How to acheive a green office

Savvy_Sue

gromituk wrote:

Perhaps you should be describing them as Epson cartridges?

Don't think it will make any difference - I never found anywhere which would recycle Epsons. Best I managed was to get genuine Epsons refilled by Cartridge World - they don't fill 'copies', only the genuine article, but the results are excellent!

It's something to do with the way Epson make their cartridges. I doubt I'll buy an Epson printer in the future as a result.

Ytaya

Here's one I haven't seen suggested yet: how about offering your employees help with buying public transport season tickets? For example, buy them a year's travel card and take 1/12 of the cost from their salary every month. It can make using the bus instead of the car a whole lot cheaper!

esthomizzy

thriftyjo wrote:

You said your office is leased so this makes trying solar / wind generated power even more difficult. You could switch your electicity supplier to a more green/ethical one have a look at https://www.greenenergy.org.uk
QUOTE]

With regards to this I found this article recently on 100% renewable energy suppliers and as a result I changed my original intention to go with Good Energy or Green Energy and instead decided to change to Ecotricity as these people pledge to spend as much of your money as they can building new Wind farms instead of just using existing power which would have gone into the grid regardless of whether you or someone else bought it and the inflated "renewables" price. I can't comment on how it going yet though because I only received the paperwork so far and they promise to change me over on the 28th Dec so if I have any bad experiences I'll report back.

http://www.ecotricity.co.uk/acrobat/JeremySmith_articleJune05.pdf

gingerdavey

I read the above and theres a wealth of knowledge. I hope these ideas will also help:

1) not printing /memos etc has been mentioned. Thats a re-training issue but WELL worth it. However, depeninging on how your office is set up (ie has multiple, networked printers) maybe think of using cheapo paper in the majority and the posh/letterhead stuff elsewhere- this saves money if nothing else!

2)someone mentioned a recycling scheme and/or seperating the confidential waste for shredding- for the latter just get a cross shedder and put it into the other recycing...but make sure its a decent size machine! Of course there may be company policy on this

3) renewables on a building you don't own are tricky but the landlord could be agreeable. what about recyling rainwater for toilets? or tap water recylced into the toilet?

4)switching the PC is off course mentioned but some drawbacks with networked PCs have been mentioned. Most PCs go to 'sleep' after some time so re-set the setting but don't make it too short as you'll be wasting time after every lunch time! Even easier is to encourage people just to switch off the monitor if they HAVE to keep the PC on

5)Someone talked about recycling printers etc. One word of caution- if you have ANY corporate info on the C drive then the safest way to keep your old data safe is to take a hammer to the hard drive- the rest of the machine can of course be recyled. Of course this defeats passing on kit for free but you've been warned- not really knowledgable on this but there may be good software that others can asvise which will do the same thing..?

6) somone metioned CD recycling. Again corporate info may require other methods but home and non sensitive info can be recycled. We use a place in England (just google and there are 2 last time we checked) which just require you to pay the postage. Jewel cases are thermoset plastic and not easily recylable like your water bottles etc due to the creation process, HOWEVER, these guys shred stuff down and remake low grade products...worth a check anyway.

7) I noted the ISO conversation- very hard work but definately worth shouting loudly if you go for it and get it.
Part of your EMS may consider how your stationery deliveries and couriers etc get to you. The former is necessary and will most likely use some sort of van which will have driven from a depot maybe near, maybe far- so CO2 is inevitable. HOWEVER, if you have space consider having fewer orders and bulk ordering- Just in case ordering (AKA Fordism) versus just in time ordering(AKA modern manufacturing processes).
As for the courier, does your area have cycle couriers for the small stuff or vans that run on LPG/biofuel or mixed fuel vehicles? Worth looking into

8) It may be on the thread but missed it. SWITCH the lights off at the end of the day which should be the responsibility of the last one out and the cleaners. This is not only good environmental sense but it saves cash for the buisiness. Toilet light motion sensors are mentioned but make sure they can handle someone in the cubicle and not going off! Other motion sensors in offices are a good idea but can be annoying if they go off if none is moving enough...trust me it happens!!

Right, if waffled enough. Good luck and do heed the comments that some people will not want to 'play'. Make it as easy as possible and some of your effort and work may actually rub off in their domestic life too!
Dave

gromituk

gingerdavey wrote:

As for the courier, does your area have cycle couriers for the small stuff or vans that run on LPG/biofuel or mixed fuel vehicles?

That reminds me. In London I'm always seeing cyclists, both male and female, towing Darwin's Deli sandwich trailers. I think it's a fabulous system. I can't imagine how many white vans could be taken off the streets if more companies showed this sort of imagination.

caroline1973lefty

https://www.sustainableworkplace.co.uk focuses on how employees can make their workplace more sustainable.

it is connected to my job - hope it's acceptable to post this here, therefore!

On the site there are resources, details of free courses on 'greening the workplace', plus I have put up a list of useful links that i have been collecting on this issue. The trade unions (who I work for) are getting very interested in this issue and there is support and training available for people who would like help becoming a 'green rep' at work.

scottishgypsie

I put a new thread on this morning without checking what was here. Sorry.

A good idea would be to install greenprint (https://www.printgreener.com) which will stop unwanted pages being printed. It analyses anything you print and lets you choose what you really need to print. You can also save what you print as a PDF instead of putting it on paper. A bit like the "do you really need to print this" question. I use it at home and it's good and saves me money. Their tagline is "saving money today, trees tomorrow"

Good luck with all the other stuff.

CK

squashy

If you have other offices then it's a good idea to form a "green committee" to help share ideas.
Some others-
-reminder stickers near doors and light switches
-set up a box by each printer for "scrap prints"- you know the ones where you have pressed print by mistake! Now I used to put these in my printer "upside down" but some people don't as they cite that it ruins the printer... if so you can use the prints to make scrap notebooks simply by using a guillotene and a heavy duty stapler, or mini treasury tag in the top left corner. Great for everyone to keep by the phone.
-Check standard letters used and edit to fit to one page if possible.
-See if you can hook up with a charitable company that recycles old computers and electronical supplies
-Check circulars- do you have to send one copy of that paper memo to everyone or could you email it? Or could one copy go round on a clipboard? Also, magazine subscriptions and staff bulletins, reduce these so you have shared copies only.
-Get onto a Green energy tarriff
-Produce a "paper consumed" bar chart (easy in excel!) and pin it on the noticeboard so everyone knows how much you are going through! The person in charge of stationery ordering can keep an eye on this.
-try and negotiate a deal with your stationery supplier on green or recycled products.

greenbee

This link might be useful for people looking to make their offices greener.

http://www.thegreencard.org.uk/index/greening_your_office.html

The Green Card Network (whose website this is from) run free conferences which are great for getting ideas and networking. I've been using this for about 3 years now and have found it very helpful (and they don't give you a hard sell on the Kyocera products, despite the fact that they fund the network and the conferences!).

Valli

Oh I so want to post a link to Dulux for paint:rolleyes: ....I've got a green carpet!;)

sorry!:rotfl: