07 Sep 2010
Each year we generate around 100 million tonnes of waste from households, commerce and industry. Most of this ends up in landfill, where waste generates methane which is a powerful greenhouse gas. As more organisations are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint we have prepared this quick guide to help you make small changes to your office that will have a significant impact on your organisation’s environmental impact. Save thousands of trees every year by simply encouraging the use of email over fax and disabling the automatic print feature for received faxes. As an additional measure, you can set your fax machine to automatically redirect all faxes to an email address; this enables the intended recipient to review the fax before printing it. Stop using disposable cups and switch to switch to mugs, you can even add your corporate logo and distribute mugs to employees. Switching to paper towels is a painless way of really cutting down on both environmental impact and cost. If you’re decorating the office make sure you select light colours to reflect natural light which will reduce the need for artificial lighting. If considering a restructure why not consider enabling employees to work from home all or part of the time. This reduces environmental impact and could increases job satisfaction due the removed daily commute. This option is ideal for growing businesses that may not have the required office space to accommodate their increasing number of employees. Invest in recycling bins and place them around the office and reduce the availability of general waste bins. Finally review your suppliers, request proof of environmental credentials from all your suppliers. There are a number of things to bear in mind when doing this, the most common environmental standard in the UK is Iso 14001, and working to this standard does not mean accreditation to the standard. If talking to your office supplier, you may want to ask if they have FSC or PEFC chain of custody and request a copy of the certificate. If proof for the above is not supplied seek out suppliers with greater commitment to the environment. We hope you’ve found these tips helpful. If you would like to know more about how Wiles Greenworld can help to reduce your environmental impact by providing tailored advice please call us on 0208 758 7700 or email sales@wilesgreenworld.co.uk
