
Green Your Workplace
Greening the planet can begin with greening your workplace.
You can get a few beautiful plants to decorate your surroundings and call your office ‘green’. But there are many more ways you can push the eco boundaries.
Greening your work is simple, here are a few tips to help you get started. Lets hop on the green bandwagon and transform our work into something more sustainable and eco friendly.
Recycling & Reducing Waste
Most of us do it already. Any loose scrapes of paper, coke cans or bottles, plastic take away boxes, batteries, printer cartridges…….recycle it!
One office can produce so much waste. Reduce waste by bringing your own reusable coffee or drinking mug, printing double sided to conserve paper, using tupperware for lunch containers instead of plastic takeaway boxes,
Public Transport
With the current appalling state of the Australian public transport system (especially Sydney), I don’t blame people for driving to work. Just the other day, it took me 2 and a 1/2 hours on the train to get from the city centre back home when a drive during peak hour traffic would normally take me only 45 minutes. Now this occurrence is not a once off event. It is a recurring pattern that is happening every 3 weeks to a month with summer time becoming worse.
For a first world country we are ranked quite poorly with our public transport system. Train delays, bus cancellations, transport strikes (thanks to the powerful unions!), taxis which cost an arm and a leg, over crowding of trains, no air conditioning on trains in the summer heat, poor state rail customer service, unreliable timetables……. the list goes on and on.
Compared to other major cities like New York, London, Hong Kong etc, Australia (Sydney especially) needs to be hiding under a rock.
So would the state governments please get your “BLOODY” act together and fix up the public transport system in Australia. I feel embarrassed to open my mouth to encourage people to switch to public transport!
Public transport aside, if you live a close distance, you may consider riding a bike or getting a scooter which is not only more eco-friendly than a car, but cheaper to insure, and will cost little more than $15/100km to run.
Carpooling
Well, if you’re going to drive you might consider carpooling. According to the Australian National University, the average car emits 4.5 tonnes of CO2 per year. If public transport is unreliable to get you to and from work, then carpooling will help your car, your wallet and most importantly help our environment. The following websites link car drivers with those who prefer to leave theirs at home: www.thecarpool.com.au, www.ozcarpool.com.au
Save Energy
There are so many ways you can save energy in the office.
Computers – make sure your computers are on power saving mode. That way when you are away from your computer, your monitor will switch off and your computer will hibernate.
Air conditioning – During the summer, turn the temperature down 3 degrees and in the winter, turn the temperature up 2 degrees. That way you will be using less power to operate and no one will even notice the difference.
Printing – Have a quoter for printing and measure your printing progress. Create a company-wide goal to try and reduce that by at least 5-10 percent within the first year. The following website will help you www.1degree.com.au/carbon_calculator
Renewable energy – Using renewable energy, such as solar or wind power, can reduce carbon emissions that increase global warming (not an easy option to switch to if you office building doesn’t offer this service)
Lighting – Natural light is the best light. Open all windows during the day time and replace traditional office lighting with more efficient alternatives, such as halogen downlights and fluorescent tubes. Make sure to turn off all the lights when the office is closed.
Lift – Walk the stairs instead of taking the lift. I don’t expect many of you to do this especially if you are on the 20th floor of the building.
Purchasing
For those that do the purchasing within the company, you can make a huge difference to the well being of our environment. Buying recycled products. Not only are recycled products often cheaper, but using them is an excellent way to publicise your company’s environmental commitment to customers and partners.
You can lead the company by helping to save your business money and protecting your bottom line against the inevitable rise in energy prices. Best of all you can encourage more employees to hop on to the eco-savvy bandwagon.
The power is in your hands. Start will buying some beautiful decorative indoor plants for the company. That will get you in the eco mood.
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Don’t get me started with the Sydney state rail system. I’m fed up with the delays and excuses. I want a public transport system that is reliable. NO MORE EXCUSES.
I have the option to drive or take a train to work. But I rather drive.