Saturday, January 26, 2013

How to make your workplace more sustainable.

Are you stuck in a job where it feels impossible to make a positive difference in the world?
Do you feel that it is almost impossible for your workplace to make any kind of positive change to help the planet?

Here are few small things you can do at the workplace to make a big difference.

Any Profession:

-Bring your own lunch, and re-usable water container
     -Eating out is not only expensive, but you can pretty much guarantee that the restaurant uses conventional produce (non-organic) and most likely doesn't compost.  If you are eating out at a fast food joint, the food is pretty much toxic and in a short 5 minutes a whole tray full of waste has been accumulated.  The more you can avoid plastic water bottles, the better for sea and land life!

-Resist temptation to get anything from a vending machine
    -These products are overly processed, involve a lot of energy to make, leave behind a plastic trail, and take a lot of energy to digest.  Bring your own healthy snacks, carrots, cucumbers, nuts and seeds, be prepared for a long day at work.  Plan ahead of time what you may feel like eating.  Once your body is hungry - there is no control over your cravings.  But if you can plan and shop while you are full and can think of the healthiest options for snacks, and you 'forget' your money or your change at home, you will be left with some great options when you start feeling a bit hungry :)

-Get sustainably sourced paper products
-Where are your paper products coming from?  Unfortunately much of the paper we use today comes from unsustainably sourced trees which were planted to replace of beautiful rainforests around the world.  The destruction is devastating.  However, we can make a difference, we need to focus on buying recycled product, post-consumer products or if not available then from sustainably managed local trees.  Think about all of the paper products not just paper to write on - toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, etc.
-If you can get a bunch of cloth napkins to be used as paper towels and napkins, take turns in the office bringing them home and washing them every week.
-make a box for used papers - the ones with writing on only 1 side can be collected and sewed into a new notebook!  They can also be cut up and glued on one side as a post-it-note replacement.
-Even better, laminate the papers you plan to use in your home-made notebook.  Make notes with an erasable marker, once those notes no longer apply, wipe it clean.  Use it again :)


-Turn off the lights
Sometimes businesses use so many lights, when they could make do with half the amount.  Talk to your manager about the possibility of becoming more green, using less lights, turning off lights when not in use, what if you could cut your electricity bill in half as a company?  Where could that money then be allotted to?  Maybe you could hold a competition among different sections of your company about who could save more electricity.. with the saved money in the end throw an office party.

Change the lightbulbs, now there are lightbulbs - check out my previous blog - that last for decades and can save $10 a year on your electricity bill.

Recycle
-Does your company recycle?  When I was working at an environmental consulting company, we took turns taking care of the recycling boxes.  There was hardly any recycling in town, but I guess that was the advantage of commuting to work.  We took turns driving the weekly recyclables to our home towns and dropping it off at a center.  Sometimes glass needs to be turned in to a separate place, find out what's available where you work or live, see if you can save that much waste material from being dumped. 

Compost
This can be a tricky thing, but as long as it well managed it shouldn't be a problem.  If you have a little bit of land at your company, find out if you can make one!  Some places in the US actually charge more money the amount of trash you have in a week.  So much of what we throw out, is actually completely compostable!  It could be an easy way to save the company that weekly bill.  Not to mention, that if you have place for a compost at your workplace, you have place for a garden!  How awesome is that, go for a lunch break in your garden, get a few fresh tomatoes.. hey healthiest fast food ever! :)

Re-use and re-create cardboard boxes
No need to toss them, re-use them.  Make a take home art project out of them.  Ask your kids to paint them and decorate them.  Create a new filing cabinet made of decorated boxes.  Make folders out of them.  Make small boxes, or keep small boxes for keeping thumb tacks, rubber bands, paper clips, and staples.  Keep slightly larger boxes for organizing your papers or keeping your pens and pencils.  Make it fun.
This will help reduce  the need to buy all those plastic organizing products that are all too popular. 

Dont be afraid to get creative!
How can you add joy to the workplace??  Think of the Pakistani fish seller in England - 1lb fish song!  He became famous over night!  I heard another story where a bagger at a grocery store started putting happiness quotes in every grocery bag that he packed, people used to stand in really long lines in his row only, while the other cashiers stood unoccupied since the people really wanted to get a happiness quote.  It's the little things that count!  Being sustainable is also about being happy and spreading happiness.  :)


Cleaning Services:

Green Cleaners
-Any job which uses chemicals, you may or may not have the authority to use a cleaner that is safer for the environment, but the most you could do is at least talk to your boss about how much money you could potentially save while switching to a more natural cleaner.  Offer to make the cleaner yourself and mention that its just as effective if not more than what you had been using.
- Vinegar works wonders, mixed with baking soda... creates a nice bubbly solution, mixed with lemon gives a nice scent.  Voila!

Check out the following website, there are many recipes for all sorts of surfaces

http://eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm

Save Bags
When emptying trash cans, reuse trash bags as much as possible.  If a trash isn't completely full, combine it with another trash in the building and save a bag in the process.  If the company isn't using green bags yet, maybe find a a cheap green bag that can be used instead of what had been the norm before. 

Re-usable/Compostable cleaning materials
There are plenty of sponges which are made of plant fibers.  So they decompose once you throw them out.  better yet, use rags, and wash them on a regular basis.  Skip paper products. 


Sales Representatives:
-If your job involves bagging, make the habit of first asking the customer if they would like a bag.  Many times, the customer is happily surprised that you even asked.  And they don't take a bag.  I worked at a clothing store a number of years ago, and I remember when people came in to return clothes, they often returned the bags with them!  I would re-use these bags!  Maybe they were a little crinkly, but hey it's still a bag!  Re-use bags when you can, who cares :)

CEO/Manager
You have a big opportunity here.  Expand your vision as a company.  Dedicate the growth of your company to a great cause.  Decide to donate 10% of profits to the rainforest, environmental awareness, or other green causes!
Set goals to meet environmental ideals monthly, yearly etc.  Try at reducing the companies carbon footprint - encourage car pooling, less eating out, incorporate some of the ideas listed throughout this page and research further, the amount the company can save using simple techniques will add up!  Encourage employees to get involved in the community, spend more time with family, make work fun and meaningful for them to come in, and different everyday. 

Invest in green technologies, alternative energies - solar, wind, geothermal, etc. 
Make sure healthy snacks are on the house and always available to employees - order from local organic vendors - carrot and celery sticks, etc. 
Get rid of your vending machines :) 

If you order company clothes, consider ordering organic cotton, support sustainable industries who are fair trade with all of their employees. 

If your business is about technology - how can you source materials closer to home?  Is there any kind of environmental company you can hire to help you make sure the environment is being taken care of in the process.  Make sure any place where you extract materials from, you clean up and make it as good as new.  Make sure no indigenous voices are being squashed out through the grapevine.  Visit your sites personally, make sure they are ethical and secure. 

Remember money isn't everything, most people are interested in doing good in the world.  And many people are willing to pay for it.  The higher your ethical value, the more customers will flock to you.

- think of whole foods! :)

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