How to Green Your Office: save energy, cut costs and reduce your business carbon footprint

Here are some scary looking numbers for you: according to green business advisers Envirowise, the average office worker prints off an astonishing 1,584 sheets of paper a month. Three billion polystyrene cups are given out by drinks vending machines and 900 million of those little plastic stirring stick things end up in landfill every year. And one more quick one: computers left on overnight lumber UK businesses with an extra £100 million in electricity bills.

But here is a less scary statistic: the Federation of Small Business did a survey last year and found that 92 per cent of small businesses are socially and environmentally responsible. Phew. That's a bit more like it.

Want to green your workplace but don't know where to start? Try these office basics to get you going.

Five ways to green your office:

1. The Big Green Switch Off
Environmental consultants Ecosys reckon that up to 60 per cent of the energy used by office equipment could be wasted energy thanks to stuff being left on or in standby. That means you could be paying 60 per cent too much for your energy bill. It is all very simple to fix - just turn everything off. Enthusiastic staff could run a Big Switch Off campaign or even stand at the office doors come 5:30pm reminding everyone to go back and switch off. Last one out turns off the lights.

2. Get rid of personal bins and replace with banks of recycling bins
We have to be honest, this isn't going to win you any popularity contests, at least not in the short term, but businesses which have implemented this scheme all say the same thing: "everyone complained for a week and then got on with it". The convenience of a bin by your side makes it too tempting to chuck everything away. Having to walk a few steps to a recycling bin makes you think, and who knows, with regular short breaks productivity might even go up.
See our range of recycling bins here to help you on your way.

3. No more plastic cups
Disposable cups: yuck. Say you have 100 people in your office and each person has three cups of tea a day, that's 6,000 cups a month from your office alone wending their merry way into landfill. Just think how many other businesses there are all across the country doing the same thing. Mugs are, of course, the answer. Not only will your fair trade coffee taste much better from a proper cup, but in the long run it is much cheaper too.
And if you wanted to labour the point you could go for a I'm Not a Paper Cup or a global warming mug.

4. Less paper
Excellent technologies like the internet - which I'm guessing you looking at right now - means there is much less need for printing stuff out on paper to show to colleagues. The handy 'forward' button on your email will do the job quite nicely. How far your office can go paperless depends entirely on what you do, but it is definitely worth investigating. Just have a look at that staggering statistic at the top: the average office worker uses 1,584 sheets of paper every month.

5. Telecommuting and teleconferencing
Working from home has many benefits, the most obvious of which is losing the commute. Less travel means less pollution and less time wasted getting from one place to another. Not-for-profit group Work Wise UK say that working from home also significantly improves productivity, enhances work-life balance for staff and comes with added health and leisure benefits. As for teleconferencing, a wide range of internet-based tools allows us to communicate face-to-face with people all over the world - try MSN Messenger or Skype, or for a more upmarket solution, have a look at the desktop videophone we sell.

Last but not least:
Check out our eco office range for a selection of eco stationery, pens, computer energy saving products products and more.

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