The benefits of going green in your business practices and office management are numerous and more than worthy any effort invested.
First of all, the eco-friendly method indicates resource or at least a certain degree of frugality, which means that, at the end of the month, you’ll end up paying less.
Aside from this, you also get the privilege to label yourself as green, which might earn you some extra points with some of the more eco-minded people in your target demographic.
Finally, even if there were no immediate material gain, going green is the right thing to do from a moral and ethical standpoint. Here are five ways for you to do so.
5 Ways to Going Green in Your Office
1# Go paperless
For starters, you need to get familiar with the fact an average office worker prints around 10,000 sheets of paper every year. This harms our planet in more than several ways.
First of all, it adds to the deforestation, as well as causing another ecological impact, due to the carbon footprint of the paper industry as a whole. Then, it causes a problem of waste, seeing as how the majority of these documents don’t get discarded or recycled properly (not everything is worth storing). Finally, it doesn’t consume only paper but ink, as well. As for the tips on going paperless, first, you need to use emails as often as possible and print only the most vital of documents.
Second, you can just scan things instead of printing them. Then, some companies have the privilege of using digital formats instead of usual products.
2# Make bulk orders
The next thing you should understand is that, when ordering, transportation causes a massive environmental impact. This is why ordering in bulk tends to be a much greener alternative to making several smaller orders. In a scenario where you’re ordering supplies from far away, the eco-friendliness of ordering in bulk increases many times over.
Apart from this, making bulk orders is also much more frugal and it ensures that you don’t run out of supplies at a key moment.
The problem with this strategy lies in the fact that it would require you to expand your storage capacities. Still, unless you’re required to rent out an entire warehouse for these supplies, you’re still supposed to end up in a surplus.
However, it’s much more likely that you’ll just have to rearrange your supply room, possibly order some additional shelves and install them.
3# Rethink your lighting
Another way in which you can make your office greener is by rethinking your lighting system. The simplest way to do this is to invest in indoor LED lighting. The way in which this works is fairly simple, due to the fact that the LED has a more favorable Watt to Lumen conversion chart than the standard incandescent bulb.
Due to the fact that they convert the majority of power into light and not heat, these bulbs also have a much longer lifespan. In fact, while an average incandescent bulb lasts between 1,000 and 2,000 hours, a LED bulb can last as much as 50,000 hours.
This means that the 1:1 price comparison between LED and an incandescent bulb isn’t logical. If that was the case the incandescent would always win, however, if you compare one LED bulb with 50 or even 25 incandescent ones, the clear winner is more than obvious. Not to mention that a single bulb causes 50 times less waste than 50 bulbs do.
Related: New Innovations in Developing Renewable Energy Technologies
4# Smarter appliances and fixtures
In the 21st century, some of the most recognizable appliance manufacturers are competing in the field eco-friendliness. What you need to look for are the appliances that are Energy Star certified. What this means is that they’re producing appliances that are designed to consume as little power and possible and bathroom fixtures that save water.
During your next purchase, make sure to check the manual and inquire online on properties of an item that you intend to buy. Depending on the number of these appliances/fixtures you need, you could make quite the difference. On the other hand, just replacing all the pieces of outdated tech is supposed to make a difference.
5# Office furniture made from recycled material
At the end of the day, reducing your overhead is not the only thing you should worry about. Supporting planet friendly economies, as well as withdrawing your financial support from those who aren’t concerned with this is another thing to worry about. So, when it comes to the issue of furniture for the office, you need to think about reclaimed wood. In fact, you can take all of this one step further and find a perfect middle-ground between eco-friendliness and office ergonomics.
You also need to think about recycled materials when accessorizing and decorating the place. The best thing about this lies in the fact that these repurposed, DIY objects go along great with an office layout decorated in contemporary style. This way, you get the best of both worlds.
In conclusion
As you can see, the above-listed five suggestions are a perfect example of how eco-friendliness can be efficient and stylish at the same time. The best thing about these green moves is the fact that they’re frugal and, as such, bound to pay for themselves over the course of time. To make the long story short, there’s really no viable reason not to turn your office green.
Related:
- 7 Budget-Friendly Office Decorating Ideas for Your Small Business
- Eco-Friendly Printing: A New Marketing Strategy for Business
Author: Stella Ryne
