In uncertain times it can be difficult to make changes to your business, but we hope that there is something here for you whatever type or size of your organisation and that you can save money in the process. If you are an employee why not see what is being doing at your place of work and encourage change where possible.
- Move to 100% renewable electricity and gas
- Change to LED light bulbs
- Turn off lights and appliances when not in use
- Install electronic switches so lights only come on when the room is on use
- If comfortable for your staff, reduce the thermostat for heating and hot water by 1 or 2 degrees
- When equipment needs replacing look review energy efficiency and the ability for it to be repaired
- Ensure the workspace is insulated
- Review whether you need to travel to meetings or if they could be done by phone or online
- Travel by train if possible but if flights are necessary, avoid using business or first class
- Offset flights by investing in renewable energy projects or protecting and planting new forests
- Review the road fleet, moving to electric and/or hybrid and ensure drivers are trained to maximise renewable aspects
- Offer more flexible working arrangements such as working from home for a day, longer but less days, more time to travel by train etc
- Ensure all staff are trained on reducing carbon emissions and waste, with clear explanations of why it is important
- Designate a member of staff as a waste champion
- Offer staff incentives to reduce waste such as competitions
- If staff are customer facing, encourage them to promote low waste, zero carbon ideas to customers
- Encourage/Incentivise staff to travel to work by a sustainable method
- Ensure there are adequate water refill stations and encourage staff to use them
- Ensure that there are adequate hot drink making facilities to reduce the need to buy disposal cups
- Avoid individual sachets of milk, sugar etc but take care not to create food waste
- If drinks are purchased outside the workplace encourage staff to have reusable cups
- Ensure there are adequate fridges and encourage staff to bring their own lunches
- Encourage vegetarian and vegan options if you have a staff canteen
- Ensure menu options make best use of leftovers
- Minimise and recycle food waste
- Consider the materials being used – could they be sourced second hand or recycled
- Could materials be more sustainable: re-usable, natural materials
- Buy in bulk to reduce the amount of packaging
- Use shredded paper as packing materials for parcels
- Avoid using bubble wrap and polystyrene which are not currently recycled
- Avoid using single use stationary items such as disposable pens and pencils
- Avoid printing unless absolutely necessary and use double sided functions
- Use draft settings where possible to reduce ink usage
- Use refillable ink cartridges or recycle the old ones
- Ditch sticky notes. They are not recyclable
- Use scrap paper held together with a clip instead
- Unsubscribe from junk mail
- Update mailing lists to prevent sending paper mailings to out-of-date or duplicate addresses
- Remove under desk bins and instead have well-labelled separate bins for each type of recycling including food waste
- Re-use envelopes and packaging from parcels
- Ensure e-waste is limited and is recycled properly
- Check with your waste collector, what happens to all waste streams
- Write a sustainability statement to ensure measures are embedded in the business and ensure staff are fully engaged
- Run a waste and low carbon awareness day
- Communicate with other businesses through business groups to share best practice
- Measure your carbon footprint (organisations such as the Carbon Trust helping companies to become carbon-neutral)
- Help customers reduce their environmental impact
- Audit your supply chain – On average, emissions from a company’s supply chain are 5.5 times higher than emissions by the company itself, according to the Carbon Disclosure Project’s Global Supply Chain Report 2019
Sign up to our mailing list
we'll send you updates on all of our projects and events
!
!
!
we will not use your details for anything else, or give them to any third parties.
Something went wrong. Please check your entries and try again.