5 little things you could do to make the workplace more eco-friendly
Global warming has become a massive concern over the past several years, and so it’s important to question whether your workplace is doing all it can to be eco-friendly – after all, it’ll ensure you’re ready for the future and proving yourselves to be a conscious business. This could be done through small changes within the office space or looking for solutions to larger problems such as ensuring that all business travel is carbon offset. In fact, those interested in learning more about large-scale carbon neutrality and how local projects can be powered by carbon credits can find more info here. However, if you’re looking to make some office improvements, then here are five things you can do to make the workplace more eco-friendly.
Put plants in and around the office
Sure, they may look pretty – but plants actually have plenty of benefits in terms of your health. It’s all to do with the air around you, absorbing harmful chemicals and gases and effectively making it cleaner for humans to breathe. According to a Sydney research group and echoed by CIP HR, indoor plants can reduce carbon dioxide levels by 10% and 25% in air-con and non-air-con offices respectively.
As an added bonus, plants actually make employees happier. If everyone can at least see a plant from their desk it engages them, making them happier and also more productive – it’s a necessary inclusion in the workplace for the long run, and the benefits are surprisingly huge.
Turn off the lights
One of the main problems workplaces have in terms of being eco-friendly is leaving the lights on. It’s costly, unnecessary and also extremely harmful for the environment. If you’re at work now, look around – how many lights are on that shouldn’t be?
If you do notice a light that shouldn’t be on, be sure to turn it off instead of ignoring it. Your contribution will go a surprisingly long way to ensuring your workplace is environmentally friendly, as well as being wise with expenses as echoed by Smart Pension. Consider getting automatic lights installed in the long run for an entirely futureproof solution.
Recycle
It’s rather baffling to see just how many businesses still go without recycling. The truth is, many businesses go through much more waste than any household, and so there simply isn’t any reason not to introduce recycling in the workplace as a necessity.
Have a separate bin for recyclable rubbish – plastic, metals, paper – and then a separate food waste bin. It’s one of the easiest and yet most effective eco-friendly practices you can incorporate in the workplace, so there really isn’t any excuse not to.
Paper isn’t necessary – go digital
Any workplace – particularly offices – is likely to have drawers and cabinets full of paperwork, with piles stacked high. However, now’s the time to consider whether physical copies are really necessary. With everything moving to digital, why not transfer said paperwork over and get rid of the physical copies?
It makes total sense to transfer from physical to digital. Not only will it make for more space in the workplace, it’ll also make documents much easier to find as opposed to trawling through years’ worth of papers and files to find the details you need.
Work from home if and when you can
With many businesses moving to cloud-based solutions and remote working, consider working from home if and when you can. It’ll certainly reduce emissions in the workplace if less people are actually in, meaning expenses will also be lessened as will power from charging laptops, using phones and so on and so forth.
As an added bonus, a survey on behalf of the Canada Life Group revealed that those who work from home are also much more productive than those in offices, so it could be the perfect solution.
Do you have any more potential tips for making your workplace eco-friendlier? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
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