Simple ways to go green in the office

Want your office to be more sustainable? With more and more businesses looking to operate in ethical and sustainable ways, we’ve rounded up some simple tips on how you and your team can go green in the office.

From turning off the lights to saving water and reducing waste, operating a sustainable office can not only save you money, but it can also enhance employee well-being. Here’s what you can do…

Turn off electronic devices, lighting, and heating systems

Unnecessary energy usage can cause your carbon footprint to grow and will send your energy bills costs soaring. Turning off devices, lighting and heating when not in use, can save an incredible amount of energy.

Another good idea to keep operational costs low is to enable a power-saving mode on devices. Here at FreshGround to ensure we’re not wasting power, all our lighting is activated via motion sensors making us more energy efficient. We also don’t have to worry about switching off the lights as they do that automatically if there’s no activity.

Remember to use LED lighting only as LED bulbs consume less energy and last longer than traditional bulbs and lighting. When it comes to heating and air conditioning, you should make sure the systems are regularly maintained so they run safely and efficiently.

In addition, you can encourage your team to unplug all devices when not in use. Regardless of whether they’re small like smartphones or speakers or larger devices like computers, dishwashers or microwaves etc, they still impact energy usage. Plus if you adopt this practice in your home it’s reported that you can save around £120 per year.

Embrace renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy produced from sources like the sun and wind that are naturally replenished and don’t run out. According to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2020, solar is the cheapest electricity in history with the technology cheaper than coal and gas in most major countries.

We’ve embraced renewable energy at our head office in Norfolk where we’re powered entirely via our on-site solar farm. We have PhotoVoltaic panels on the roof that capture the sun’s energy and convert it to electricity. We’re 100% self-sufficient during office hours and any extra energy, we simply sell back to the grid.

Go paperless

There are many benefits to transitioning to a paperless office. You may be surprised to know that employees can lose as much as 40% of their time looking for paper files. And approximately 20% of print jobs are never even retrieved from printers. To top it all off, 50% of all printed material ends up in the bin by the end of the day. You can instead ask your team to use note-taking apps and ditch the paper notepads.

When printing on paper is necessary, set printers to default to double-sided printing and remember to recycle. Set up recycling bins for paper waste and ensure they’re easily accessible to all employees.

For essential office supplies, purchase those made from recycled material or biodegradable ones. Use refillable or remanufactured ink and toner cartridges for printers and it’s more energy-efficient to buy office supplies in bulk to reduce packaging waste and transport costs and fuel emissions.

Encourage your team to opt for digital check-ins and use instant messaging apps to cut down on notes, memos and post-its. We use various messaging platforms – mostly Slack and WhatsApp to communicate with the team.

Discover More: What’s the most sustainable coffee packaging?

Recycle coffee grounds

The UK produces a quarter of a million tonnes of waste coffee grounds. If you’re an office of coffee lovers, you’ll no doubt be getting through a lot of coffee every day. That means a lot of coffee grounds are often disposed of in the bin. While you might assume that the environmental impact is low as coffee is a natural, biodegradable product, it’s bad for the environment. If your grounds end up in landfills, they’ll emit methane – a greenhouse gas 34 times stronger than carbon dioxide.

It’s easy for businesses to recycle them by partnering with BioBeans. BioBeans sends off used coffee grounds to their recycling factory in Cambridgeshire. It’s there where the grounds are dried, renewing them for reuse in other products to benefit both people and the planet.

You can also donate coffee grounds to vegetable growers as it makes for a brilliant fertiliser. Coffee grounds contain several essential nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, along with micronutrients that help vegetables to grow. This means that none of your coffee grounds go to waste.

Reduce general office waste

You can set up a composting system for organic waste, such as food scraps from the office kitchen. Replace disposable cups, plates, and utensils with reusable alternatives and rid your office of single-use plastic.

Single-use plastic water bottles are a big problem for the environment. 7.7 billion plastic bottles are bought across the UK each year, resulting in substantial amounts of single-use plastic waste and only a small percentage are recycled.

Offices can get people to opt for reusable water bottles by providing them with a branded bottle they can use and refill at work. To motivate your team to do this and drink more water during the working day, you can install an undercounter water tap so you can provide fresh filtered still and sparkling water.

Don’t forget about electronic waste so don’t throw your old printers, laptops, or other electronic devices in the bin. Instead, partner with an e-waste recycling company to dispose of them properly.

Encourage green commuting

There are many ways to reduce your carbon footprint on your commute to and from work. You can encourage and even incentivise people to take public transport, car share or if feasible, walk or cycle. Switching to electric company cars is also a responsible initiative.

Our team promote the use of electric transport and has electric car charging facilities on site. Our company vehicles are being replaced with electric or hybrid vehicles in line with Government policy. Plus our fleet of technician vehicles is also Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) compliant to reduce their impact. You can find out more about what we’re doing to operate more sustainably.

Other benefits of operating sustainably

Apart from the green energy saving benefits and lowering your carbon emissions for the planet, operating sustainably can also support your workplace culture and employee wellbeing.

You can form a green team or sustainability committee to lead and promote green initiatives at work. Regular training and resources can help you to educate employees about sustainable practices. You can even offer incentives and rewards for those who actively participate in sustainability efforts.

Commitment to sustainability is also favourable when hiring, especially with younger talent like Gen Z who are aged between 18 – 27 years. A recent survey showed that a company’s sustainable practices can help attract and retain young people. Three-quarters of respondents said that they would be more likely to apply to a company with strong sustainable practices. Two-thirds said that they would stay longer in a job if they knew it had a positive impact on sustainability.

And finally, you can choose an office coffee machine that’s energy-efficient and opt for Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee which has been produced using sustainable farming practices. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the team.