Things your Office can Recycle

Things your office can recycle

Encouraging a culture of recycling in the workplace can bring some surprising benefits to a business as well as simply being 'good for the environment'. A regular campaign to reduce clutter will save space and improve the working environment as well as encourage employees to take pride in a company that embraces environmental values. A greener image for the business is also likely to attract customers and retain their loyalty - most people prefer to deal with businesses with a positive environmental approach.

Although most manufacturing companies and industrial plants usually have the biggest scope for improvements, there is also a lot that a typical office workplace can do to reduce, reuse and recycle. Here are some suggestions of fairly pain-free ways your office can become a greener place:

Paper – thankfully there aren't too many offices these days that don't have at least one paper recycling bin. However, by having more of them located around the office, including parts of the building that might get over-looked (meeting rooms or kitchens), it is likely to reduce the amount of paper that just gets thrown into general waste. There are lots of colourful, attractive recycling bins on the market which really scream out the recycling message, and create a positive image for employees and customers. You can also reduce the amount of paper you consume by forcing a rule about double-sided printing – it is amazing how many people will not trouble themselves to find the duplex mode for printing. If you have paper which has been printed on one side, then encourage people use it for scarp and to write notes on the other side.

Packaging – staying with the paper-based theme, keeping a few boxes around of various sizes full of shredded paper (or recycled styrofoam pellets) comes in handy if you need to post things out – packaging materials and especially padded envelopes can be quite expensive and a standard envelope can easily be stiffened with cardboard.

Email – although some companies religiously require paper invoices and bills, many others have moved into the 21st century and are happy to receives emails and PDFs. If you are sending out lots of letters, then regularly checking whether some of them can be replaced electronically can make a big financial saving

Ink and toner cartridges – some companies will provide recycling boxes and you can also find local office supply stores or supermarkets which will collect them. Not only does this save landfill space but also each ink cartridges consumes several gallons of oil in its manufacture

Computer and parts recycling – offices tend to replace computer equipment at a fairly rapid pace, but some organisations and charities are interested in refurbishing computers that are less than four years old. There are also manufacturers who have recycling programmes.

Up-cycling – There are plenty of websites that have great suggestions for up-cycling – up-cycling is the process whereby you convert waste materials or useless products into new objects or better quality items. Converting pallets into tables, filing cabinets into shed storage, a table into a garage workbench, hollowing out telephone directories to make a hidden valuables area – even turning an old style computer screen that has been hollowed out to make a cat basket. Office furniture often suffers an early fate when it starts to look tired and worn but can usually find a happy recipient for anyone wanting a home office or has the time to refurbish it.

Stationery supplies – having a tightly guarded, locked stationery room or cupboard can often be counter productive. Although you might restrict usage a little, you'll will certainly reduce the concept of putting things back when you don't need them. Folders, binders, notepads and even pens and pencils provide common examples of items people cling on to when they don't need them.

Green electricity – although this is not strictly recycling, some energy will be produced from recycled waste so it is well worth trying to persuade whoever pays the bills to check out the cost of switching to a green energy supplier. Sometimes this won't actually involve changing companies and might even be the same price (or only a small increase), but it will certainly green your credentials for being an environmentally aware organisation.

Richard Bloomfield is the website editor for the www.theworkplacedepot.co.uk, a 'Green Apple' environmental award winning company.