Go Eco in the Office and Save Money for your Business
The recent inkjet printing scandal involving a Sinn Fein TD in Dail Eireann illustrated perfectly how careless people can be when using office equipment and materials. The whole “sure it’s not coming out of my pocket” attitude often takes over from common sense.
Having a green office policy in your business could potentially save thousands of euro every year but you will have to get all the staff involved and keep reinforcing the green message until their eco actions become second nature to them.
So how can we do our bit to save the planet in the office and save money for your business in the process?
Eco Office Lighting Tips
If they don’t need to be on turn them off. There is nothing worse than walking past large
office complex building at night-time and seeing all the lights on when you know perfectly well bar some security personal there is nobody home.
Change over to LED bulbs which are up to 20 times more efficient that your traditional light bulbs and will thus reduce your energy bill significantly.
Why not go a step further and use an Office Table Light which can be powered by daylight or through the included USB plug in facility. Simply plug into your computer and charge the light as you type!
Office Waste Management Tips
Unfortunately you can’t ask all the employees to bring home all the waste they create everyday but you can take some steps to reduce it.
Installing and ensuring that staff use Shredders in the office is a great way of protecting sensitive company information from getting into the wrong hands. It will also allow you to compact your paper waste more effectively and potentially reduce your waste charges.
Go a step further on the compacting end of things by using a Bin Thrasher which will help you to fit about 40% more waste in your bins.
Research carried out by UK company Wasteonline suggests that if all UK based office workers used one less staple a day 72 tonnes of metal would be saved every year. When you only need to staple two or three pages together try using an eco stapler.
Office Heating Tips
With energy prices at a record high reducing your office heating bills has never been more important. Far Infrared heating panels not only provide a healthier heating option than your traditional heating systems it could also help you to reduce your energy bills by up to 82%. As the far-infrared heating panels are ideally placed on the ceiling it can also help you to optimise your office space as you will no longer have heaters hanging off walls and taking up space. Also no more tripping over fan heater cables.
If you are not in a position to replace the existing heating system you can still take small steps to help you conserve energy such as placing Radiator Reflector Panels behind your radiators. This will prevent heat from being lost through walls and ultimately mean that your room will heat up 40% faster.
If you got a gas heating system you could always install Radiator Booster fans on your top of your rads so that the heat is better distributed throughout the house.
If you are sick of constantly bleeding your radiators but want to ensure that they are working efficiently at all times consider installing Automatic Radiator Bleeding valves.
If you are in an old style office with unused fireplaces ensure to draught proof the room by installing a chimney balloon.
Saving Water at Work
In the office toilets install flush wisers or toilet tummys to help conserve water. Older toilet cisterns use up to 12 litres of water every-time you flush when 6 litres is more than enough.
By installing an autosave flushing control system on toilet urinals you can reduce the amount of water used by up to 80%. The flushing control has a built in infrared PIR sensor which detects when a person is in the toilet area and initiates a cistern fill and flush cycle. The return on investment from installing this system is about 6 to 12 months and thus well worthwhile.
You can also save thousands of litres of water a year by installing tap aerators in all the sinks in the building. These restrict the amount of water that come from the tap without compromising the water pressure.
If your are lucky enough to have a green area outside your office consider installing Water Butts on the downpipes of the building so the gardener doesn’t have to use mains water to feed the plants.
Office Cleaning Products
Go truly green in the office by using eco cleaning products which are made from natural plant extracts and have been certified by the Vegan Society. A wide range of products are available in this area including Eco Washing Up Liquid, Eco Dishwasher Tablets, Eco Multi-Surface Cleaner and even an Eco Toilet Cleaner. Buy these products in bulk and they cost no more than traditional cleaning products.
The Inkjet Scandal Solution
So back to where the inspiration for this blog post came from! Instead of wasting all that paper, ink and petrol getting your message to your customers or clients send them an email. Stay in touch with them regularly by sending a monthly newsletter via email. Use a system like mailchimp which will allow people to unsubscribe if they so wish. Remember its 2012 and the vast majority of people have an email address. Incidentally more and more people also have a sign outside their front door saying NO JUNK MAIL!
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If you got any eco office tips which can help businesses to save money please share them by adding a comment in the field below.