Want to make your business more sustainable? A great place to start is right where you are, your office! Here are some ways to make your business premises more sustainable.
1. Buy Second hand Furniture & Electronics
One of the easiest and highest impact things you can do it to source your office furniture from online auction sites, second hand outlets – even from friends, family and thrift stores. Sure, it might take longer to find what you need but it will be worth it.
You might even be able to find used (we would recommend professionally refurbished) computers, printers, keyboards and screens. If you source them professionally refurbished, they will generally come with a warranty.
2. Find a space with great Natural Light
Finding an office that has good natural light is great for the pocket and the environment as you will only need to turn the lights on if it's an overcast day. It will also make it a nicer space to work in; no-one likes sitting under halogen lighting or in a dark room. Think of it as an investment in team morale and productivity too! You might want to also consider changing power providers to one sourcing renewable energy.
3. Be Close to Public Transport
Make it super easy for your team not to have to drive cars by getting an office close to public transport routes.
4. Compost!
You would be surprised by how much organic waste even a small team will generate. Coffee grounds, tea leaves, paper, pizza boxes and certified compostable packaging (like takeaway coffee cups – but we’ve got a better solution for them too) can also go in. In most urban locations you can get a compost collection. They provide a bucket (with a lid and liner) which they take with them weekly and replace it with a clean one.
5. Create a library of 'Reusables'
Consider setting up a borrowing library of reusable 'Keep Cups', takeaway containers and shopping bags that are available for staff to use and return during the workday. This will save them having to use single use coffee cups, bags and even smoothie cups.
6. Other Tips
- Turn off your zip hot water heater and only boil the jug when required.
- Make plunger coffee rather than using pods and pots of tea instead of teabags. If you’ve set up a compost collection (see above), you can put the used coffee grinds and tea leaves straight in there.
- Recycle all packaging waste (again, if it's compostable, get a collection - see above).
