Eco Friendly Office Guide

It's surprising what a difference you and your colleagues can make in your office premises. Intelligent planning, cutting down on waste and informed purchases can all help the environment. We take a look at simple steps on how to get there.

Introduction

When trying to become more environmentally friendly at work, it's important to think of it as an ongoing mission rather than a one-off project. Building it into your organisation's ethos is important for this to work, and get the rest of the workforce motivated to help.

It helps to have a nominated person to champion the cause but everybody should be involved, so discuss ideas and plans regularly with your colleagues. This can help you formalise an Environmental Policy, whilst informal reminders such as an office notice board can keep people reminded too.

Be sure to integrate your eco friendly thinking with new employees as well as current staff. Green workplace issues can be part of all job descriptions, whilst an induction could include a demonstration of recycling and reducing waste.

Once you have implemented your plans, celebrate them! No matter how small, all achievements should be celebrated with the workforce to keep motivation levels high.

Beyond an Environmental Policy, working towards a formal environmental management system such as ISO 14001, where you are externally verified, demonstrates your achievement to the World. A standard like ISO 14001 is also beneficial when tendering.

Purchasing Responsibly

Saving water and recycling paper are well known and practiced methods of being more eco friendly. However, purchasing can have significant and far-reaching impacts both socially and environmentally. Where we buy products from; what they are made of; who has made them and what will happen to them when we are finished, are all issues which need to be considered.

Responsible procurement is about determining whole life costs, and considering whether you need the product/service in the first place; whether the amount of packaging could be reduced; if transport can be reduced; if the product is part of an ethical production process; and, ensuring that work is contracted out to organisations that demonstrate they are environmentally and ethically responsible as well.

Key questions to ask when making purchasing decisions are:

		Do we need this product/service?
		Can the need be met in another way?
		Is the quantity requested essential?
		Can the requirement be met by renting or sharing instead?
		Is the current specification the correct one for the purpose?
		Can the product serve a useful purpose after its initial use?

Buying Green

Recycled Goods

Often we’re quite good at thinking about recycling, but have you ever considered what happens to all those things you put in the recycling bin or bag? For recycling to be successful we also need to buy back recycled products, thereby closing the ‘recycling loop’. Buying recycled not only means less waste ends up in landfills, but also means that less energy will be expended to create new products from raw materials.

Recycled paper can use up to 90% less water and 50% less energy than making it brand new from trees.

As well as paper, you can buy recycled pens, pencils, light bulbs, hygiene and cleaning products in environmentally friendly forms. Take a look at what alternatives your office supplies company has to offer.

Efficient use of Energy

Buy products that are efficient so that you minimise energy, water and resource use. Always buy electrical equipment with good energy efficiency ratings. If your office building has a catering facility, try to buy organic and Fairtrade foods. Fairtrade is about a fair and sustainable trade price and producers getting better terms of trade for the goods they produce. You can buy over 1000 different types of Fairtrade products including bananas, tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar and juice.

> Visit Fairtrade

Reduce Packaging

When purchasing, request that packaging be taken back to the supplier on delivery for reuse. Another option is to request reduced packaging by volume or weight. In addition, ask for reusable or recyclable packaging or packaging made from recycled materials. You can also buy in bulk, minimising waste by reducing packaging and reducing the number of trips needed to deliver the product.

You can also buy locally to minimise transport of products. Of course, buying locally also means that local communities benefit economically.

Reducing Waste

In a workplace, energy is used in lighting, heating, air conditioning and for running various types of electrical equipment that we use daily such as PC’s, photocopiers and printers. Office equipment alone typically accounts for more than 20% of the energy used in most offices, sometimes up to 70%!

Adopting simple housekeeping measures in the workplace will produce cost savings and energy savings to benefit the environment. Everyone uses energy and can help save it - is your organisation doing its bit?

Paper

Reducing your impact of printing and photocopying is mostly about reducing your use of paper, so what can you do?

Email whenever you can. Even if it's then printed out, at least you have saved an envelope and the additional energy consumed sending a letter in the first place. If you want to share information, you can post it online for download instead of sending multiple letters.

When sending out a mailer, make sure your mailing list is up-to-date, removing duplicate addresses. Encourage your recipients to inform you of duplicate mailings.

The average office worker uses up to 100 sheets of paper each day

Can you reduce the amount of mail you receive? Does anyone else in the office get the same publications as you? Do you get junk mail that you could easily unsubscribe from? Small steps like these help the environment and stop your desk from getting cluttered!

Generally, try to print only when necessary. For internal use, reduce the font size or print margins so less paper is needed. Try to print double sided wherever possible too. If you haven't got a printer with this facility, reuse the paper for note taking or designate a paper tray to print on the other side of the used paper for less important print outs.

Recycle paper and cardboard whenever possible - have a recycling box in your office to make it easier. If some paperwork is confidential buy a shredder so that it can still be recycled.

Computers & Screens

Don’t power your computer system up until you really need it - a personal computer uses about one second of running-time energy when starting up. It is far more cost effective to turn it off when not in use.

A monitor left on overnight wastes enough energy to laser-print 800 A4 pages.

Switch off your PC system over lunch and whenever you are away from your desk for any length of time - computer manufacturers have stated that you can switch off up to three times a day without reducing the lifetime of the computer.

Turn off your screen when you’re not using it too, monitors use 10% of energy when the computer is on stand-by but use almost nothing when switched off at the front.

Did you know a computer left running 24/7 will cost some £70 to run? Try multiplying that by the numbers of computers in your building. It soon adds up! A computer left running only during office hours will cost you just £15 a year to run in comparison.

Printers & Photocopiers

Switch them off overnight and - if possible - when not in use. Every hour less you have it switched on saves 0.5kg of carbon dioxide a week. Even standby consumes energy and costs you money. Replacing your printer or copier? Look for good energy efficient ratings and features such as printing in draft mode.

Don’t switch machines on until you really need them - can you agree times to switch it off? How about not turning it on until 10.00am, or turning it off for an hour at lunchtime?

When printing, don't use full colour unless necessary. Lighter copies use less toner and that means less cost for you and less toxins on the paper when it eventually gets recycled. Set the default to a tolerable ‘light’ level or put up a notice that reminds you.

Starting to get those tell-tale ‘streaks’ that show the toner cartridge is running out? Shaking the cartridge vigorously from left to right for about 30 seconds often prolongs the active life of the cartridge and means you get extra value for your money. When it does eventually run out, be sure to recycle it!

Lighting

Lighting accounts for about one third of the electricity used in the office, so remember to switch off at night and encourage cleaners to do the same.

Lighting an empty office overnight wastes enough energy to heat water for 1,000 cups of coffee.

Use energy efficient bulbs instead of standard light bulbs. As a general light, a fluorescent lamp is the most energy efficient option, but natural light is best. Do you have blinds on the windows? Open them up!

Turn off the lights every time you leave a room, such as after a meeting. Contrary to popular belief, the fluorescent lamp does not wear out more quickly or consume more electricity when it is turned on and off.

Heating

Turn down your thermostat by a mere one degree and you will save 10 per cent on your heating bill while cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions. Be sure to turn down thermostat or radiator controls instead of opening windows. Keep a gap between office furniture and radiators to ensure heat circulates. Remember to report faulty equipment, heating, and lighting.

The Kitchen

Get energy efficient appliances for the kitchen too! If you purchase a microwave, coffee pot or refrigerator for your office lunchroom, get the smallest size you need and choose the one with the best energy rating.

Only fill the kettle with the water you need. Over-filling it means energy is used unnecessarily to heat water, which isn’t consumed.

Monitor energy and water consumption in your building and introduce efficiency measures. An increase in water consumption can signify a hidden leak and should be investigated. Your building may be on a corporate energy contract. If it is, you may be able to receive monitoring information.

Do you use disposable cups for a drinks machine? Some aren't recyclable so stop using them! Ideally, get colleagues to use mugs and glasses instead.

When it comes to kitchen waste, have separate bins or bags to collect waste food, packaging and glass.

Glass can be endlessly recycled! Amazingly, it can be recycled indefinitely with no loss in quality.

Transport

‘Going green’ with travel in the office has numerous benefits. Car use is responsible for nearly one quarter of climate change emissions and general air pollution around where we live, work and breathe! Using public transport is easy, and often more convenient (imagine not having the hassle of finding a parking space!), whilst walking and cycling has real benefits for our health as well as reducing our negative impact on the planet.

We can reduce traffic and pollution by:

		Reducing the need to travel
		Encouraging staff to walk, cycle or use public transport
		Using the greenest vehicles and maintaining them rigorously

Flexible Working

Flexi working and working from home is an excellent way to reduce the number of journeys to work. IT systems can be set up so you can access work email from home.

Travelling to Work

If flexi working isn't an option, you could car pool with colleagues in the local area. It's good for the environment, makes parking easier and you can share running costs so it works out cheaper too! Otherwise, getting the bus at least gets another car off the road. You can pin bus timetables on the office notice board to encourage people to join you.

If you're close to work, a typical 4km walk or cycle will save about £250 a year, even more if fuel prices continue to increase! If you need to buy a bike, the Government has set up a tax free incentive if you plan to ride to work.

> Visit Cyclescheme

Go green - literally!

All the electrical equipment in offices can lead to an unhealthy office environment, so why not green the office with plants? Houseplants are good at ridding the air of pollutants and toxins, as well stimulating ideas and creating more attractive work environment.

It is good practice to ensure there is a distribution of houseplants in the office/workplace. Plants which are particularly good for improving indoor air quality include the peace lily, the rubber plant and the spider plant.

We hope you found this guide from the British Assessment Bureau useful. Many tips are obvious, the key is to make them part of what your organisation does every single day.

The British Assessment Bureau reputation was established in 1965. Today, our core business is the accreditation of people, services and organisations. We certify organisations to the latest ISO management standards and design and manage bespoke accreditation schemes.

For more helpful guides and articles visit www.british-assessment.co.uk/news.htm

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