How To Be Environmentally Friendly In The Workplace

Protecting the environment is becoming more important in today’s society as people become more aware of the issues our planet and environment are facing. That is why June 5^th is officially World Environment Day, a day dedicated by the United Nations to promoting worldwide awareness as well as encouraging action to protect our environment.

World Environment Day originally began in 1974 and has continued on for 43 years. It is also hosted by a different country each year, with 2017 being hosted by Canada. To help promote awareness of the environment and celebrate World Environment Day, we have five useful tips on how to be more environmentally friendly in the workplace.

Recycle Used Items

You may think that people always talk about recycling, but that is because it is one of the easiest ways to be environmentally friendly. As a nation we often waste a lot of items that could be recycled, for example according to recycle-more.co.uk the UK goes through over 1.2 million tonnes of electrical waste. Shockingly, this is the equivalent to 150,000 double decker buses, but things like this can be recycled.

Discuss with your HR department to see if there is a way you can encourage recycling the workplace. There are many types of recycling that can be done, for example the traditional paper and plastic recycling. In an office, there could also be a toner or ink collection point where used cartridges could be placed along with battery recycling.

Turn Off Computers

Many people may already turn off their computers at the end of the working day, but there are also many who simply log off. This means that computers and monitors are left running over night, resulting in a lot of wasted power.

Not only is this not environmentally friendly, but it can lead to increased energy costs for your company and potentially have risks of a fire. Encourage people to turn off their computers once they finish, if there are no computers on during the night then there is no energy that is being wasted!

Use Recycled Products

While it is important to recycle in the first place, there are plenty of products that are available now that are made from recycled items. From environmentally friendly recycled Post-it Notes to storage boxes made from recycled plastic, there’s something for everyone today.

Why not take a look at OPInfo.net to find all the recycled products that are on offer and see that being environmentally friendly is easier than you might think?

Car Share

An article on OPInfo Blog recently looked at the benefits of car sharing and one of the great benefits for the environment is that car sharing reduces the amount of cars on the road. This in turn means that both congestion and pollution will be reduced, a great positive for anyone interested in helping the environment.

Why not take a look at our article to see how you can help to set up a car sharing scheme in your workplace?

Work Out How Much Waste Is Being Generated

While it is important to recycle as many items as possible, there is also the prospect that you could actually reduce the use of certain items in the office. Producing a waste audit of your workplace will allow everyone to see what is being used and wasted.

This can then further mean that people can attempt to reduce the amount of waste being produced by reducing the amount of items being bought. Keep track of what is being recycled and how much is being recycled to assess whether it is being beneficial. Make sure to keep everyone involved and aware of what is happening so that everyone can be involved.