Office typically provides plentiful opportunities for going green. From adjusting your lighting system through the types of office supplies that you choose and use, there are hundreds of other things that you probably can do to make your office more environmental friendly. Some of the convenient tips that are quite easy to implement and which will make a considerable difference over time.
Going Green Ideas for Office Supplies
- Purchase staple-less staplers and pens that can be refilled repeatedly rather than sent to a landfill.
- Try to put an end to use of products that there are no green alternatives for such as rubber bands
- If possible, recycle used office supplies such as paper & plastic products
Going Green Ideas for Printers
- Buy & use recycled paper
- Do use your printer’s eco-mode (if it has one)
- Do save paper by printing on both the sides of the paper (whenever possible) and put up a prominent sign up in the office to jog the memory of the users to print only when necessary.
- Last but not the least; recycle your used ink and toner cartridges.
Going Green Ideas for Computers
- Make it a habit of turning off your computer when not in use.
- Do keep computer equipment updated; current new computers & monitors are more energy efficient than those few years back.
- Check computer settings for standby mode because if computers are kept unused for long hours, they then should be set to go into standby mode within a short time span.
Going Green Ideas for Lighting
- Turn off the room’s light when not in use and especially overnight. For example, having the lights on in an office staffroom/washroom all day long makes no point.
- Try replacing standard incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) or LED bulbs as these use 75 percent less energy in comparison to standard incandescent light bulbs while delivering the same light output.
- Prefer to use light wall colours as light paint colours and higher gloss sheens reflect daylight, meaning your space will require less overhead lighting. BC Hydro has an excellent guide for making the most of natural light to light your office space.
Going Green Ideas for Heating and Cooling
- If you have access to your office thermostat, heat your office to a maximum of 21°C when occupied and 16°C when unoccupied. Heating and cooling set points must be set 2 to 3°C apart so that the air conditioner does not cycle (turn on and off) frequently (BC Hydro).
- Use weather-stripping and caulking to lessen the heat loss from windows and doors.
General Going Green Ideas for the Office
- Encourage the staff to use real dishes, cutlery, mugs, glasses and not disposables.
- Get a coffee maker that does not need paper filters and if not, use coffee filters that are made up of recycled paper or so.
- Make sure your office equips at least one large plant which is not only green & attractive but also health-giving & great for recycling the air
- Cleanliness factor is a must, as make sure that the office uses green products that are not damaging the environment.
- Print a single copy of memos or other inter-office documents and circulate them in the entire office rather than printing a separate copy for each.
- Use whiteboards/ overhead projectors to display the respective meeting agendas rather than printing and distributing them.
- Find a place to recycle used recyclable batteries and cell phones near you through the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation.
- Do practice green procurement
Going Green Ideas for Washrooms
- Prefer to use hand dryers or hand towels instead of paper towels
- Do turn off taps completely after use, ensuring that they don’t drip. In this context, on an average if a tap is leaking at a rate of only one drop per second, over 25 litres of water a day can be frittered away and that's about 10000 litres a year.
- Install low-flow faucet aerators to lessen the flow of water from the taps.
- You need to make sure that all the washroom cleaning products are environmentally safe.
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