Go green in the office: GP’s top tips

You’ve recently made some tweaks to your lifestyle to help protect the planet, but do these changes extend into your work environment? Seeing as we spend so much time there, we all need to make a conscious effort to ensure our working practices are sustainable and have as little impact on the environment as possible.

So, whether you’re a business owner, manager or employee keen to go green, heed these top tips put together by the GP team:

Hitch a ride

Car pollution is a major cause of global warming, but for many of us, driving is the most practical way to get to work. If your colleagues also travel by car, why not ask them if they’d like to buddy up? As well as the environmental benefits, car sharing for two days a week could slash £500 off your annual fuel bill. Plus, you’ll have some company for the commute!

For those of you lucky enough to live closer to the office, why not ditch the car for two wheels? Check out Bike2Work – the UK’s leading independent provider of the Government Cycle to Work Scheme. And, if you're buying your first car or thinking about changing your existing one, consider an electric or a plug-in hybrid – if there's enough of you, perhaps work will even invest in a charging point on site? There are grants available to go towards the cost of installing it.

Power down

Office equipment consumes 15% of all electricity used in offices, with this figure expected to rise to 30% by 2020. Switching off computers, printers, TV screens and photocopiers will preserve energy, prolong the lifespan of the equipment and save cash – a computer left on 24 hours a day costs around £45 a year to run, but less than £10 if it’s switched off out of hours.

Go digital

Embracing digital tools can help us cut back on one key office resource: paper. Rather than printing off documents, could they be emailed or shared with others online? Can payslips, quotes, invoices and expenses be logged and managed electronically? If you absolutely must print something off, be savvy by selecting double-sided, and using recycled paper. Keep a box next to the printer for putting scrap paper to be reused for notes.

Make the switch

If you haven’t already, save yourself some cash and help cut back on the thousands of tonnes of batteries that get sent to landfill each year by making the switch to rechargeables. Use them for communal items like the office clock and radio, and hand them out to your team for use in their wireless keyboards and mice. Set up a charging station with a couple of GP battery chargers, so your team can top-up as and when they want to. Don’t forget to remind everyone of the basic office charging etiquette – i.e. don’t unplug someone else’s device!

Get smart with supplies

Cut back on excess consumption by getting smart with your supplies, both in the office and in the communal areas. Top switches include:

• Rechargeable batteries instead of single-use batteries

• Reusable cups instead of paper/disposable plastic cups

• Refillable biros instead of disposable pens

• Refillable instead of single-use ink cartridges

With these top tips, your office will be greener than Kermit in no time! If you’ve already made some environmental-friendly switches to your job or in your office, let us know what they are on our Facebook page.

Go natural

Natural light is proven to improve wellbeing and make us more productive, which is reason enough to open up those blinds and let in the sunshine! Turning off artificial lights whenever you can will also help the office to conserve energy – in fact, switching off a single light could save £84 a year, so if you times this by the amount of lights in your office, the savings can be huge! If the sun casts a migraine-inducing glaring light, try convincing the boss to install some white blinds which will still allow the sun to illuminate the space.

Train up an office of recycling ninjas

You do it at home, so why not in the office? Everything from printer ink to empty milk cartons and old office equipment can be given a new lease of life by being recycled. Get organised in your communal kitchen by setting up obvious, labelled boxes for cans, plastic and cardboard. You could even install a convenient (and satisfying to use!) can crusher which reduces fizzy drink cans to one-fifth of their original size, saving room in your recycling bin.

If you’re a manager eager to train your team up to become stealthy, highly-skilled recycling ninjas, check out our recent infographic for some handy hints. Incentives always go down well with teams, so think of some creative ways to change their mindsets, such as giving out a “green employee of the month” award.