Eco-friendly offices are no longer just a trendy thing. They’re a smart business decision and a great way to save the environment while saving money. Sometimes making your office green takes a bit more time and funding up-front, but the rewards both you and the environment will reap makes it worth the effort.
In Arlington, much of the environment is made up of buildings. Christian Dorsey, chair of the Arlington County Board, recognizes the dangers associated with the threat of climate change and has set some ambitious goals to reduce city-wide emissions by 2035.
Start with the basics
Creating an eco-friendly office means evaluating your current practices and figuring out where you can improve. One big thing that a lot of offices forget about is waste. It’s not about the cost of every sheet of paper, it’s about how much of an impact printing can have on the environment. Next time you think about printing numerous documents that your meeting will probably barely even use, consider going digital. If your employees have laptops or tablets, consider asking them to bring those to each meeting.
Green offices don’t mean you have to go without elements you need to remain productive. Instead, it’s about reframing your notion of how things need to work. If you get creative and look at your current operations, you’ll probably find all sorts of wasteful practices that you can cut out. Even switching to energy-efficient lighting and signage, such as LED neon flex, can make an impact while also lowering your electricity bill. Get creative and think outside the box to develop your own green office.
Choose a green building (if you can)
LEED-certified and environmentally focused office spaces are beginning to crop up everywhere. These offices are constructed with green practices at their core. Often, a green office incorporates the building materials and fixtures necessary to create the least environmental impact while creating the best workspace possible.
There are a lot of ways these buildings decrease the environmental impact of a traditional office. One popular green building option involves using solar panels to generate energy and save money over the long term. You could also try to get serious about recycling by making sure that you educate employees of its importance and invest in multiple recycling stations throughout the workplace. These building-wide considerations can help you keep your office eco-friendly by utilizing the advancements that are already built-in. If you are looking for a new office space or considering getting more eco-friendly, look into environmentally conscious office buildings in your area/
Get your team on board
This might take some convincing (and incentives) to get rolling. It’s tough to change behaviors, especially if they are not necessarily impacting the core of your business. Your employees are critical to the success of green initiatives. Employees need to get involved and incorporate green practices into their everyday work routines. One of the best ways to do this is to make being eco-friendly simple. Ensure that your office has everything they need to consider the environment. This means making accessible recycling bins, creating digital files that are just as easy to use as paper copies, and helping to encourage environmentally-friendly practices.
Get started!
If your employees need to go far out of their way to get involved in these new green initiatives, then it’s unlikely to work as well as you anticipated. Present any new office initiatives in a positive and uplifting way and show your staff that they are going to be a part of something big. Make your green agenda easy to understand and simple to adopt. Even if it seems like you’re only making small changes, every little bit helps. Creating a green office can be a very rewarding endeavor that can also save your office a bit of money in the long run. Review your current operations, cut out waste, and find ways to make updates that will make your office a friend to the environment. You’ll be glad you did, and you’ll also make a difference to the planet we all call home.