Eco-friendly offices are more than just passing trends. They’re made to preserve the environment while creating a comfortable space for workers. There’s even a recruitment firm in Japan that grows its own vegetables inside the building. The workers get healthy air and food at the same time. Fortunately, there are other ways to make your office environment-friendly.
It’s still difficult for most companies to fully switch to renewable energy. Even large companies like Apple just recently announced they’re now running mostly on green energy. While you’re still saving up and looking for solar power providers, practice these eco-friendly habits.
Unplug When You Can
Even though appliances are turned off, they still consume small amounts of electricity. This is called “Phantom energy.” To avoid phantom energy from driving up your bills, ask your employees to unplug their workstations before they leave for the day.
Get More Efficient Lighting
It’s not enough for the office to turn off its lights every end of the day. If you’re still using incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, make the switch to LEDs. They’re the most energy-efficient bulbs you can get right now. Energy Star-rated LEDs consume 75 percent less energy than incandescent lights. They also last 25 times longer.
Another way to save energy on lighting is to optimize natural light. Open up the blinds during the day. Remodeling your office to let sunlight in costs a lot initially, but you’ll have a better-looking and energy-efficient office in return.
Upgrade Your Stockroom Management Skills
Going eco-friendly isn’t just about saving energy. It’s also about minimizing waste. One of the best things you can do to reduce office waste is to keep a strict inventory of what goes in and out. Create a system where requests have to be made and approved even for a single ballpen. This will ensure the efficient use of office supplies and equipment.
Practice Proper Trash Segregation
It’s easy to keep one bin for all types of garbage, but it’s also wasteful. Most of the trash you throw out this way won’t be recycled because of cross-contamination. It also makes the collectors’ jobs harder because they have to segregate trash manually for recycling.
Start with recyclable, non-recyclable, and food waste bins. It also helps to educate employees about what should be recycled.
A Paperless Future
Shifting to paperless operations won’t always be easy. Clients might want physical copies of files. Government forms still aren’t 100% digital. Using Google Docs is a great way to distribute papers, spreadsheets, presentations, and other documents for collaboration.
You can also use Google Forms to replace physical forms for registration or survey purposes. What’s great about Google Forms is it creates basic charts and graphs for you. This lessens the time needed to calculate data for reports.
For file storage and backup, use apps like Dropbox or Google Drive. This way, you don’t have to worry about missing files because you can always grab them online.
You don’t have to worry about signatures, either. The ESIGN Act of 2000 makes electronic signatures valid.
Going green in the office doesn’t have to be a drastic change. Start with little things like assigning bins for recycling and unplugging workstations after an employee’s day ends. When it comes to bigger pursuits like going paperless, it’s best to hold a meeting with all your workers to see what they think of it. Like productivity, an eco-friendly workplace should be a team effort.