than supermarket sandwiches or ready-made cakes, to decrease food miles benefits include building up useful local relationships and contributing to the local economy, which is great for your firm's profile. Also, fresher food usually tastes better. For everyday kitchen items like tea, buy fair-trade, and local- and again, watch the packaging and don't use plastic carrier bags. Better still, buy in bulk with a company which can deliver stationery, catering products, office machinery and office furniture all together; you'll use less of the office budget and reduce the carbon footprint of your office considerably. You're also saving time out of the working day which it takes to go to the supermarket every time you run out of printer paper, memory sticks or milk.
Save on utility bills
British businesses waste over 120 million each year just by leaving the office lights on. Energy usage of many companies and households is sky-high, yet so many computers are left on overnight unnecessarily. If they are not used overnight, give them and the environment a break by switching them off overnight when you go home. Turn off photocopiers, printers, monitors and lights, and make sure phones and chargers are unplugged to save more energy. Water is our planet's most precious resource. In addition to the water savings you can make by adjustments to office toilets, make sure you report dripping taps; Southern Water estimates you will save the equivalent of a bathful of water a week, or more than 900/year in water and wastewater treatment costs.
Other quick money saving environmental tips:
Make sure you order re-usable batteries, since they are notoriously difficult to dispose of (although local recycling centres at supermarkets can often take care of it, you'll have to travel to them). Re-chargeables are much cheaper in the long run too.
Don't use printouts at meetings- take a memory stick and demonstrate your ideas on a computer when you get there, or use a projector. Use online workspaces (such as Google Wave) for projects, and online document storage for your personal work which you can access from anywhere. You'll cut down on your filing mess too and your desk will be much more organised.
Start a car-sharing conversation with your colleagues, or make enquiries about local bike-to-work schemes- you can make substantial savings on bulk-buys on bicycles for staff. For those who are less able to make the trip under their own steam, consider electric bikes , which are very little effort and do not pollute the atmosphere.
Switch off heating in unused rooms, and NEVER leave windows open while a room is being heated- it's a total waste of energy. Your heating costs will go up by 8% each time you increase the temperature by just one degree, so re-think the office temperature; stuffy, warm offices can also make your staff sleepy and unproductive.
70% of office waste is recyclable, but only 8% ever makes it as far as a recycling bin. If you do one thing this week, make sure you buy colour coded bins for the kitchen and office space and separate your rubbish. Visit the Bristol Council website for collection details.
There are plenty of small changes you can make in your office which will make a big difference not only to your staff but also to your bottom line costs. Even tweaking the ventilation and temperature can make a big difference; a recent survey found that staff were happier and more productive in energy efficient offices (without wasteful centrally controlled systems which heat or cool empty rooms and restrict window opening). Why not implement one of these tips every week? In a couple of months, you'll have made some changes that could really make a difference.
