Greening up the Office

When it’s just a small office, ceramic plates, cups, cloth napkins and packed lunches are the best way to reduce the office carbon footprint and keep costs low. But in the high end corporate office, it can be difficult to convince the higher ups of such down to earth solutions to un-green offices. After a little research, I have compiled a top seven (to be different) list of ways to offset the office carbon footprint.

1. Unplug when you can or invest in power strips. We all know that electrical outlets are energy vampires. Spending a little of the office supply budget on power strips will help in the long run. As will unplugging things that are not in use.

2. Encourage co workers to drops extra copies, printing mistakes and unwanted paperwork into a recycling box. Use the back side of this paper or, if dealing with confidentiality, shred the paper and use for packing filler. Recycled paper is of course, the best option.

3. Pull up the blinds on office windows and opt for natural light whenever possible. The amount of artificial lights in offices is not only bad for your health and vitamin D intake but it wastes energy. Choose sunshine and LED lights to save energy and increase health.

4. Make the disposable break room a zero waste environment. When disposable is the only way, choose recycled paper cups, corn plastic containers and bamboo sugar stirrers. Compostable biodegradable, landfill break down plant based plastics are comparable in price to traditional and deletes waste.

5. Be your co-workers friend and car pool. If you live close enough get a walking or cycling buddy to make the green office commute a bit more enjoyable. Remember transportation is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gases, and you go to the office nearly every day so it adds up quickly.

6. Choose Energy Star copiers, water coolers, refrigerators and ovens for the office and break room. This is a simple way to reduce energy and save money. It probably works out as a tax deduction for the boss as well.

7. Consider an office garden or compost heap. This can be a team project and people can take turns feeding the leftovers fro lunch to the worms. Office gardens are fun for both workers and clients and offer a green space to relax.


I’ll probably say it a thousand times but its important to consider every environment you spend a lot of time in when reducing your carbon footprint. The workplace is one area when teamwork can really make a difference to the planet. And while I’m thinking about it, what about handing out carbon credits for the holidays? Talk about spreading the eco wealth.