Five Easy Tips to Green Your Office

The paper in the printer, the chair in the board room and the coffee in the vending machine all started life in a forest or on a farm. When managed responsibly, those same forests and farmlands can provide roosts for birds, havens for wildlife, improved livelihoods for workers, and carbon storage capability for the greenhouse gasses that lead to global warming — all while continuing to produce the goods and services upon which we’ve come to depend.

To mark Green Office Week here in the UK, we’ve come up with 5 easy tips to help your office have a positive impact on the environment.

Switch off lights. Did you know office lights left on overnight use enough energy in a year to heat a home for almost five months?

Turn off the computer. A computer left on overnight creates enough CO2 in a year to fill a double decker bus.

Switch off the photocopier – a photocopier left on standby overnight wastes enough energy to make 30 cups of tea.

Turn down the heating. Just a 2°C increase in office temperature creates enough CO2 in a year to fill a hot air balloon.

Don’t leave a fan running. The office may be stuffy in the summer, but leaving a fan on overnight wastes enough energy to power an iPhone for 25 years or power a laptop for a year.

Of course it goes without saying that you should make sure the paper, stationery and furniture in your office bears the FSC trademark. The Rainforest Alliance certifies forests that meet the environmental, social and economic standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which protect forestlands, communities and wildlife.

And, while we’re on the subject, choose coffee and tea for the office kitchen that carries the little green frog seal of the Rainforest Alliance. The frog is your assurance that the tea or coffee was grown using methods that protect forests, soils and waterways on farms that provide decent wages, housing, education and health care to workers and their families.

And finally paper cups. Use either re-usable cup like our KeepCup or use paper cup that can be recycled.