Much like anything else, maintaining environmental sustainability in your daily life isn’t something that’s easy to stick to if it wasn’t already in your routine. Maintaining environmental sustainability is especially difficult to maintain in places where your personal life is considerably separate, such as in a workplace.
It’s also worth noting that your sustainability practices in the workplace may be limited to utilizing the Reseat platform. But how do you maintain sustainable practices in the workplace when you’re not buying and selling used office furniture?
It may look intimidating, but once these tips become a regular element of your workplace, it’ll be easy-peasy.
Might we sway you with some quick statistics?
92% of consumers have expressed an increased level of trust towards corporations that are environmentally and/or socially conscious (Forbes).
Productivity is up by 16% for employees who work for an eco-conscious company (UCLA Newsroom).
88% of consumers would express a greater level of loyalty to a company that is environmentally and/or socially conscious (Forbes).
87% of consumers have expressed interest in buying products from a company with social and environmental benefits (Forbes).
Sounds like a pretty sweet gig, doesn’t it?
That being said, here are some things that you can do to help your company become the best eco-conscious version of itself that it’s ever been:
Establish clear and effective recycling guidelines.
Establishing a clear and effective recycling program within your workplace is a simple and great way to make your office more eco-friendly. You can do this by creating signs that offer solutions to sorting, assigning specific bins for the type of waste being discarded, particularly between recycling, compost, and landfill.
If you’re looking to toss electronic waste, or e-waste, there are recycling plants likely local to your workplace. It’s best to prioritize effective recycling so that you and your workplace can minimize your carbon footprint.
Encourage sustainable commutes.
Providing resources to help employees locate the nearest public transport can also be a great way to encourage a sustainable lifestyle. You can do this by looking into local train, light rail, or bus systems and posting them in an easily accessible place. It could also be a great benefit to your employees if transit subsidies are offered; just a little praise for the commute.
Aside from public transport, sustainable transportation can also look like carpooling with colleagues, walking, bike-riding, or even issuing your employees work-from-home days to accomplish some remote work if applicable.
Only do business with the greenest of green.
Supporting eco-friendly vendors, brands, and companies is another great way to encourage a sustainable work environment. Not only does it do great things for the environment, but keeps your reputation in good shape.
You can execute this by following through with some research into the sustainability efforts of your preferred vendors and choosing accordingly. Take Reseat, for example (that’s us), we’re partnered with Kay Chesterfield, based in Oakland, to best support the needs of our Bay-Area-based clientele in need of reupholstery services for their furniture.
Dec your space out with some foliage.
Scattering some plants throughout the office not only increases productivity and aesthetics, but assists in providing some clean air for you and your colleagues to breathe. Indoor air pollutants go down by 87% within a 24-hour span, according to NASA research.
Go paper-free, because who needs that anyways?
Alright, maybe in some cases paper is a necessity. However, much of what would normally be printed can easily be digitized and become a consistent resource. Promoting a paper-free workplace allows for your company to maintain collaboration, efficiency, and sustainability.
