Your office space is important to your performance at work. Improve your work environment with sustainable changes that benefit the environment and your productivity. 

As more people are becoming mindful of their impact on the environment, they are making daily changes to live a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle. 

There are a plethora of creative and effective ways to make environmentally friendly changes to our homes, but a lack of ideas to create a sustainable office space. A fresh and clean working environment can boost your work productivity and exude a calming effect on everyone in the office.With many people returning from work from home, here are our top 6 ways to make sustainable changes to your office space. 

Use Natural Lighting 

With people working away for hours on end, offices consume a great amount of light energy throughout the day. To conserve energy usage, installing wide windows or a terrace is an easy way to integrate natural lighting and reduce energy consumption. 

Natural light not only boosts productivity with a bright and refreshing effect, but also helps cut down on electricity costs. With a space accessible to natural sunlight, your office can significantly cut down on light usage. Get your work done in the warmth of the sun to be eco-friendly and productive. 

Girl in natural light

Reuse, Reuse, Reuse

If having recycle bins at the office is not a viable option for you, reusing your waste products is still an effective alternative.

Do you receive a delivery bag every time you order lunch? Paper delivery or plastic bags can be reused as trash bags instead of simply disposing of them each time you receive them. Do you have extra plastic cups from that coffee or juice you bought? Do not just throw them in the trash-  wash them and use them as your office cup or simply a pen holder. 

If reusing these disposable products does not match your style, try upcycling them and get creative! 

Recycled Paper 

A lot of companies and jobs require heavy printing and usage of paper on a daily basis. If your office space requires constant printing, using recycled paper is an easy and effective go green method. While there are people who worry that the tactile properties of recycled paper is different to that of normal paper, with today’s technology, the two are very much interchangeable without any noticeable differences. There are plenty of brands out there using recycled food and beverage packing to make paper, so browse around to find the brand that fits your working needs.

People writing on a bench_6 Sustainable Changes for Your Office Space

Encourage Packed Lunches

Meal prepping and regularly bringing your own lunch to work not only has health benefits, but also helps reduce waste. Eating out or getting delivery every lunch accumulates a considerable amount of waste from plastic wrappers, containers, and delivery bags. Currently, half of all litter is produced from fast food garbage, as the food industry drags its heels on recyclable and compostable packaging. Do your part in reducing waste by preparing lunch and using less wrappers, straws, bags, that all eventually end up in landfills. Packing lunch is both a healthy and environmentally friendly habit in the long term! 

packed lunch_6 Sustainable Changes for Your Office Space

Eco-friendly Office Snacks 

If your office has a snackbar, why not make changes to the menu? Replace your typical assortment of chocolate bars or crisps with sustainably produced snack companies. If you are able to find local snack companies that are near your workplace, this will be even better for cutting carbon footprint. Nowadays, there are a variety of subscription packages available which supply bulk purchases of snacks. Improve your health and the environment with sustainable snacks! 

Eating snacks at work_6 Sustainable Changes for Your Office Space

Plan a Regular Fridge Clean-out

Many people already practice packing lunch for work, and often store them in a communal office fridge. Although this may seem like a tedious task between your busy work hours, cleaning out and defrosting your office fridge is vital to saving energy. Keeping your fridge clean and in good condition increases its performance and improves life expectancy to reduce electrical energy consumption. 

 

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