Green Office Week (9-13 May 2011) will be bigger and better than ever.
By Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Office workers have five action-packed days to turn over a new leaf during Green Office Week. Each day has a theme and you can make a difference to the environment with just a few simple steps.
Encourage measures to reduce energy consumption in your company. This can be as simple as ensuring that lights are turned off in areas that are not in use or that computers and peripherals, etc., are not left on when not needed. It really is as simple as that.
Encourage measures to reduce your company's environmental impact through travel. Get a bike to work scheme going and simply start alternative ways to traveling to work by car yourself. Get that bike dusted off and cycle to work
Encourage the 3Rs: reduce/reuse/recycle and benefit from the cost-reductions. While the reduce and the recycle do get understood often quite in offices, the reuse bit seems to run into a failure of understanding. Even a “normal” office desk can reuse tin cans as pencil bins and there no need to go out and buy them, even if they are made from recycled steel. Just reuse a tin can instead and other reuses are possible also. The same goes for paper that has been printed one side only; reuse as note paper and make into notepads even.
Encourage a review of purchasing habits and switching to eco-friendly office products. There are enough suppliers of green office products but also do your own research to make sure you really get good ethical supplies and not some stuff that is been severely greenwashed. There is much of that out there also.
Encourage further discussion, action, and thinking about the environment well beyond Green Office Week! This is your cue to get people, your colleagues and bosses, motivated to go the extra mile to go green.
© 2011
