We all like to try to make a 'green' difference at home by making sure that we do the recycling instead of chucking cardboard and bottles in the bin. We are also usually concious about the amount of electricity we use and try to reduce our consumption to help the environment.
Unfortunately we often forget that we should also work on our eco friendly habits at work too, especially if there is no centrally organised scheme. Whether we work in a police station, for an equity company or a building firm, there are always things that we can do to reduce our carbon footprint.
If there are no Green Energy initiatives led by management n your workplace then have a chat with your boss to see if certain ideas can be introduced company-wide to make the offices more environmentally friendly. Paper usage is one big point in many offices and there should be clear guidelines to employees on reducing the quantity of documents printed as well as using two sided printing to save on paper. Whatever paper is used, there should always be an attemptto recycle it.
There should also be a policy on recycling ink cartridges from the printers or maybe setting up refilling facilities for the cartridges. Make sure that there are recycling bins in the canteen for bottles, paper and cardboard. If there are water coolers around the office, make sure that they either use biodegradable cups or, even better, ask the company to provide glasses which can be washed and used again.
Being environmentally friendly is not as difficult as many people make out and it takes just a little bit of extra effort to continue green habits in the workplace as you do at home. If necessary, ask management to arrange a meeting with employees to discuss hassle-free ways of contributing to the environment that will not intrude heavily on working time.