How to make your company eco-friendly

You take it seriously when it comes to respecting the environment and surely do your colleagues. However, you’ve sadly noticed that your company isn’t very eco-friendly and that it’s time to take a few actions to take care of this. Let’s take a look together and see what you can do. 

Give up on plastic cups

You have a water fountain too? And one can find plastic cups with this water fountain? Cups that your colleagues throw away once they’re done with them? Bid goodbye to these cups, replace these with water bottles which you can distribute to each of your collaborators. They can keep the bottle for several months and avoid throwing 2 to 3 glasses in the dustbin per day (multiplied by the number of collaborators and the number of working days, you do the math: it adds up to a lot). 

Take it easy on the printing

Do you really need to print out this PowerPoint document? Or even this email? Only print out what you really need and look at the rest directly on your computer screen or tablet (yes it’s true sometimes it hurts the eyes, well then decrease the brightness).  Raise awareness among your colleagues on these last few points, mainly Melanie who gobbles away reams of paper and much more every week. How about putting up a board “DO YOU REALLY NEED TO PRINT THIS?”, in front of the printer, to make the ones who go overboard feel guilty? Of course, you’ll need to use an A4 sheet for this, but you’ll make do with it, as due to sacrificing this one sheet, you’ll be able to save many others. Even if you really have to use paper, how about using re-cycled paper? 

Sort through ALL your garbage

You’ve been sorting through garbage for years at home but what about your company? If you have the classic waste baskets in black plastic next to your offices, in which your collaborators throw everything without sorting through, perhaps it’s time to do some wastebasket updating. Today, many companies offer you to install sorting waste bins in your premises and come collect these. Or, you can simply implement various carton bins that collaborators could take turns to change and go empty these out at the sorting spaces. 

Beyond just paper, plastic, cans and glass, you can also recycle ink cartridges (some are recyclable, like the Nespresso cartridges), even bulbs.

Select cleaning supplies carefully

Some cleaning products can be very harmful for the environment, in addition to being bad for health (irritants which slide through our lungs). Favor using more natural products, like white vinegar, lemon, or sodium bicarbonate. If a service provider does the cleaning in your offices, make them favor such kind of products: their lungs will thank you in a few years. 

Switch-off all the lights

It may seem silly but too many companies keep their office light on even during the night. What is the point? Giving out a « hard work » image, by making others believe that the employees work all night long? Let’s put a stop to this, it’s ridiculous. Moreover, raise awareness among your colleagues so that they switch off the lights, when they leave the meeting room. You can use lights which work through movement detectors, to solve the issue easily. 

Favor carpooling

Many of your colleagues live in the same area, however each one takes their own car while they could come to the office together? How about establishing a carpooling system in the company? 

Support remote work

To take things further with carpooling, support remote work. If your collaborators were to make less trips, this means less CO2 emissions! If one saves time and gains productivity through remote work but also manages to reduce your company’s ecological imprint, well then make a go for it. And for those who still have doubts, no remote working isn’t only made for slackers. 

Careful with emails

According to a recent study, sending 1Mo sized email is the same as consuming a 60W bulb for 25 minutes. If we were to multiply this by 20 mails per day, it’s the same as driving 1000 km in a car. To reduce this ecological impact, don’t send big attached documents and don’t add the entire earth to each mail. Moreover, don’t forget to regularly clean up your inbox: the longer you keep an email on a server, the more the negative impact, you make on the environment.

More informations here 14 ideas to make your company more eco-friendly