Environmental & Energy Saving Tips
Paper usage
- Paper is usually the greatest waste in the office, try and use digital formats for writing notes and sending communications.
- Think before you print. Add this to your email auto-signatures as a reminder to everyone.
- If it has to be printed, print double-sided where possible.
- Request online invoices and order products online.
- Re-use envelopes for internal communication.
- Cancel publications and consider reducing your junk mail with the Mailing Preference Service.
- Send out an email campaign to all staff boasting the benefits of recycling and word it in such a way that your employees will respect the businesses behavioural changes and support it.
Energy
- Run a ‘Switch & Save’ campaign:
- Make sure all electrical equipment is turned off when you leave the office in particular.
- Turn the lights off rather than waiting for the cleaner to do this after they have left.
- Turn off PCs at the end of the day.
- Investigate taking all, or a percentage of your energy from renewable sources or ‘green tariffs’.
- Choose energy efficient products – look for labels such as the EU Energy label.
- Manage heating and cooling with timers and sensor controls and correct rather than overriding.
- Turn off heating in empty rooms, making sure they are well ventilated.
- Set a gap or ‘dead band’ between heating and air conditioning control temperatures of about five degrees to avoid them operating at the same time.
Recycling
- Buy products with high recycled material content where possible.
- Recycle your office furniture by using local council schemes or please call 0845 078 0324 investigate the costs to recycle to assist with your environmental targets.
- Install different bins so that waste can be separated into plastics, paper and card, food waste and general waste.
- Recycle your toner cartridges via Quills.
- Recycle your batteries via Quills.
- Get rid of personal bins at desks and encourage staff to use bins which allow for separated waste.
- Organise a ‘Recycling Awareness Day’ for your employees and customers to engage in, promote your campaign via social media and even start your own hashtags!
- Purchase refillable pens via Quills to reduce plastic waste through stationery usage.
Reduce your carbon footprint
- Home-working.
- Car sharing.
- Encouraging the use of public transport and provide incentives to do so (i.e. interest-free loans for public transport season tickets).
Reducing water
- Look into reducing the amount of water used when flushing toilets.
- Fit controllers on urinals systems to ensure that cisterns flush only during office hours. If refurbishing, consider waterless urinals and push-button taps.
- Report leaks & drips for fixing.
Good luck on your journey to becoming a greener business.