Looking after the environment not only makes you feel good, but it makes the world feel even better. Every time you say no to plastic is an environmental win, and this doesn’t/shouldn’t stop at home because you can keep up your eco-friendly ways at the office.
What is your workplace’s recycling philosophy like? Good? Could it be better?
We are not suggesting that you passively aggressively tut every time someone puts a can in the rubbish and not the recycling bin, but you can set an example for your colleagues by following the same rules that you would at home.
Use the Printer as Sparingly as Possible
Every office has the one person who uses an entire forest’s worth of paper (possible exaggeration) whenever they are preparing for a meeting. Not only does this leave you fishing around the storage cupboard for printer paper, it also means that ink uses go through the roof.
If you can, try to prepare any documents in digital format – most offices now use projectors or big screens for meetings – and keep paper usage to a minimum. Make a note of how much it costs to print per piece of paper and ensure that your manager or accountant are aware because you can guarantee that someone will take notice when money is involved.
Disposable Food Packaging
What do you do when it comes to lunch time? Are you a king or queen of the meal deal? Warm up leftovers from dinner? Or make do with the simple but effective sandwich and snack combination?
Whatever you do, make sure to use disposable items for your food packaging. Plastic bags can be substituted for paper bags, and try not to use plastic cutlery. Plastic can take up to 1,000 years to completely decompose, causing serious damage to the environment.
For some great examples of disposable items, please click here.
Turn Your Computer Off
When the clock hits five o’clock and it’s time to go home, turn your computer off completely and don’t just leave it on standby. This goes for all electrical devices in the office, and also at home.
Devices such as televisions, games consoles and monitors are notorious for being left on standby, rather than properly turned off. If something is not in use, the best practice is to turn it off at the wall, this way you can guarantee that energy is not being needlessly wasted.
Minimise the use of Air Conditioning/Heaters
Do you turn the air con on when you are feeling hot instead of opening a window first? If so, you are using energy that could otherwise have been saved. Similar can be said for when the temperature is cold and the windows are open, but the first port of call is to turn the heater on.
If you do the same at home, instead of running to turn the heating up, try wearing extra layers instead. A jumper will help to warm you up without costing extra in gas or electricity bills.
Plants in your Home or Office
Finally, one of our favourite eco-friendly things to do is to decorate space with plants. Great for the planet and pleasing to the eye, plants provide the best of both worlds when it comes to the environment and decoration.
Plants breathe in the carbon dioxide that we breathe out, reverting that into oxygen while adding colour to our homes and offices. Just a small plant on your desk is all that it takes to show that you care for our planet.
All of these practices should be put into use at home and at work and, if you do, you can rest easy knowing that you are helping to make the world that little bit better.
Great info! After reading this I bought three beautiful plants for my home office and it has really changed the feel of the room
I’ve also moved the printer into the mud room and print wirelessly – it hadn’t occurred to me to do this before! Lastly, bc my office doubles as a guest room, i replaced the twin bed in there with a murphy bed with a build-in desk and bookcase!!!!!!!!! I got it from americanecofurniture.com and had it painted sky blue and now there is so much more space to move around in there. Thanks for your great office ideas!
Wonderful article, All ways are very impressive. It makes my mind peaceful while working. Thanks for great share.
Love this! So glad Eco-office Gals is helping to spread the word about green living and how easy/fun it can be! If you like this article, check out my blog freeimpactblog.com where I discuss similar clean-living topics!
All your points are good and useful, but people do not seem to realize the benefit of planting trees and keeping plants around the house. Not only do they look lovely dotted around the home, but the fact that it is possibly the easiest way to help the environment should be enough of a reason for people to adopt it as a habit. Who doesn’t love a bit of greenery in the house, after all?