Seven Steps to a Greener Workplace
Everyone knows that eco-friendly living has extended to offices, shops, factories and just about every other kind of workplaces. In fact, going green at work has been incentivized by the government in various ways including tax breaks, grants and training programs.
So it was no surprise today, as I entered the center where I work, that I found a notice posted near the entrance, requesting ideas from employees to help “green up” our building and our practices. Glad of the request, I pen to paper, jotting some ideas that had been swimming in my head just waiting for such an invitation.
Step 1: Employee Education
It’s one thing to put a recycling bin in the lunch room, but quite another to apprise employees as to what should go in it and why.
Education on the ways of Going Green is essential. With our environment at ever-increasing risk, it may seem like we all should know how to reduce waste, conserve energy and recycle, but, unfortunately, that assumption may still be wishful thinking. Many of us just toss a few cans in a separate bag under the sink and call it recycling. Or we have replaced a couple light bulbs with energy-efficient fluorescents and we call that reducing our carbon footprint. There is so much more that we can and should be doing, but maybe we just don’t know enough about sustainable living practices.
Companies need a comprehensive educational seminar to make employees aware of and to learn to implement green practices both at work and at home. Green topics could include: recycling basics, energy conservation practices, composting food scraps, consumer choices and a thorough summary of the basis of the imperative for eco-conscious living. An employer-sponsored class, offered free of charge, would be a boon to employees who want to know more. Taken a step further, a required 15-minute online training during scheduled hours on green practices at work would pave the way to clear awareness of company green-practice policies.
Step 2: Filtered Water + Reusable Water Bottles
There should be a good water filter installed on employees drinking water. Employees should be made aware that they don’t need to buy bottled water because it’s there. Most bottled water is just filtered tap water anyway.
Nobody trusts plain tap water anymore and with good reason. At any given moment, our ground water can get contaminated by farm waste runoff, chemical or bacterial contamination and additives to kill bacteria in the water that is treated before it comes out of the tap. Can you say, “Yuck, chlorine taste!”?
Bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year. That plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil per year to produce. Even though some plastic bottles are recycled, over 80 percent of plastic bottles are simply thrown away. But please, make sure the water that goes into the coffee maker is also filtered as those of us who drink hot beverages would like clean, filtered hot water. While we’re at it, wouldn’t it be great if we had some company-logoed aluminum water bottles as an incentive to use filtered water? It would be great company PR!
Step 3: Vending Machine Overhaul
Yes, yes, I know. There are no vendors with healthy alternatives to junk food. Why is that? Could it be because we are not requesting, in adequate numbers, that there be something besides oily, fattening, salty, sugary, high-cost, low-nutritional-value snack food in our vending machines? An online search for vendors may produce some interesting, healthy options. Organic food is a quickly-growing industry and healthy-snack vending machines are starting to become more widely available.
I say, remove them altogether if vendors won’t supply what we want and need. Come up with an alternate system to make snack food available to employees. Good healthy snack choices would be raw vegetables in snack bags, raw, unroasted almonds, walnuts and pecans (no peanuts, please, they contain high levels of mold), soy milk and yogurt, high-quality, organic chips and snack foods with natural sea salt and seasonings.
Step 4: More Potted Plants
There are precious few potted plants in our work areas. Did you know that, even in cities, outdoor air is cleaner? The reason for this is that trees and plants are constantly cleaning the air. The best air purifying plants are: Areca and Bamboo palm trees, Rubber plants, Dracaena plants, English Ivy, Ficus, Ali and the Boston Fern. Peace Lilies, Caladium and Spider plants do well indoors with indirect or artificial lighting.
Besides the benefits of air purification which can cut down on air-borne illnesses and lung ailments, office plants can bring life and warmth to dull, drab office spaces. This will improve employee morale and productivity.
Step 5: Composting Bins
Hurray for the vegetable garden we saw next to the building during the last growing season! Now, where’s the greenhouse? And who gets to share in the produce?
A great way to get employees involved in the local garden growing project would be to provide a compost bucket for food scraps. Vegetable trimmings, lunch leftovers and coffee grounds all go into this bin. A lidded step-can lined with special compostable bags and placed next to the garbage and recycling bins would work well. The compost bin can be emptied regularly into the compost pile outside or special, aerated, composting bin in the (new) greenhouse. Add a few worms and maybe some leaf clippings and in a few months the compost can be added to the garden. This is a great way cut down on the commercial fertilizer while creating a sustainable-living practice.
Composting makes use of valuable nutrients in foods to produce nutrient rich soil and create organic, nutrient-dense vegetables. It also reduces the amount of waste that goes into the garbage and out of the garbage disposal. Food waste from garbage disposals is screened out of the water and eventually goes into the landfill, using more of our precious water resources to wash it down the pipes and creating climate-threatening methane.
An incentive to employees is to have a chance to participate in the garden not only by contributing to the compost but by sharing in the planting, weeding, and harvesting. This activity also contributes to personal awareness of the benefits of home-grown vegetable gardening, a healthful and eco-conscious practice.
Step 6: Encourage Alternative Methods of Transportation
It may be difficult to implement alternatives to driving during slower times of the year because of work reduction and scheduling. During peak business times, though, carpooling sign-up boards could be a great way to cut down on gas consumption and costs. Those that live near one another can see who has signed up with the same scheduled hours and share a ride to work. Those that live close to the center could even bike or walk to work on good weather days.
Creating more employees that can do their jobs from home would also decrease employee gas consumption and lighten that footprint even further. Many employees drive 40, 50 or even 60 miles a day round-trip. That’s a lot of emissions.
Step 7: Implement a Green Team
Many companies across the country are implementing “Green Teams” whose job description includes making sure the Steps outlined above are put into practice. They could also devise energy efficient and ecologically-sound programs, write articles for the employee newsletter and keep everyone on their green toes. The Green Team’s salary can probably be covered by a government tax incentive program or grant, a nice win-win situation.
The above-outlined: Seven Steps to a Greener Workplace, when added together, will greatly increase employee awareness and participation in green practices. This, in turn, will lead to green practices at home. The company will also be working toward reducing the collective carbon footprint of our buildings, our staff and our staff’s families. It’s great to work for a company that cares and takes the time to implement eco-conscious practices leading to happier workers and greener communities.
